Why is branding such a big deal? it’s just a name, right? Very very wrong! When a customer mentally attaches a positive experience and a good reputation of a job well done by the business to a brand makes that brand strong and powerful.
Your brand is the most powerful thing you can build. If it can become synonymous with your industry, you can become the go-to, the authority, and the leader. This is why we still use names like Band-Aid and Kleenex, not because that’s what they are, they are actually adhesive bandages and facial tissue. It’s because those companies attached their brand so strongly to these items we still use the brand name to describe the product even if it’s from a competitor. Wouldn’t you want customers using your brand name to describe your competitors’ products!
Creating different looking packaging can cause major brand misrecognition.
Consider this; people need to interact with 7-12 different touchpoints of your business before they usually make a sale. That means they need to hear or see your message that many times before they think of purchasing. Think of it in your own life. How many times have you first heard of something and bought it right away? Seldom. Usually, purchases are made after seeing an advert on tv. Then a billboard on the street and a radio spot in the car, and so on until the customer feels like this message is everywhere. Even a mention from a couple of friends makes one think “I should probably check this out”. It’s building trust. So say you put out 12 ads or anything the public sees (email campaigns, Instagram post, etc) and they all look slightly different with different text and colours, etc. Then you’re going to need even more touchpoints before these different interactions add up for your customer. Because the different approaches feel like a different company or product. This is why staying cohesive and consistent is important in branding.
Seeing these very cohesive ads at many different touchpoints vastly strengthens the brand.
So what really makes a brand? It’s more than just a name, however, that is truly important. It is a feeling, a persona. Think of people like Beyonce or Madonna. They are brands in themselves even without a recognisable logo or tagline. Because they have built a consistent reputation and created value behind their name. But for those of us that don’t have immediate fame, we will have to build our brand, which takes work. The first step is to come up with a recognisable image. It could be a word or name but it should be presented uniquely and memorably. The best approach is to find a word that is memorable yet different and creative, but not too different to be difficult to remember or say. Words like google or yahoo are short, fun, and easy.
Before we go further it is important to consider colour psychology. Using your favourite colour may be important to you, but your customers and everyone other than your mother will not care one bit. We have all be trained to associate things with colour. Like red for fast, and energy. Which is why many fast-food restaurants use it. Blue is known for stability and trust which is why it’s used by many banks. Colours have meanings that must be considered when building your brand. Ok back to creating your mark.
Colour is a very important factor in psychology and what your brand means.
Creating something recognisable seems daunting but becoming recognisable only means it has been seen over and over. The people in your circle who interact with your brand enough and are within the reach of your marketing will eventually come to know your brand. That being said it’s important to create a logo that is reminiscent of other brands in your industry. When the subconscious mind sees enough hospital logos it knows the feel and look of a hospital logo. If the style of the hospital logo says fresh burgers then something is off in the back of the mind. We want to be different but need to fit in enough to be perceived for what we are as a brand.
These logos feel strange because they say one thing and look like another. Even without medical or food imagery.
Brands also need to be versatile. This is even more important now with social media and websites requiring profile images and banners and many are not the same size. A great example of a versatile logo is Coca-Cola. They have Coke for a need in a small space they have Coca-Cola for the main brand and they have the swoosh that goes under the Coca and through the L of Cola. In all of these situations, you immediately know which brand this is.
Coke is very versatile but maintains the recognition.
Once you have your brand down make sure you set up some guidelines on how to use it. Because a brand does not mean anything if it is inconstantly used. Then it just becomes a word or a picture. Brands grow strong when they are consistently represented. It is why we can see the Coca-Cola red colour and immediately know what brand that is. A style guide on your brand should say things like what background is acceptable so your logo is always represented on white (for example) instead of on any background that could be mistaken for your brand. The type size of your logo. The amount of space between your logo and other text etc. It should be an instruction manual on how to use your brand.
Proper brand guidelines show what not to do and what is correct as well.