Introduction
Today we’re going to be discussing the necessity of branding your business in today’s competitive pool of businesses, in this we’ll take a look at what I consider to be the 4 Reasons To Brand Your Business.
Author Coretta-Jayde lays out these 4 reasons on Instagram @adzeptcreatives but we’re going to explore these concepts a little further as we go on an adventure into the world of Business Branding and the role it plays in taking your business from zero to hero.
This year marks the 30th anniversary of The Big Bang of Information, an era that has more commonly been called “The Information Age”.
With the explosion of the internet and the use of Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and other Social Media platforms, the need for branding your business has become more and more important as time has progressed.
With more and more companies taking advantage of the Information Age and making use of Social Media, the need to stick out among a sea of Businesses is more necessary than ever before.
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1. Credibility
“Dress for the job you want, not the job you have” – Batman
No, Batman didn’t really say that, but the concept and principles behind the words are true nonetheless. A business brand builds credibility among your existing customer base and potential customers alike.
Trust among the two classes is incredibly important and said trust is built by the aura you give off, perhaps not you as an individual but the influence and your brand has on your clienteles.
Two options:
1. Buy from the guy selling from the boot of his car or;
2. Buy from a store across the road but at 2x the price. Most probably the latter, and why? Why is this the case with most people?
Because trust is key – trust that the product is authentic, of a better quality and quite frankly – who wants to part ways with Benjamin Franklin to someone who’s product isn’t tried and tested?
Trust between you and your customer is what keeps them coming and breaking that barrier of hesitancy on the part of potential customers is what a good brand can do for you.
Brand credibility has taints of psychological dimensions at play when wooing customers into buying your product or service. The reason they come is because of the reasons you give them to come, they being code-word for buyers (we don’t want them knowing we’re messing with them psychologically 😉).
However true all this is, credibility doesn’t exist overnight. Credibility needs to be built, Thomas Smale has a nice article which you can find at https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/289167 which discusses 5 key talking points on how to earn that brand credibility.
2. Makes you look BIGGER
As any new kid on the block will tell you, being a krill in a sea of whales is not where you want to be as a business even in the early stages. “But I am a krill Curtis” you tell me, “Well put on a whale costume then, duh”.
The art of persuasion is fundamental in the business environment and as deceptive as it may seem, it works! Branding gives the impression that you swim with the big boys, that you have a seat at the big people’s table.
I remember driving through London once and I looked up on the wall of a Sports Shop and saw the iconic sports brands we’ve all become accustomed to over the years, Nike, Puma, Adidas and what came next is what piqued my interest, New Balance.
Example
New Balance – a name who lot so long ago didn’t exist, but here it was; sitting at the big peoples table, it’s name was next to the likes of Nike and Adidas. And that’s what branding can do – it puts you in a class above your pay grade before you start earning the wage.
This tip has it’s place with that of the first one we mentioned; credibility. Branding your business to make it look bigger creates credibility because I can assure you, when I saw New Balance next to that Nike logo I immediately thought, “Hey, maybe I should try a pair of New Balance kicks”.
That sense of trust was already instilled without needing to buy the product initially, what ensued is another story.
I’m sure you’ve all heard of American Express, well Mike Michalowicz, columnist for American Express’ online presence, goes into the very nature of this point highlighting things we’ve discussed regarding the necessity of making your business look BIG and how to do so.
What differentiates this from lying is that you’re not looking to deceive but as Mike Michalowicz puts it, you’re merely “puffing the chest” and “tippy toe walking” in the right places, at the right time, in front of the right prospects.” And that’s precisely what Branding does for you.
3. Customer Attraction
The woman in the red dress, ah yes – The Matrix. In The Wachowskis’ first installment of The Matrix there’s a scene where Neo is walking down the street in The Matrix and a woman wearing a red dress catches his eye.
This later gets explained to Neo as being a simulation created by one of those on the team to catch the attention of anyone joining The Matrix. And that’s exactly what you need to do when starting your business.
The Business world is just another Matrix and you need to be able to stick out and be able to draw potential customer’s attention, you need to plug in a girl in a red dress and that’s what branding does for your business.
Business branding draws customer’s attention from the known to the unknown, but when embarking on this path with this in mind it’s important to be tactful with your branding.
You don’t want to create a brand that nobody will care to look at, no, you need to create exactly what I said before – something that sticks out like a sore thumb.
The right branding strategies when deployed effectively play the role of bait to your catch. No bait, no catch, no catch…no supper. And if you want that supper, best be sure you’re going to need that bait.
Growing your brand is equally important as having a brand in the first place, as mentioned earlier. We’re living in the information age where Social Media companies are being exploited by the big and powerful to achieve the same goals you’re looking to, they just got a head start.
Attracting new customers can be achieved using said means (i.e using Social Media) and the seemingly more archaic way of doing things, word of mouth.
However archaic it seems – it works! Word of mouth is one of the best ways to grow your base about your business. Word of mouth gives your brand that personal touch as opposed to some computer screen telling me to buy this or invest in that.
Creating a brand that has that interpersonal touch and feel to it is essential to winning over new clienteles.
4. Makes You Memorable
The last thing we’re going to touch on is the capacity of branding your business to etch memories into the minds of the populous. The richest man in the world Jeff Bezos has this to say about branding “Your brand is what people say about you when you’re not in the room”.
One of the most famous brands in the clothing industry has found it’s way into contemporary pop culture dialogue; “Look at you sis, you’re looking Gucci in that dress” – The Gucci brand is so famous that it’s unwittingly become an adjective among today’s youth and why is that?
Why?
Because branding makes you and your business memorable, memorable to the audience when you aren’t in their presence, as Jeff Bezos so beautifully points out.
The best things about branding your business in this sea of competition is the capacity of your brand to distinguish you from your competitors and highlight these distinguishable characteristics in a unique and memorable way.
Drawing from entrepreneur.com again, Usman Khalid dwells on ‘Five Key Elements That Define Memorable Brands’. Two points of his stand out for me and that is the ability of a brand to give you and identity.
It tells a story and this is precisely what you need to carve your name among the greats as the iconic Memorable brands in the decades to come.
Final Thoughts
These 4 reasons to brand your business I believe are indispensable, the need to create credibility to win potential and keep existing customers is unbelievably important.
When you start out you’re a krill among whales but you need to get to the point of being a whale among whales and branding does that for in more ways than one, if you just look the part.
After acquiring a seat at the big people’s table you need to be able to attract attention and that’s what the girl in the red dress does.
If your brand attracts enough attention to keep you at the big people’s table, it will etch itself into history and make something memorable out of nothing.
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