Getting branding right in 2016

When it comes to making your business a success, intelligent branding is a must. While branding techniques and opportunities have grown a lot in recent years, they haven’t matched customers’ insatiable desire for a seamless brand experience. It’s estimated that the average consumer is bombarded with anywhere from 3000-5000 branded messages per day, meaning that simply getting your brand or message seen is no longer enough.

These days, branding has to be about more than just standing out – it has to establish a connection and build a relationship with your customers. Consumers have greater access to information than ever before, so making sure your branding is effective and stays positive means taking a comprehensive approach.

Get your head around your touch-points

Your ‘touch-points’ are all the places in which stakeholders interact with your brand and business. These include social media, email, website content, packaging, phone calls, business cards – the list goes on. Essentially, every time a consumer sees, talks to, hears or interacts in any way with someone or something associated with your brand, the messaging they receive has to be on target and in keeping with who you are as a business.

Know who you are and the best way to communicate it

For your branding to be successful in practice, you need to be all over your brand in theory. In recent years, consumers have becoming increasingly aware and suspicious of the marketing and advertising techniques thrown their way, which means you have to approach your brand as a concept and your branding efforts with pinpoint accuracy. Start by establishing exactly what you want your brand to be known for – are you about value? Sophistication? Rarity? Fun? Class? Maturity? Youth? Once you’re clear on your brand attributes, get to work finding the clearest way to communicate them (and consider how you can communicate them through all your touchpoints). Be wary, though – you’d be ill advised to try and be something you’re not. Given their constant exposure to branded messages, consumers are looking for honesty and authenticity in the brands they choose to buy from.

The devil is in the details

Once you’ve identified all your possible touchpoints and established a clear picture of what your brand is about, it’s time to combine the two. Make sure that every single touchpoint is accurately communicating your brand attributes, and don’t let any fall through the cracks! Companies with hugely successful branding pay attention to every last detail, leaving their customer with the right impression no matter where the consumer and brand are meeting. Take Apple as an example. Innovation is one of their biggest brand attributes, and they make sure that everything from their products to their packaging to their spokespeople to their billboards are innovative. While the big picture is important, getting the small details right in terms of branding is really what makes or breaks a brand. It shows effort, dedication and consistency – something consumers really value!

In essence, branding is about staying true to who you are as a business. Establish just what this means for you and your business, and then make sure those attributes are what comes across when consumers interact with your brand in any and every way. It’s both that easy and that hard!

Need help with your branding? Hype Creations is a creative digital marketing agency in Brisbane, and we can help with any and every stage of the branding process!