Unlike popular opinion, branding doesn’t end at designing a new logo, a new website and some aesthetically similar creatives for a business; it starts there!
When it comes to branding, keeping all your design elements in place and consistent across all your marketing efforts is vital to leave an impact.
However, at its core, branding is more about the quality of experience your business provides at every consumer touchpoint; understanding your true business philosophy and shoring it with the world; fulfilling all your business promises and keeping alive your distinctive work culture.
In the digital sphere, there are many misconceptions about what branding is and what all branding agencies do when they say they provide ‘branding services‘ to their clients.
Moreover, with most agencies usually placing a hefty price tag on their branding services, many entrepreneurs keep the idea of hiring a dedicated branding agency for their business at the backseat or ditch the idea entirely, thinking that they would be better off doing it in-house.
Which should not be the case!
Rebranding or developing a positive brand image from the ground up of a business is not a walk in the park; it takes a great deal of time and efforts to do it correctly.
You need to figure out who your customers are, the purpose of your business, what it stands for, and highlight it in the best light possible and then standardise it across all your communications, all the while keeping it consistent everywhere.
Also, there’s much thought that goes into branding a business and doing it in-house will only do more harm than good.
It’s a full-fledged task that needs it’s own dedicated resources to do it well and relying on a trusted branding agency is, most of the time, the best decision you could take for developing a positive brand image.
In the long-run, teaming up with a respectable branding agency is one of the best things you could do to increase your business exposure.
How? Let’s look at some ways a branding agency can help with improving the visibility of your business.
1 – Practical experience of working in many industries
When you hire a branding agency, like us, who has hands-on experience of branding businesses in diverse industries, the knowledge gained after working with such clients helps achieve a better perspective of how branding works best in general, irrespective of the business niche you are in.
Moreover, after working continuously in many industries and seeing the results of their efforts first-hand, these agencies know what works best and what doesn’t for a specific sector.
Which throws a lot of A/B testing out of the way and saves much time which can be allocated to further work on other branding efforts for a client.
2 – Makes it easier for consumers to remember you
As we said before, a brand is more than a name, image or logo design.
It has its own unique personality that sets it apart from the competition.
Like us, brands also have a way of communicating with their consumers, expressing their values, have moral characteristics and may have some stories to share as well.
Working on the visual identity of your business including logos, website, advertisements, product and packaging designs and setting it apart from your competitors, while still staying true to your brand can make you stand out.
So when a consumer readily recognises your product from all the available choices, there’s a certain level of familiarity that makes it comfortable for them to do business with you.
This familiarity soon turns to trust when you’re easily recognisable and are known to provide top-notch services every time.
3 – Helps you emotionally connect with consumers
Consumers don’t engage with your business because they got impressed by your marketing efforts, they might be, but that’s not what influenced their decision to purchase your product in the first place.
Chances are there were some emotions behind it.
According to Logan Chierotti, an Inc. columnist:
‘Luxury goods target our feelings of self-worth, acceptance, and status in the world. Communication devices excite us by offering a connection to friends, family, and a broader network of people. Athletic brands inspire by offering adventure and glory through the act of competition. Moreover, many other products, such as perfume, cologne and lingerie, target emotions related to love, relationships, and sexual desires.’
The study also suggests that as much 95% of the purchase decisions of consumers are influenced by emotions.
Almost all branding agencies are well aware of this fact and play with their branding efforts until they hit the sweet spot when it comes to triggering the right emotions of consumers and make a lasting impact.
Your brand values, social ethics and work culture also play an essential role in building an emotional connection with your consumers based on how they felt after knowing about these elements of your brand.
We think that’s why most of the branding agencies focus on figuring out and defining your core business values first before starting with their branding efforts.
4 – Differentiates your brand from the competition
The essence of branding is in standing out from the crowd and becoming easily recognisable even in fiercely competitive markets.
Consumers don’t build relationships with products, but are loyal and committed to the brands they recognise and love.
The packaging of your product, your logo, your voice and your business values are some of the differentiating factors that can make you stand out and shine in the eyes of your consumers, making them choose your business over others.
5 – Focused creativity
When you team up with a branding agency that is dedicatedly working on enhancing your business image, you get the benefit of having a bunch of strategic, creative and experienced minds collaborating with you.
Usually, agencies have brand strategists, designers, writers, illustrators and other required talents in-house, which naturally cultivates bold and compelling ideas.
Compare that to doing it all by yourself with the help of your own in-house designers and writers who are already burdened with finishing their own tasks and possess limited knowledge about how branding works.
Creativity is hampered when it comes to burdening in-house teams with branding work, and you don’t want that when you are working on creating a new identity for your brand.
6 – Drives consistency
Being consistent is one of the cornerstones of maintaining a positive brand image and is possibly the biggest hiccup for businesses when it comes to branding themselves.
Most businesses lack consistency in their marketing efforts and brand voice making it work against them.
However, a branding agency with experience must be well aware of the power of consistency and the impact it can have on your consumers.
Being consistent with your name, strategy, the tone of voice, social media, website, colour schemes, logo and everything else is indeed vital to see your branding efforts bore some fruit.
7 – Helps you grow
“Your brand is the most important investment you can make in your business.”
– Steve Forbes, American Publishing Executive.
According to a Mckinsey and company study, strong brands outperform others by as much as 20%, and a company’s brand is responsible for almost 5-7% of their market capitalisation.
The bottom line is, a company with a strong brand presence will always perform better than the ones who don’t have one.
Yes, with time, it will have to adapt according to the prevailing situations and environment to survive, but those brands which are flexible enough to adapt to those changes will be the winners.
Just look at Coca-Cola, Cadbury & Levi’s Strauss, and you’ll know what I am talking about.
Continually working on enhancing the consumer perception of your brand is a road that’ll make your business reach new heights, sooner or later.
However, you’ll have to be consistent with your efforts.
When it comes to gaining exposure for your brand, it sure is a slow process that takes much effort to do correctly but once done right; it can send a myriad of consumers to your door and continue to do so till the end of time.
Bringing in many sales is what branding is all about, are you ready for it?
Can a Branding Agency help you?
Branding, today, is much more than a fancy marketing term.
It has become an integral part of every startup’s quest to stardom.
Also, it has all the reasons to be; it’s just that important.
Establishing and maintaining a positive brand image is, hands-down, one of the best ways to retain your existing consumers and attract new ones at the same time.
Creating a green cycle that keeps on luring in new eyes towards your business.
With those eyes bringing in more eyes by acting as your brand advocates.
The way consumers perceive your brand makes all the difference when it comes to making sales.
So, make sure your brand is easily recognisable, has a consistent brand voice and sparks some emotion in your consumers to stay at the top of their minds, every time!