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Have you gone through some blogs (videos/podcasts or anything that talks to you) about ‘Branding’? And, still, does that term sound confusing like the ‘Big Bang’ theory?
Then you are at the same place where I was a few years back.
Yes, I was totally confused with definitions like — Branding is what a customer thinks about the brand.
or this — Branding is the perception of your brand in the mind of your customer.
I was not able to break down the ‘Branding’ into simple terms which I understand. So, I just went after it.
…
And, before writing this piece, I was very very confident about Branding.
Let’s see how a lazy layman like me got hold of a giant beast-like branding.
Yesss!
After working with 15 brands over their messaging, identity elements, and strategy, I have decoded the branding in the simplest terms ever.
First of all, forget what you have read. Because, branding is NOT what your customer ‘Think’, ‘Imagine’ or ‘Knows’.
What a customer thinks about your brand is the ‘End-result’ of Branding. It’s not ‘Branding’. Let me ask you a question.
What’s SEO?
What’s your answer? (googling is not allowed :p)
Is it the ‘rank of your website or landing page’?
No.
Instead, SEO is the process of optimizing your website (its content and a lot of other things) for better results on the search engine results page(SERP). The point of this analogy is to tell you that ‘Branding is a Process’. (yes, yes, yes)
What a customer perceives of your brand is the End result of a process called Branding. So, here’s our final definition.
Branding is a process that helps you shape the brand’s perception in a customer’s mind. (pretty similar to what Branding Journal says)
Like in the following story, one of the largest but frustrated competitors of HEINZ tried to discover the secret behind the popularity of HEINZ baked beans. His team organized a public experiment.
In that experiment, people enjoyed some free baked beans (Wish! I was there too).
A banner with the message — Offering FREE BAKED BEANS! was hanging and obviously, people got there like I go towards Veg Cheese(extra) burger.
Everyone was sitting in front of two different bowls of beans. They tasted one by one. No one was told about the company name of the beans. Just labeled as Bowl 1 & Bowl 2.
In the end, the results were surprising for that competitor. Because 67% of people had chosen his beans over more successful HEINZ beans.
Actually, HEINZ owns the market share of baked beans by 70%. Almost, everyone is attracted when someone says — HEINZ baked beans.
But during that experiment, no one knew the name of the brand before testing. They just had to taste to tell — what’s better?
This result was surprising only for the competitor. (Because they never thought how much impact can branding have over the taste of the product)
That’s the truth — A Better Product loses when a Good product does better Branding.
Branding makes perception trump reality. 70% of customers will choose to buy from brands they know about.
You, me, and all other humans are wired for this.
Yesss!
The part of our brain which deals with the analysis of things sends signals to the ‘decision-making’ part of the brain. And this part is as lazy as my a**. If it knows a quick way to make a decision, it forgets to analyze.
With the name of a brand, people make decisions irrespective of other factors because this lazy part doesn’t want to exercise.
All the brands in the market are fighting to impress that ‘Decision-Making’ part of your brain. You know that Apple prefers privacy but doesn’t know the actual privacy game.
I also don’t want to know the complex secrets of privacy therefore, I choose an easy way – by understanding privacy from a simple advertisement by Apple. (I love the one where all those chasers just fade away like Woosh! )
That’s how every human thinks.
And, branding strikes at this point.
Make your customer habitual of your messaging, colors, taglines, visuals, and a lot of other things — so that it’s easy for them to make decisions next time.
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If it’s a process, can everyone do branding?
Why not?
The best part of the process is that — It ends in customers’ minds but begins with your first effort. You can control the process.
Branding begins within your mind to end in the customer’s mind. If it’s not happening, there is something wrong in the pathway between you & the customer/client.
Obviously, branding is not only meant for market giants like Apple, Facebook, Tesla, or Amazon. It’s an important process for every business trying to grow and establish themselves in the market.
So far, we have tried to understand Branding and how important it is. Now, let’s dive into the ocean of branding to get a better grasp of its concepts and terms.
I get it. You are ready to do branding for your company. But where to begin?. Don’t worry, I won’t leave you clueless like sherlock holmes episodes. It’s as simple as Mr. Bean. (or Tom & Jerry, :D, I love both)
What’s the inception stage of this process and what are the following steps?
This Infographic would let you go through the flow of it.
It begins when your business takes birth. (in your mind through brain s**
Though, not for all businesses. Some businesses realize the importance of branding at a later stage while others stick with it from inception itself.
Those who realize later, have to work hard to take this rebranding message to each existing customer.
Begin with Yourself — Introspection:
Who are you?
Isn’t this the biggest question of the universe? It is and often leads to key solutions in the toughest times. (like I am a burger eating bug who talks a lot about branding)
Branding is just like Life. The more you self-introspect, the more potent you become of growing.
As a business owner, you already have done market research, you know your target audience. Only then, you started this, isn’t it? Let’s decode the Introspection.
