The business world is not always meritocratic. The best services and products sometimes lose out to their inferiors, and brand identity has a big role to play in this.
People are not always going to research the best providers of what they need. In many cases, they will choose whichever brand comes most easily to mind that they think can fulfil their need. The fact that they have remembered the brand can give them confidence, as they think “well I’ve heard of them, so they must be good.”
This is why, no matter how superior your offerings, memorable branding is essential. Here are some steps you can take to help win the competition for your customers’ minds.
- Know your audience: Make sure you understand the demographic you are serving well, so that you can craft a brand identity that appeals to them. This means knowing their demographic information, such as age, gender, nationality, profession, and income, but it also means understanding their needs. Surveys and focus groups can help with this. By collecting this information, or by enlisting the help of specialists such as Rivyl – your local brand design studio or marketing team should be able to help you create an identity that appeals to your customers.
- Know the experience you’re selling: It doesn’t matter if you’re providing a product or a service, your customers are going to have some kind of emotional experience with it, and your branding should help set their expectations for that. For example, if you are a law firm, you want your brand identity to be reassuringly professional and serious, not bubbly and fun. The opposite may be true for a candy manufacturer.
- Appeal to new customers: Every branding and design decision you take, from your company name to your logo and any text you write, should be guided by what you want someone’s first experience with your brand to be. As a minimum, you will want people new to your brand to remember your company name, your area of business, and how you compete with others, e.g. are you cheaper, faster, or better quality than everyone else?
- Be consistent: All your employees and departments should share your brand vision, so take steps to make sure that the language and visual elements of everyone’s communications with customers are consistent with your brand identity. Many companies use a brand style guide to do this.
People discover brands in many different ways, often when they are not intentionally looking for them. But when they need your product or service later, memorable branding helps make sure they consider you first.
