Four ways to build a strong brand that drives growth for your business
Your company’s brand is more than just a logo, a name or a tagline — it’s the face of your business. A strong brand gives you credibility in the marketplace and earns buyer trust. That’s just one reason why brand building is so important.
Great brands also attract additional buyers and keep them coming back for more. In fact, 81% say brand trust is a deciding factor in their buying decision. (Edelman)
So, what is it that makes great brands stand apart from the crowd? And how can you build a strong brand to drive business growth? Here are four key pieces of brand building advice that we share with our clients.
Know your target audience
This is a crucial component of the product development process, but it’s also essential for brand building. Sometimes we see companies fall into the trap of trying to be everything to everyone, all at once.
The best brands know exactly who their niche buyers are and what they want. They’ve invested in market research to gain a deep understanding of those audiences, and they’re laser-focused on buyer needs.
Buyer personas can be an effective tool to help you visualize who your ideal customers are. A buyer persona is a fictional customer snapshot that offers insights on key demographics, goals, challenges, interests and preferences. They make it easier to understand your audience’s needs and can help you create content that’s relevant to them.
Our brand building advice: Invest in buyer personas to build a deeper understanding of your target audience. To learn more about buyer personas, check out our blog article, Buyer Personas: 6 Keys To Better Understand Your Prospects.
Tell a consistent, cohesive story
It takes five to seven impressions before someone can recall your brand (Tailor Brands). If each impression has a wildly different look and feel or key message, that’s not a great impression at all.
Consistency breeds familiarity and trust, and it’s hard to build customer loyalty if you don’t have trust. That’s why it’s so important to ensure that your customer experience is a cohesive one across all marketing channels. Successful branding is consistent – from digital spaces like your website and social channels to customer interactions in-office or at events. Be sure to leverage your brand guidelines to reinforce a consistent identity with your visuals and message positioning.
To test your branding consistency, take a quick look at your website, LinkedIn page and a few pieces of marketing collateral. Do they look like they belong together? Are they telling the same story about who you are and what you stand for? If you’re seeing some gaps, then it’s time to dive deeper. An internal brand audit could help you better understand how your brand is perceived in the marketplace.
Our brand building advice: Consider an internal brand audit to measure the health of your brand. For more information, read our blog article, What Is an Internal Brand Audit, and Why Do You Need One?
Take a unique stand
How is your company different from the competition? What makes you unique? Some of our clients struggle to answer these questions because they haven’t articulated a compelling value proposition and/or identified true differentiators.
If you can’t describe your company’s unique purpose, then chances are your buyers won’t be able to either. And if your mission and vision aren’t coming across in your marketing efforts then you’re not standing apart from the competition. So how can you fix this? By creating a brand messaging framework.
A brand messaging framework is a document that clearly spells out what your company does, the value you provide and why prospects should choose your company over others. It’s created using input from key stakeholders, and it can be an invaluable tool to strengthen your brand identity.
Our brand-building advice: Create a brand messaging framework to help you zero in on what makes your company unique, and why your customers should care. For more details on brand messaging architecture, read our blog article, B2B Lead Generation: Why Message Positioning Matters.
Evolve your brand
Your business will grow and change over time, so your brand needs to evolve, too. Some companies have a great brand, but it no longer reflects who they are due to significant business changes. These changes could include a major acquisition or merger, or a transformational product innovation.
It’s not uncommon for major companies to undertake a total rebrand at least every 10 years. You may not need to rebrand that often, but doing a brand refresh every three to five years is a best practice.
Our brand-building advice: Take a critical look at your brand to determine if a brand refresh – or even a rebrand – is needed. For more information on how to do this, check out our blog article, Is Your Brand Outdated? Here’s What You Can Do.
The Take-Aways
If you’re looking for ways to strengthen your company’s brand, a good place to start is with these four activities:
- Leverage buyer personas to gain a deep understanding of your target audience.
- Conduct an internal brand audit to help you understand what’s working – and what’s not – when it comes to your brand.
- Build your brand architecture using insights from the buyer personas and brand audit.
- Do an occasional brand refresh to ensure your brand stays relevant – and consider a re-brand if you’ve undergone significant business changes.
The brand building advice we’ve highlighted here just scratches the surface of this crucial topic for businesses. Here at GrowthMode Marketing, we’re experts at helping our clients build brands that drive growth, and we can help you, too. Contact us today to learn more.
