“in this ever-changing society, the most powerful brands are built from the heart”

- Howard Schultz

Firstly, what is branding?

Branding is the emotional experience, the gut feeling that your customer has about your business. Branding goes beyond the logo and refers to all actions done to position your brand and connect with your customer. Branding is personal, it’s about tapping into the emotional values and building a relationship with your customer.

Branding ultimately guides your customer through brand identity, customer service, marketing, tone of voice, key messages and consistency.

The brand identity refers to all of the visual elements of your branding such as the colour, design, style, logo, packaging, typography and all of the tangible elements that represents the company’s image and makes it look recognisable and distinct.

Why is this important?

There are three main reasons branding is important to your business:

1.Branding attracts the right target audience

Branding can position your business in the perfect marketplace to appeal directly to your ideal client and speak to your target market. It communicates who you are as a company and offers the opportunity for your customers to be a part of it. As Howard Schultz says, “if people believe they share values with a company, they will stay loyal to the brand.”

2. Branding creates an emotional connection with your audience

At its core, branding is an emotional experience. We are emotional beings who crave connection and want to feel like we are part of something greater than ourselves. We are moving away from corporate brands because we crave an experience, to buy from brands that we like, that engage with us, and that share our values. Therefore, with consistent branding, we can encourage deeper connection with our customer and grow brand loyalty.

3. Branding makes you stand out in a busy marketplace

Strong branding is important as it differentiates you from the competition. In a saturated market your brand’s identity will help you stand out and be noticed by emphasising your unique points of difference and your valuable offering to your target market.

Your key take away points are:

1. Branding creates an emotional connection for the customer.

2. Branding encompasses brand identity (e.g. logo, colour, typography, packaging and other aesthetic qualities), customer service, marketing, tone of voice, key messages and consistency.

3. Strong branding attracts the right target market.

4. Emotional connection through branding results in greater brand loyalty.

5. Branding is important because it helps you stand out and be remembered in the marketplace.

If you’d like to have a chat about developing effective branding for your small business, please reach out for a chat.

Ella x

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