Branding is an important part of a company's success. It's present in everything you do and influences how your audience perceives your brand. That's why it's important to understand what branding is and how it can be used to increase the popularity of your business. Read in this article about branding for everyone!

What is branding?

Branding - a discipline and process that aims to create an emotional connection between a product (or service) and potential customers. The aim of this connection is to make potential customers perceive the product as valuable, unique and of high quality. Branding is also a way for a company to demonstrate authority and expertise in its field. A strong and successful brand generally means sales, higher quality or a group awareness (at least in its niche) about that product/service.

Your brand is what people say about you when you're not in the room. A company's brand is the equivalent of a person's reputation. - Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon

Once a company has succeeded in creating a strong brand, it will be associated with certain positive attributes and it will be easier for potential customers to make a choice in its favour. For example, Apple is a strong brand that is associated with innovation, premium design and user-friendly functionality.

The difference between brand and logo

The logo is a central element, repeated in many brand communications and appearances, but it does not fully define the brand. A brand can have several derivative logos (in monolithic and 'endorsed' brand architectures - e.g. FedEx or Virgin) and can also change or refresh the logo over time, depending on its needs. Logos are unique visual elements and can be easily recognised (when created correctly) and brands are complex identities that include values, attitudes and stories. As an analogy we could say that the logo is the face of a person and the brand is the totality of the person, with personality, emotions, thoughts, etc.

How do you define a successful brand?

A successful brand is one that is recognised for a certain quality of products or services offered. A successful brand also creates a positive emotion among its customers and clearly differentiates itself from its competition. Another characteristic of a successful brand is the loyalty of its customers.

How do you build a brand?

Branding is a complex process that requires a constant investment of time. In the following we will describe in broad terms the steps needed to create a successful brand.

Step 1: Find your niche
In order to qualify as a serious player in a particular field, you need to find a niche to focus on. It's pointless to try to cover too many areas of activity, because that would mean less specialization and less value offered. For example, if you are a general practitioner, you will not be able to focus on promoting your services as well as someone who specialises in diabetes or psychology. Choose an area of practice carefully and try to be the best (or most popular on a particular level) in that area.

Step 2: Research - market, competition, audience, positioning
Once you've decided what you want to do, it's time to consider who you're 'playing' against. Although sometimes it will seem like you have a unique and unheard of idea, you may find that someone has thought of it before you. But don't despair! On a planet of 8+ billion people, it's hard to have a unique business idea. However, being unique in business is less important than being good! Don't forget that Facebook also had predecessors in concept: hi5, MySpace, Google Plus etc. - yet none before Facebook managed to 'ground' itself so well in the minds and habits of consumers.
What do you have to do? Analyse as best you can your market and target audience - find out figures, predictions, competitors - what they do, how they differentiate themselves, what people say about them (this is where you can speculate weaknesses you can capitalise on with your business). Develop a 2-axis positioning chart and see where you fit in. Then decide if you have the resources or motivation (+ time) to 'fight' the competition. Develop a profile (or profiles) of your ideal customer. Describe it from several points: demographically, geographically, maybe even politically. Where does he live, how old is he, what are his habits, what education has he completed, what kind of media and information channels does he use? Where can you 'target' him?

Step 3: Strategy - define your concrete goals and motivation
Write about your business plan and personality: mission, vision, values. Why are you doing what you do? What is the motivation behind your service or product? What 'pain' or shortcoming does your brand solve? What would an ideal world look like in your brand's vision? If you were a brand with global sales and recognition, what would be different from today? What are the values that motivate you? Find 3-5 firm values that you manifest in the activities of your business and further uphold to be reinforced in your customer's mind. Example values: sustainability, honesty, friendliness, empathy, trust, safety, etc.
Tip: try to choose some values that you really believe in and you can propagate them across many brand touchpoints.
Once you know which audience you want to target and what your long-term strategy is, you can start defining medium, short or long-term tactics and goals.

Step 4: Developing brand identity
The identity system is created based on your target audience (or ideal customer) and brand strategy. The ideal brand personality emerges at the intersection of audience needs and your values and mission. It needs to be tailored to your audience's understanding and information processing capabilities, functional and therefore understandable to them. Brand messaging and communication must be consistent and recognisable across multiple touchpoints, so that the brand platform strengthens with each communication/appearance.

In developing your brand identity it is ideal to work with an agency or professional with experience in branding. Why? This entity will save you time by effectively supporting and developing your identity system so that you can focus on the operational processes of your business. A branding professional will know market trends (visuals, jargon, verbal styles, etc.) and will be able to link your strategy and target audience to a solid brand concept that communicates exactly what is needed for your business. Yes, in most cases a branding project can be more expensive than you expect, but in the medium to long term you save money by having a well-developed identity, and design and communication materials will be easy to develop even by yourself when you have a professionally defined brand manual and 'house style' in advance.

Step 5: Communicate, listen, correct, re-iterate!
Once you're ready to go out there with your product, have a logo, colors, fonts, menus, flyers, packaging and whatever else your product/service requires, it's time to show up frequently in the consumer's mind. Look to communicate something often, without being pushy or trying to aggressively sell at every turn. Show the consumer you care; write blog posts, social media status updates, emails, ask for feedback; and listen! Nothing is more attractive to a consumer than a company that listens and adapts to their needs. A good tool to maintain communication with customers are newsletters, but you have to be very careful not to become spammy. Our recommendation is to send at most one newsletter a week, and at least one a month.

Branding is not just about design, strategy or communication. Branding is any event that involves your company, product or service and another entity (not necessarily the customer). Branding is also the way your employees talk. Branding is also the charitable actions you take. Branding is also when your company donates expiring products to a charity. Branding is the speed with which you respond to requests for quotations.

The importance of customization

Personalisation is important in branding because it allows people to identify with your product/service or brand, and develop an attachment to it. People love to feel that certain products are created especially for them, and this creates a preference towards your brand. If a brand can offer a personalized experience, people will be more likely to stay loyal to that brand. Take Starbucks for example - the simple tactic of writing the customer's name with a marker on the cup has generated hundreds of thousands of loyal customers who return to their coffee shop again and again.

How can you customize your product/services for your customers? It all starts with customer focus and communication. Pay attention to what they say, get to know them better, focus and respect their needs. If the customer is open in their communication and tells you some details of their life, you can use them to include a small token gift, or maybe a discount voucher for a loved one.

Advantages of branding

Branding is the process of creating an identity for a company. It is a sustained effort in which considerable amounts of money are invested globally. What are the benefits of this process?

First of all, branding helps you get noticed. In addition to classic advertising campaigns, it includes activities such as attending relevant events in your field, organising product launches or ensuring a strong online presence. All these things help to build a positive image of your brand in the minds of potential customers.

Another important advantage of branding is that it helps you differentiate yourself from the competition and capitalize on the uniqueness of your service/product. If you have extensively and repeatedly communicated your business values, customers will prioritise you over your competition.

Disadvantages of branding

• it can be expensive and time-consuming;
• there are few actually knowledgeable branding specialists;
• a powerful brand can take years to build;
• a good branding or identity system doesn't imply instant business success.

The bottom line is that branding is important for business because it helps position, recognise and grow a company, product and service. In short, branding is how a company differentiates itself from others in the same field; branding is the emotion of the customer who sees or hears your name.