Technological and digital advancements have turned business competition fierce. Each day thousands of start-ups are born but sadly not many of them survive for long. What separates survivors from victims, and then turns survivors into winners is a strong go-to-market (GTM) strategy. As you study the key parts of a GTM, you conclude that a strong focus on branding marketing is what all of this comes down to.
In other words, you can have the greatest product in the market but it’s how you sell it to the right people, at the right place, at the right time, at the right price, and in the right ways that will matter in the end.
In this article, we discuss 3 steps every business must take to build a strong brand, earn prominence, and attract the most users.
1. Destroy the Box
Related: Why Is Branding So Important In This Decade?
It’s your decision that decides the future of your brand. The first ever step for branding is to decide whether you want to be a part of the crowd or you want your brand to stand out and look unique. It’s not an easy decision. Both paths have their own risks and rewards. But as Thomas Jefferson said:
Glory doesn’t come to the weak and the fortune only favors the bold. So, you need to think bigger than ever to make your move and then keep updating your plan to stay ahead of everyone in the league.
Business News Daily states, “Unusual businesses have an advantage over others in that most consumers can’t look elsewhere for what they offer.” But even if you are some usual business that has many competitors and contemporaries, you need to plan out how you can look different.
Because it’s the perspective that counts. Didn’t we have sports shoes before Nike or a computer before Apple? The same goes for every other renowned brand around the world you can name. McDonald’s, Google, GE, Verizon, and many others. What they produced wasn’t much different from what the prevailing market was offering except for one little thing: Their USPs (Unique Selling Propositions).
And that ended up making all the difference.
2. Spread Awareness
Once your brand’s perspective is defined, it is time to plan how to portray and convey the message to your targeted audience. This message helps you frame your brand’s personality, which makes the brand easily approachable for your targeted audience.
Here are a couple of things to do.
a) Create a visual identity
“First impression is the last one”.
It may be an old proverb, but it is one of the most common and acceptable facts of human nature.
Studies tell us that it often takes as little as a tenth of a second or up to 30 seconds to make a first impression. And if that first impression is positive about one trait — This brand’s logo looks really good! — then that positive sentiment will be extended to other traits as well — If they have put such an effort into the logo looking good, they must be a hardworking, professional brand!
This is called the ‘halo effect’. You can make this psychological bias work for you by creating a smashing logo design and winning people to your side.
Remember that human beings process visual information much faster than textual. So, your logo design, as a visual cue, is your strongest asset to make a positive first impression.
Leverage this power by creating an effective and meaningful logo for your brand. Something that personalizes and humanizes your brand, is unique to you and has a pleasant aesthetic appeal. If you are a startup and worried about logo design costs, AI-powered logo maker tools are an incredibly efficient option to get a perfect logo design for your newly launched brand.
Here’s a look at 7 logo design principles to keep in mind when you finalize your brand’s visual identity.
- Simple
- Memorable
- Timeless
- Versatile
- Scalable
- Combination Mark
- Unique
b) Attach your brand slogan to it
“Just do it.”
“Finger lickin’ good.”
“Think different.”
Do I have to say more to help you guess which brands am I talking about?
I think not. Good slogans represent their brands by being catchy, meaningful, short, and personal. They verbalize your brand promise in just 2-3 short words and tell your customers what they can expect from you.
A good and thoughtful brand slogan can work wonders for your brand in terms of making it popular, associating heartfelt qualities with it, and turning it into a brand mantra. When creating your brand slogan, think of the words, metaphors, phrases, or even rhyming words that best represent your brand’s soul and character.
Then use those words as your brand’s tagline and make them spread your message far and wide.
3. Be Social
There is no use in working hard to create your brand message if you are not going to make it public. The best rule of selling anything is to be there where your customer is and what could be a better place than social media?
In 2024, it has almost become mandatory for any business to have an effective social marketing strategy. In the US, 91% of businesses use social media to market their products, services, and brands.
Percentage of businesses engaged in social media marketing. Source: Statista
And their efforts are not going in vain. According to statistics gathered by WebFX:
- 1 in 3 users that watch videos on social media watch videos from brands.
- 96% of users who follow brands on social media interact with those brands.
- 87% of users visit a brand’s site or app after following them on social media.
- 80% of users get advice about a product purchase through social media.
- 78% of users visit a brand’s physical store when they follow them on social media.
- 78% of users talk about brands they follow on social media to friends and family.
- 77% of users buy from brands they follow on social media.
- 74% of shoppers use social media when making a purchase decision.
Even this little snapshot is enough to give you an idea of the commanding effect social media has on people’s brand-related behaviors. They want their favorite brands to be on social media, they want to engage with them there, watch their videos, recommend them to family and friends, buy from them, and consult with other brand followers when making purchase decisions.
Not being on social media in this climate — or not being active on it — is an extreme disadvantage you are putting your brand in. Remember, social media is free, and achieving prominence there would only require hard work that would pay off in $2.80 ROI.
a) Keep promoting
Well, your work doesn’t end with establishing a healthy reputation for your business.
You need to keep promoting it consistently and innovatively to stay ahead of the competition and deliver your customers’ expectations. This way, you can ensure that customer experience metrics remain positive and customer satisfaction stays high.
Social media can be your biggest ally here. Through platforms like Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, and others, you can keep in direct touch with your consumers, show off your expertise plus your unique personality, and get a chance to respond to your customers’ queries in real-time.
You can also use social media to create a community of your brand followers, where you can keep one-to-one contact with them, know their needs and expectations, collect reviews, and offer special discounts to promote your business and keep your clients returning to you. In addition to social media, you can also use live audio streaming software to have a real-time interaction with your followers, share insights, answer questions, and maintain an engaging connection with your audience.
b) Be consistent
Last but not least, branding your business requires consistency.
You need to find an edge over others to stand out from a sea of other brands that may offer similar products or services.
How do you ensure all eyes stay on you?
By upgrading and doing it consistently.
These upgrades should be entrenched in your business practices plus product/service innovation. Only then it will make sense to communicate that progress through visual changes like logo redesigns or website revamps.
Consistency also emerges as key when you talk about visual elements of your brand identity. Being consistent in your design, staying on theme, and speaking from a voice that’s aligned with brand values is how you establish strong branding for your business.
In a Nutshell: Get Noticed!
Consistently delivering the highest quality of service and experience is what will get you noticed. And if you have a great visual design to guide your brand identity, you already have a foot in the door before your brand even starts to speak!
