In the wide clutter of paid ads, social media marketing, and onsite content, there’s one factor that offers more visibility against your competitors, and that is branding. When I explain the benefits of branding, you’ll soon realize why.
So, what is branding?
Branding is one of the pillars in a wide marketing pool that elevates your brand and takes it to the next level.
People often confuse branding with marketing; however, they’re quite different. Marketing helps brands promote their business, products, and services; while, branding shapes the brand.
The benefits of branding are undoubtedly unstoppable for building a strong brand. Branding is a backbone for marketing, and advertising and every business should get the most out of it.
Branding is the strategy businesses use to create the very first impression on customers, and it also affects the employees.
What are the other advantages of branding are there? Read more to find out.
The Compelling Benefits of Branding
There are many ways a brand benefits from the benefits of branding. It’s why branding is here to stay and do better.
1. Uniqueness in A Copycat Industry
There was a time when there were very few fast-spaced industries; however, now, it’s almost impossible to stand out in any of the major industries. Most industries have one too many competitors who are doing more or less the same thing. Basically, you’re in a position where you have to share your audience with multiple competitors.
Every business has a different way to approach the competition – the most common being trying to improve customer experience. However, that’s not enough because everyone is working the angle. Here, the thing that can set you apart is branding.
Branding sets you apart from your competitors, especially if you do it right. You could have identical products and services as your competitor, but if you give your brand a unique voice, your customers will remember you better.
You need to have an influence over them which requires strong branding techniques.
2. Helps Holding A Concrete Market Position
The most common problem for a new business is entering a new market; the big giants have already acquired most of the market share. For example, if a new smartphone brand is entering the market, it will have a hard time gaining a foothold because of giants like Apple, Samsung, etc.
So, how do you compete with these giants? You get your branding right. Start by offering your products and services as better alternatives which makes your brand superior to others. For example, your brand can be eco-friendly, which makes your brand more personalized.
Thinking about your customers, start building a strong brand to which your target market can relate to and grow from there.
3. Builds A Trusting Relationship
I’m sure what I’m about to say has happened to you. You stumble upon a website with surprisingly low prices for smartphone accessories.
You fill up your cart, and just as you’re about to put down your credit card information, something clicks in your mind. Have you ever seen this business anywhere? Has anyone you know bought from the website? The second guesses ruin the experience, and you abandon the website.
Think about it some more; if you want to get your iPhone screen fixed. Do you go to the official store or a repair shop you’ve never heard of?
As an online business, you have to expect people won’t trust your brand off the bat. If they don’t know about your brand, they won’t spend their money.
Now, if you have a strong hold on your branding, the customers will feel more comfortable buying from you. The key is to build your brand for people to like it. So, even if you’re a small business, you can attract customers if you have the perfect branding strategy and seem trusting.
4. Improves the Buyer’s Journey
The benefits of branding aren’t just for attracting customers; in fact, they have an effect on the entire buyer’s journey. The most basic buyer’s journey looks like this:
- Awareness
- Consideration
- Purchase
- Purchasing again
Awareness
With the right branding efforts, you make it easy for customers to find you. If they remember your logo, they find you on social media, read your reviews, and eventually look at your offerings.
Consideration
If they recognize your brand, there’s a high chance they notice the ads and click on them if they like something. The customers willingly check out your offerings because of the brand behind them.
Your branding efforts make it faster and easier for customers to choose your brand over others instantly.
Purchase
If the customers trust your brand by now, they won’t hesitate to purchase from you. Branding helps build positive emotions between your brand and your customers.
Purchasing again
One of the major benefits of a strong brand is you’re the first choice of every customer. If you prove your worth to the customers, they would want to purchase again from you. In fact, they’ll be on the lookout for the next big product.
For example, most Apple users love buying the latest iPhone and yet look forward to the next release. That’s branding done right. The connection between your brand and audience is what helps you gain recurring customers.
5. Motivates People to Spend
It’s a fact that people hesitate to buy from a newly launched brand; however, branding efforts can counter that easily.
It’s easier to upsell if the products and services have a strong brand to back them. Why? That’s because the brand has set a standard, and the customers are happy with it. When they’re satisfied with your brand, they don’t need to go anywhere else, and they can spend without batting an eye. It also increases the average order sizes, which means more revenue.
6. Charge A Brand Premium
You’ll notice how difficult it is for new brands to sell their products and services at a higher price than their competitors. However, this is easy for an established brand backed by a strong branding strategy.
People perceive a well-known brand as a trusting brand, and people will never mind paying a little extra for quality offerings. Think about it. Would you rather buy a dress from a flea shop instead of a brand? Even if the difference is minimal, the brand can deliver as promised, while at the flea market, you can’t buy without checking thoroughly.
As a famous brand, you can charge a little higher for your brand name, and people will still pay for the quality products and services. You need to have a psychological effect on people; this will make you important for the customers.
7. Magnetic Brand
It’s understood that as a new brand, in the beginning, you need to spend more than you earn to put a dent in the market.
One of the benefits of branding is the business growth is directly proportional to becoming magnetic. Branding efforts ensure people find your brand organically and are naturally drawn to it.
Many people claim they are attracted to a brand because of the name, especially if it is online. You might succeed with SEO and paid marketing strategies, but none of that matters if the customers don’t click an ad when they see your brand’s name.
8. Attracts Top-Level Candidates
You’ve heard about attracting customers to your brand, but did you know your branding efforts can also attract potential candidates? The candidates who can prove to be great employees and bring value to your business.
Another advantage of branding is attracting the right people to work for you. Branding makes it easy to recruit top talent, especially if you’ve managed to create a positive reputation for your brand as a workplace.
9. Retains Your Favorite Employees
Imagine losing an important employee. That’s a difficult loss to bear with because you just lost all the time and money you spent on the employee to make them an asset.
