Do you know what Branding means? It is key to know and put into practice a strategy that enhances the brand and generates value for society so that consumers connect with it.
When a consumer perceives the Apple brand, it can be related to aspects such as elegance, sophistication, quality, and innovation. When observing the slogan or symbol of Nike, values of effort, perseverance, personal growth, and success are transmitted. If we talk about Coca-Cola, it is related to happiness, union, equality, and solidarity.
As you can see, large companies have historically been experts in this field and have benefited from the perception generated by their strategy.
Do you want to know how they did it? Let’s start!
What Is Branding?
Branding is a concept used in the world of marketing that refers to the process of building a brand and managing everything that is related to the company to achieve a positive and solid image in the minds of consumers.
It not only includes graphic or visual aspects that allow the brand to be clearly distinguished and identified, such as the logo, name, corporate colours, etc… The most important part of the Branding strategy is referring to the company’s values, the purpose of its actions, and positioning in the sector; all this generates a greater connection with customers.
This strategy is not only aimed at transmitting a brand image to end customers; Branding allows communication and being perceived by all of society and the business network, from suppliers, potential partners, governments, institutions, and customers.
Brand management work is a long-term and regular effort; you cannot build a brand image overnight. You must be aware that it is a process that must be sustained over time and present coherence between the values of the brand and the actions carried out by the company.
It must be done from inside the company to the outside; there is no point in transmitting a false image if, later on, day-to-day the employees or the strategies are not aligned with those values; this will sooner or later lead to the lie falling by its way. Own weight.
4 Keys To A Correct Branding Strategy
Here are four tips for a correct Branding strategy
Establish Mission, Vision And Values.
Defining these three concepts is essential to manage the brand; every company must establish the organization’s reason for being, the goal they want to reach and the reason for its activity.
Vision: it is faced from a long-term perspective where the aspirations and position to be achieved in the future are framed. It should serve as a guide for the company to reach that desired place.
Mission: provides a short-term vision and answers the question of why? It is the company’s raison d’être, that is, the purpose of the brand’s existence. It must be coherent and aligned with the vision.
Corporate values: are a key piece for Branding; they are those principles and ethical aspects that must guide the actions and strategy of the company at all times. They must collect social responsibility content to improve society and be present in the day-to-day life of the brand and its employees.
These three concepts establish your corporate identity and give authority, trust and originality to the brand. It is common for companies to design corporate videos where these factors are collected to facilitate the dissemination and visibility of the company with stakeholders.
Create A Visual Identity
This is possibly the basis of any branding strategy. The first thing you must achieve is to generate a visual identity with which you can associate the values and purposes that you have marked in the company’s corporate identity.
Here aspects such as the name, logo, corporate colors, typography or other visual aspects are collected. The design has a lot of power to impact the minds of consumers and convey feelings about the brand, so it must be a hard-working and professional decision.
The brand must convert its name into a valuable asset for the company, capable of providing a competitive advantage in its sector. It seeks to achieve enthusiasm and loyalty in consumers, inspire confidence and highlight the differentiating characteristics.
Position Your Brand
One of the objectives of Branding is to position yourself as a leader in the minds of consumers, for example:
Quickly think of a fast food chain. The first one that came to mind was McDonald’s. This brand leads the brand recognition rankings in its sector; thanks to its Branding, it manages to get the majority of the answers to this question to be the name of your company, ranking as “Top of mind”.
The communication actions of the brand must be taken care of with special attention, always seeking coherence and alignment with the established branding strategy. In the same way, you must work on customer satisfaction; a person who has received positive treatment will always remember the brand better.
Strategies such as experiential marketing can accompany and be useful for Branding; experiences are strong generators of memories and have the ability to settle in the mind of the public.
The creativity of your campaigns, mixed with brand values that seek to improve society and the environment, are usually generators of success in company branding. Remember that customers are no longer satisfied with buying the best product or satisfying their needs; they also want to place their trust in companies that help improve today’s world.
Know Your Target Audience
For the development of a successful branding strategy, it is key to know the public you are targeting; although what you want to achieve is for them to find you and identify with the brand, this does not mean that an image must be generated without taking into account their characteristics and motivations.
Depending on the sector of activity, the age range of the target, and socioeconomic level, you must be clear about the type of client you want to attract and if their motivations connect with the company’s values.
For example, if your product is aimed at a young audience, you must adapt the brand’s communication tone and voice to better connect with them. You can use a slogan with which they identify, designs that arouse emotions, and interact on the platforms where they are most comfortable. These are some examples of actions that you can implement with a good knowledge of your target audience.
