Many small businesses often overlook branding efforts. That can be explained by the fact that they view themselves as a business and not a brand.

Truth be told, branding is essential, no matter the size of your business. This is because it increases your business’s value, motivates your employees, gives them direction, as well as attracts new customers.

To better use branding’s best practices, it is important to understand how to develop the foundation of your brand for maximum effect.

What is Branding in Business?

When thinking of identifying your business, branding always comes to mind. It is the way your customers perceive and recognize the experience your business is offering. It requires more than just a logo to build a strong brand, there are multiple elements that need to be well-defined and built.

Your branding is what sets your business apart from your competitors. It gathers the qualities, strengths, and personality of your business.

In the early stages of starting a business, it is preferred to consider branding. Launching a business with a strong brand will give you a greater chance of success.

Why is Branding important?

Branding plays an important role in your business success. It helps your brand gain recognition that improves user experience, increases customer trust, and reduces price sensitivity. A well-established brand can help you build brand loyalty because your business will become one your consumers can trust. It will also help increase your brand awareness and help people connect with your company, which can drive more sales and draw like-minded people to your brand.

Types of Branding

Before thinking of branding your business, ask yourself this: what are the types of branding? How do I know which type of branding I should go for? And how do I know it is the right choice?

Businesses worldwide use different types of branding, and while all of these types are important, they cannot be used simultaneously. Simply because each and every type has its own set of objectives and guidelines.

Personal branding

Personal branding is one of the smartest strategies you can implement ****to develop a brand identity. The biggest benefit of personal branding is that you can leverage your existing fame to get more business.

Corporate branding

This one focuses on the look and the success of a business. It involves everything, including the products, services, employees, name, suppliers, and every other possible connection to the company.

Product branding

This is one of the most commonly used types of branding. It is based on your product. And for that, you can see this type everywhere, expressed through various colors, images, illustrations, and words.

Co-branding

Co-branding is a branding collaboration that involves at least two companies. This type requires combining brand awareness, strength, positive connotations, and cachet to attract customers.

No-brand branding

This approach presumes that a product alone is enough to attract consumers without having to rely on branding. So, instead of paying more than necessary for branded products, consumers have direct access to affordable products of which the quality speaks for itself.

Geographical branding

This type of branding considers the geographic conventions of the target audience to brand the business. Geographical branding focuses on an area’s geographical aspects to get customers and increase the revenue being generated.

Elements of Branding

A successful brand is always well-determined and adds value to the market. You might wrongly think that if you have a tagline and business card, branding is complete. But, the truth is that the process of branding is complete only when you have carefully outlined and considered the following five key elements:

Logo

A brand business logo design is a symbol, image, or drawing. It represents the first introduction to consumers. If designed well, it can capture the attention and interest of the public, wanting to know more about the company.

Brand imagery

Brand imagery, also known as the mental picture of a brand, refers to the result of all images that represent your brand’s identity. The images that construct any brand imagery can appear in diverse forms; billboards, social media, websites, newspapers, and magazines.

Brand personality

A company’s brand personality takes an emotional approach to elicit a certain response in a well-defined consumer segment. It shapes the way people feel about your product or service. And that to incite positive actions that benefit your brand.

Brand tone of voice

A brand’s tone of voice highlights two elements: voice and tone. Your company’s voice describes its personality and is consistent. As for your company’s tone, it refers to the emotional inflection applied to your voice and can differ from one particular message to another.

Brand guidelines

A brand’s guidelines are the rules and standards that communicate the way your brand should be represented to the world. It basically includes your brand’s history, mission, values, and vision. As well as your color palette, design elements, fonts, text sizes, tone of voice and grammar rules.

Summary

To achieve their objectives, many businesses implement several types of brand strategies. So what is exactly a Brand Strategy? What type should we consider? And how can we make sure we develop the right strategy for our business?

Stay tuned for our upcoming article to learn all about the branding methods and essential elements of a Brand Strategy.

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