So, here’s another employee related benefit that branding makes possible. If your brand holds a positive reputation and your employees feel proud of where they work – then it’s a win-win situation! When you run a popular brand, employees stay loyal to you, which means your revenue keeps coming in.
10. Endless Sale Cycles
When you run an established brand, the customers keep coming back for more. This is a collective effort of effective branding strategies and great customer service (hint: branding plays a bigger role)
Branding creates a tunnel vision for your customers, and they don’t even bother looking at alternatives if they remember your brand immediately. The magnet you created attracts and keeps the customers in the long run.
11. Increases Customer Loyalty
A study has shown that there are four reasons why customer remains loyal to a brand:
- Experience
- Prices
- Quality
- Consistency
Undoubtedly, the four of these components are also the foundation blocks of a branding strategy. Of course, that’s not a coincidence.
To build a brand, you need to be consistent in offering a memorable experience at a reasonable price for a quality product.
Customer loyalty is more than just enjoying a repeating customer. It’s about the customer trusting you even if you make a mistake.
When I say mistake, I mean creating such a bond with your customers that if you fail to deliver, your customer is open to giving you the benefit of the doubt. If you can do that, customers will stay with you even if they have another promising alternative.
For example, although there are numerous supermarkets in my area, I still prefer going to the one I know has original, reliable products. I’d go there even if another store were offering lower prices. It’s all about trusting the brand, and that’s what drives loyalty.
12. Organic Promoter Activity
If your brand is trusting and has a significant number of loyal customers, you can definitely expect more business.
How many times have you recommended something to your peers? That’s basically organic promoter activity. The brand isn’t paying you to recommend it, but because your experience was great with them, you recommend the brand to your peers.
Likewise, your loyal customers only recommend your brand because they’re happy with the products and services. Of course, they want the same for their friends. This is the power of your branding strategies.
13. Creates A Consistent Brand Image
Your brand image comes in handy if you decide to move into a different market or try a new product.
The brand image acts as a central pillar around which you can build your business further. For example, when Samsung first launched the black and white TV, nobody would’ve thought they would be offering smartphones, tablets, and every home appliance down the line.
Why did people trust Samsung for other electronics? Because the first products were great, it was easy for Samsung to enter more markets using its name.
The brand name builds consistent trust, so your customers know whatever you offer will be of optimum quality. That creates more trust and loyalty.
14. Generates Positive Reviews
Who doesn’t hate a bad review? Negative remarks and reviews hurt the brand’s reputation, but there’s a solution to that.
Your brand generates positive reviews when you play to your strengths. The key is to build the brand around your strengths – doing what you’re good at before trying something new.
Once you start satisfying customers, you start generating positive reviews, and the benefits of branding continue to multiply.
15. Enjoy Unpaid Media Fame
According to Statista, there were over 3.6 billion using social media platforms, and the number is said to increase to 4.41 billion by 2025.
The reason why people love using social media is that it’s a great activity in their free time. Most people also follow brands for new promotions, sales, and giveaways.
If you execute social media branding strategies, you can enjoy unpaid fame. Social media platforms allow you to post organically as much as you want.
It also means more people come to your brand through your posts for free. You spend no money but still get the most out of your marketing collaterals. However, to get to this point, you need branding.
16. Attracts Influential Customers
Do you know of a celebrity or a corporation using your products or services?
Now, that would be a valuable opportunity for your brand, especially if it is established. Influential people and businesses possess the power to make or break your brand.
How does this work?
Influential entities have a fan-following, and their fans believe anything they say. If they like your offerings, they would definitely recommend them to their customers.
However, if you don’t have a proper brand, then customers can’t associate anything with your brand. To counter this, your branding needs to strong enough to make an impact.
17. Increases Revenues
According to a study, a consistent brand can enjoy a 23% increase in its revenues. That’s a huge number for enterprises and small businesses. Branding makes an impact, and if the impact generates revenue, then why not continue?
If you keep maintaining your brand and its identity, the revenue will increase yearly – which isn’t a bad deal!
18. Optimizes Your ROI
At the initial stage, a brand has to spend more branding to create a reputation. It takes time, investment, and patience.
However, once you’re out of the woods with that, you need to start focusing on how to maximize your ROI. The ROI only increases if you spend less and get more out of the little you spend.
This sounds like an ideal situation, but you can only do that if your branding is strong and effective. If your customers know you, they will come to you on their own, and you won’t need to run any paid ads.
19. Branding Is Consistent
The importance of branding in marketing is undeniable. They both go hand in hand; one is useless without the other.
With that said, do you know why branding is so impactful? It’s because it’s consistent, and the strategy doesn’t need to change as often and as drastically as marketing strategies.
If you’re worried about being consistent, your branding strategy will be consistent for a very long time. That’s because you won’t be changing your logo, brand name, or colors frequently – a branding strategy includes all the elements that are unique to your brand.
20. Builds A Long-Term Foundation
Building and running a brand is fruitful for the business, but one of the best benefits of branding is a long-term foundation. It’s a challenging task to knock out a brand from the podium once it has achieved a big niche in the market.
For example, Intel is a well-known brand for processors, and the market it has grabbed can’t be taken away from the brand. It’ll be a long time before a competitor can enter the market and make an impact as big as Intel.
Branding is a long-term future investment for your business, and it guarantees success if done right.
In Conclusion
Before you execute your branding strategy, keep a clear head and have a vision for your brand. You need everything set and decided to develop a brand.
Tweak and finalize the elements you want to use to promote your brand and stick to them in the long run. If you need help creating a powerful strategy, we at CydoMedia can help. Our professional team will get in touch with you and help you in building your brand.
Contact us now, and let’s discuss the pricing; we’re sure we can offer you the best rates for a great, long-term strategy!