Specializing in Strategic Communication Planning, Brand Engineering, Image Management & Issue Management, Geeta has served several leading media houses before donning the entrepreneur hat.
Back in the day, garnering recognition for your business was easy. The market was run by oligarchs and the number of brands that offered a particular product or service could be counted on one hand. But things have changed now. The free market has blossomed and there are so many brands in existence today that you can hardly keep track of them all. Not to mention that new ones are being added to the list every day. While a free market is good for the economy, it creates a problem for individual businesses – and that is recognition. How can you make your brand stand out from the competition? What can you do to make sure that people will remember your brand?
This is where branding comes into place. Branding is a marketing technique that involves creating a name, symbol, or design that is easily identifiable as belonging to the company. Branding helps you to create a distinct identity and sets you apart from your competitors by making you easily recognizable. Branding not only helps you leave a great impression on your customers but it also gives your customers an idea about what you’re offering and what they should expect from you. In essence, branding helps your customers see and perceive your business the way you see and perceive it.
Several dimensions can be explored when doing branding for a business. From advertising to customer service to logo design – the options are plenty.
Why is Branding Important?
In this age of cutthroat competition, branding can be the key to catapulting your business towards success. It can have a positive impact on people’s perception of your brand, which, in turn, would bring more people to your business.
It makes You Recognizable
You must have heard the adage “What’s in a name?”
The answer is “A lot!”
When people are deciding part away with their hard-earned money in exchange for a product or service, they want it to go to someone they can trust – and people rarely trust someone they don’t know.
By investing in branding, you can change that. If you get together with marketing experts and brainstorm ideas that would make your brand appear unique and recognizable, you’ll significantly increase your chances of being remembered by people.
Helps increase Brand Value
Branding pays quite lucratively in the long run. It helps you establish a strong presence in the market, which works quite well when you’re trying to generate future business. If your brand is well-recognized in your domain, investors would be more likely to show interest in it.
Helps tap into new Customer Bases
There is no better marketing technique than word of mouth. People are more likely to buy products and services from companies that they’ve been recommended by their friends or family members. But people would refer you to others only if they remember you in the first place. A strong branding campaign ensures that you become distinctly recognizable in your domain. After that, if you’re providing the quality that you’re advertising, people would come to you, and more importantly, they would stay with you. Once your brand is well-established, word of mouth would serve as your best advertising strategy.
Improves Employee Satisfaction
Running a successful business in this day and age is hard work, and a major share of that work is carried out by the employees in the organization. When these people invest 8 to 9 hours of their day, year after year in an organization, they want to see their hard work manifest into success and recognition. Multiple surveys demonstrate that at the same pay grade, the employees that work for well-recognized brands are more satisfied and proud of their work as compared to the employees that work for lesser-recognized brands.
Makes your Brand Trustworthy
A well thought out branding strategy will help the company build trust with customers, investors, vendors, and other stakeholders. People are always eager to do business with companies that have a reputation in the market.
If your brand is well-known, it gives off the impression that you are experts in your chosen field and that makes people trust you. Anyone who knows anything about marketing would know that trust is the magical ingredient that can skyrocket business to success.
Allows you to Command higher prices & Increase Profitability
One of the major benefits of branding is that you can increase your profit margin by increasing the prices of your products and services. People pay good money for what they believe are premium products and services, and if your brand has a good reputation in the market, it wouldn’t be too difficult for you to increase your prices without losing your customers.
By investing in branding, you can open doors to a plethora of possibilities for growth and development. The important thing to keep in mind is to associate with the right people and craft customized strategies for maximum impact.
