Branding can often be viewed as an oddity in business. Most business owners know they need to work on building their brand. But many are unsure about the effectiveness of doing so. Approaching an branding agency is often seen as “too risky”. But a good branding effort can deliver ROI unreachable by any other department within a business. Let’s debunk the myth that building your brand is risky business by looking at 9 key reasons why branding is so important, especially to SMEs and startups.
- Makes you recognisable: The logo design, fonts, colours, and visual styles you choose to adopt will form the foundation of your brand. They’re how customers discern you from other businesses in your field. By keeping these pillars consistent across all of your channels, you make it easier for consumers to recognise your business.
- Makes you memorable: The only way your brand is going to be recognised is if it is first remembered. Strong branding will help make this happen. There are numerous ways you can make your brand more memorable. It could be a unique combination of colours, a particularly interesting tagline, or even your unique approach to interacting with customers.
- Keeps you relevant: A good branding agency will use buyer personas to inform any brand strategies they create. These are brief descriptions of the customers most likely to want your products and services. Putting these personas at the heart of your strategy ensures all of your brand assets are relevant to your target audience. This will also make your marketing efforts more effective and engaging.
- Adds to your credibility: One of the biggest hurdles most SMEs and startups face is overcoming the various objections their target audience has. They often need to overcome the question of “why should I choose you over your big-name competitor?” By investing in the creation of professional assets, you’ll improve your credibility and build trust with your audience.
- Makes you stand out: The businesses with the most loyal customers are the ones that are best able to differentiate themselves from their competition. This is because customers perceive a strong brand as more than just a commodity. Instead, a differentiated brand that’s in tune with its target audience will become an entity that consumers can define themselves against.
- Improves consistency: One of the key factors to long-term business success is keeping a consistent customer experience across your various touchpoints. By establishing and documenting what your brand stands for, you have a framework for your employees to work toward. And, with the greater clarity of their roles, they’ll likely deliver superior customer service and help you attract more customers.
- Increases employee satisfaction: When you build a great brand, people feel proud to work for you. Naturally, this contributes to employees with a greater sense of job satisfaction. You’ll also have employees singing your praises to friends and family, and on social media. In turn, this will lead to additional positive word-of-mouth exposure.
- Raises your value: Mechanically, there’s not a huge difference between an Aston Martin and Audi. However, because of what the Aston Martin brand represents, they’re perceived as a higher value brand. This is because good branding generates a greater sense of value. It’s vital for small businesses to get this step right. They’re often competing against high-profile businesses for attention who already have strong brand value.
- Makes you more profitable: The value of many big-name companies is listed higher on the stock exchange than the sum of their assets. The reason for this is that the strength of their brand is factored into the equation. A strong brand is considered more financially valuable in the long term. Investors are interested in businesses that will bring them the most profit – which is usually the businesses with the strongest brand.
Of course, it’s easy to talk about why it’s so important to focus on branding. The real magic is in the execution. There’s an art to branding that is often refined through years of experience. If you’d like to take advantage of our experience to help your business grow, then be sure to get in touch today.