It begins from here.
- Define your business in one line and also in one paragraph. — The WHAT of your business
- Describe your goals in the short term as well as in the long term.
- Write down the core reason for choosing this business — The WHY of your business
- Define your target audience as much as you can — their interest, demographics, and everything.
- Write down how your business helps people in the market. — The HOW of your business
Sometimes it’s hard to find the answers to these questions. That’s when you need a brand strategist. You need someone who can convert your answers into actionable solutions. Someone who has worked with other brands and knows the WHY-WHAT-HOW in better ways.
Answers to these questions let you understand whom you are targeting, what should be the methods to target such people, and what will attract them.
This lets you create a brand that will be loved by your audience.
Deep dive into the Market — Research:
Now you know about your brand. But, the place where you want it to do good in — the Market.
But, there are more players in the game. They also have done quite a stuff behind their brand. It’s your time to go deep in market research and perform competitor audits.
Try doing it for 2–3 different competitors. You will find their strengths, weaknesses, and how they are dealing with an audience that is yours too. Competitors audit also tells you how the market has been shaping over the years.
Check the social handles, websites, blogs of competitors. Subscribe to their newsletter and put efforts to know all the things they are doing. Use some SEO tools to find sources of traffic, top pages, and keywords they are ranking for.
There are multiple ways to perform a Competitor’s audit. At Qoulomb, we have many templates ready for it. Templates contain essential questions which save your time in doing an audit incredibly.
Once you know what has led your competitor to reach the inside hearts of people, you have more knowledge & better chances to get success.
They might be good at social media, google ads, influencer marketing, or something else. But once you know it, you also have the power.
If needed, always look for professional auditors. This step is very crucial not only for Branding but also for devising marketing strategies.
It’s time to roll up the sleeves — Strategy:
You know yourself. You know the market. You know the competitors. (You are one step away from the top of the mountain)
That’s enough data to manufacture a strategy to break through into the market with a bang.
Let me tell you, tools can help you get data and insights but no AI tool can help you get a good brand strategy. Trust only humans.
With the information, comes the part to analyze it.
If you know that your target audience is on Instagram, make an IG plan.
If you know your target audience belongs to Gen Z or millennials, the video format content would work.
If your business belongs to a premium category business, some golden-grey-white-black color palette would be useful.
( If you know there is one burger for free, you eat it. Simple. )
A brand strategy is a culmination of all that you know about the audience and their interest. You want to shape your brand inclined with the preferences of an audience so that they always like you, follow you, and do business with you.
Along with the client’s interest, the brand strategy depends on how you perceive your business. Do you want to be known for quantity or quality, creativity or traditional, experimental or safe playing?
Here, let’s list the key elements of any brand strategy
- A brand’s message or promise to the audience. This message is core and should be consistent across any form of content. Web copy, Social media copy, newsletters, and other areas.
Example: — Qoulomb is the SI Unit of Content. We give creative, crazy marketing strategies for Startups to grow 10X with a 0.5X budget. - A style guide or Design Identity guide. It’s like putting clothes over your personality. You choose the colors, fonts, shapes, and everything which can make it look like it sounds. The design should complement the message and vice versa.
Design Identity guide includes — logo, letterheads, business cards, social media templates, web design layout, and much more. - The list of goals. These goals are going to drive your marketing strategies in a certain direction. Key progress indicators(KPIs) are sticky elements with goals. Never write down a goal without the KPI associated with it. If you can’t measure, you can’t grow.
Example — Increase the website visitors by 2X, Increase the social media followers by 10K, Increase the conversion from all channels by 2X. - The content marketing plan. Content Production is strictly done based on branding guidelines. The creation of visuals, videos, or blogs should be the next step of branding. It prepares you to launch the marketing campaigns and reach out to the target audience.
Push the brand towards the king — ‘your customer’ — Execution:
It’s time when branding gets its only partner in the journey towards the customer which is — Marketing. Branding works at the back-end when marketing takes over.
Marketing strategies can include any of the following
- Social Media Marketing
- SEO
- Email Marketing
- Influencer Marketing & Collaboration
- Ads
- Shows, Seminars, Webinars
- Running offers, discounts on special occasions
But, all of them should follow the messaging, design style, and goals described during the process of Branding. (Only chase the burger, not the buns)
You follow the principles, be consistent with branding, and eventually, your end-user will remember you for it.
Don’t let your sales team go in other directions than the marketing team or content production team. Ensure you have a brand guide on their desks and they read it daily. (if they have memory loss)
Once You know your brand, your team understands the values, it becomes easy to convey the same to your customers. After all, your team is going to talk to customers, give support to them and represent your brand.
Is branding clear for you now than ever? For me, this journey of revelation was breathtaking. During discussions with clients, I always bring the basics into the game and they love it!
Do you think you can jump into a discussion regarding the same? Let’s jump into a call that will eliminate any sort of confusion and bring more clarity and peace.
