The best business owners understand the importance of building their brands, but they don’t always know where to start. So they jump straight into creating marketing campaigns without taking the time to strengthen their brand first. This is a mistake.
The first step in any successful marketing campaign should be building your brand identity – this will ensure your company stands out from the competition and get noticed by potential clients.
Below we take an in-depth look, lets learn what branding is all about:
What is Branding
It’s important to understand that branding isn’t just about creating a logo or slogan. Branding is the sum of the experiences you create for your customers, from the moment they first hear about you to the last time they interact with your business.
Branding is a strategic way of creating a perception about the product / business in the minds of your audience (i.e., customers).
It builds trust and loyalty with them by delivering consistent experiences over time across different touch points – online and offline interactions with employees, website content & design, social media posts etc. If done right it can make all the difference between whether or not someone chooses to buy from us versus our competitors!
What is Marketing
Marketing is about getting people to notice you, and to appreciate your business. Marketing is about getting people to talk about you, or buy your product or service.
Marketing is the process of putting a product in front of the right audience at the right time and place so they will want to buy it.
The goal of marketing is not just to get more sales, but also new customers who keep coming back over time.
You need a strong brand before you can create marketing that sells.
Branding is building perception about your product or business. It’s the base on which marketing can be built upon, because it will define what it is that you sell and who buys from you.
Branding is about creating a unique and memorable experience for your customers, so even if they don’t actually use the products or service, they walk away with a positive feeling about it — and that’s what keeps them coming back again and again.
Marketing is more specific than branding; it’s about being consciously promoting the product across all touch points: Social media advertising campaigns (paid ads), SEO landing pages, retargeting banners on other websites, newspaper ads, etc.,
Marketing helps build awareness around something while branding helps create an emotional connection with consumers in order to drive value-based purchases over time.
Branding comes before Marketing.
The biggest reason why branding comes first is because it’s a long term strategy. Branding helps you identify your target audience and gives you a clear identity that makes you stand out from the competition. Marketing, on the other hand, works as a short term strategy that helps you reach your target market for a very specific goal or ROI.
For example, if you’re going to open up a coffee shop or restaurant, branding starts with figuring out what kind of vibe you want to give off while marketing comes after that when it comes to reaching customers and bringing them through your doors.
The second biggest reason why branding comes first is because it makes sure everyone is on the same page before launching any kind of campaign or marketing plan.
That’s a lot about branding & marketing. Now, why start with Branding? Here’s a quick rundown of some reasons:
Branding develops the Vision and Personality of the business.
Brand Vision is the guiding north star for any company or business. Branding helps develop the vision that is on point and aligns with the business goals & the product or service.
When the vision is right, it supports business strategy, inspires & encourages the employees, attracts & woos the target audience and helps to differentiate from your competitors in a way that they won’t be able to replicate you.
Another important aspect that Branding a Business first helps for a business is by humanizing the brand by developing a brand personality & a tone of voice. When the brand personality resonates with your target audience, it helps in creating the marketing messages & brand experiences inspiring and motivating your customers to keep coming back to you.
Branding gives you clarity and focus in your marketing efforts.
Branding gives you clarity and focus in your messaging and marketing efforts.
The most powerful thing about branding is that when done well it will create a unique identity for your business or organization that can be applied across all aspects of your communications whether it’s emails, social media posts or even print advertising.
The branding process also helps you design your marketing messages and brand experiences.
Branding helps you to know your customers deeply
As a business owner, you want to get the most out of your marketing. You know that branding is important because it helps you to know who the message is for (target audience), what you are going to say to them, where they are going to see it and how they will respond.
Building your brand first is the best approach for long-term success for your business
Building your brand’s strategy first is the best approach for long-term success for your business because it defines how you want people thinking about you as well as how you want them interacting with the company on all levels. If we were going into battle, this would be our strategy map; our plan before we went into battle (Marketing).
Final thoughts:
A brand strategy is a key component for every company. It helps you to prioritise your marketing efforts by focusing on your target audience and what they want from you. Once this has been done, it helps creating effective marketing messages easier as well as making sure that they reach the right people at the right time.
A strong brand will also help with long-term business success by allowing companies to stay relevant in a shifting market place where customers demand more choice than ever before.
Work with the team who can help you get clarity & focus in your marketing efforts by effectively building the brand strategy for your business. Learn more about our offerings & choose us to build a brand for your business that inspires your customers.
