“Your brand is what people say about you when you’re not in the room.”
Jeff Bezos, Amazon
branding
noun.
the promotion of a particular product/company by means of advertising and distinctive design
or
a disciplined process used to build awareness, attract new customers, and extend customer loyalty
“Branding is about making an emotional connection”
If designed correctly, a strong brand can stand out in a densely crowded market. This will result in people falling in love with the brand, trusting it, and believe in its superiority. So, how a brand is perceived is what affects its success and has lead to them becoming something of a global currency to show success.
Brands have three primary functions:
- Navigation – brands help consumers to choose from a wide array of choices available to them
- Reassurance – brands communicate the quality of the product or service, while reassuring customers that they have made the right choice
- Engagement – brands use distinctive imagery, language and associations to encourage customers to identify with the brand
There is a common misconception that brands are simply just what the company is called and the logo which goes along with it. Where in actual fact it involves a number of components to make a cohesive and effective brand. By implementing a successful brand strategy by using the components will result in an increase in brand trust, loyalty and awareness. The four main brand components are:
- Brand Identity
- Brand Image
- Brand Culture
- Brand Personality
1. This is how the brand is going to be perceived. If the brand doesn’t have a strong identity, it will struggle to generate brand awareness. A brand identity can be built by identifying the mission, establishing the value proposition and creating the brand’s visual identity, as well as increasing the brand’s recognition.
2. While the image of the brand is similar to the brand identity, the image is how the brand is actually perceived. It is the reputation the brand has with the public and consumers. It is vital to ensure that the brand image remains positive to create a successful brand. A few ways to build and maintain this positive brand image is to spread the brand’s message through PR and establish a social presence with high-quality content.
3. This refers to the brand’s core values and how to set an example for these values. Many brands emphasise the same certain values like reliability and honesty, in today’s society it is vital to also have values that align with the political and social stances of the target market. To build a brand culture define the values, spread awareness of these values and ensure that the company reflects these values.
4. The brand personality is the human characteristics that the company has. This is a vital component as it connects with the audience on an emotional level and helps make the brand more relatable. This can be achieved by learning who the audience is and engaging with them and having a consistent tone.
In my research, I came across some surveys that were carried out to find out about how much consumers retain from branded content and found the information very useful and interesting…
80% of consumers forget branded content after three days
The three main reasons for this are:
- irrelevancy (55%)
- lack of motivation to remember it (35.7%)
- too much content to retain (30%)
With only 18% of participants saying that distraction was the main reason for not retaining information, it is likely that the content is the issue.
Video and conversation were the two that came out on top and the most memorable content was described as:
- content which ‘tells the audience something new’ (27%)
- content that talks about something good that happened helps to remember (49%)
Video was rated as the most memorable (37%), followed by articles (28%) and face to face presentations (21%). 70% of 16-24 year olds said that conversation is the best way to convince them to buy from a brand, as long as they felt the brand was interacting and engaging with them. As well as this, 77% of respondents thought that interactive presentation software would help them retain information.
The statistic about 16-24 year olds stood out to me as this is my target audience for my modern bank, so I will consider this when beginning to brand my own bank.
Core Brand Values…
These are the beliefs that a company stands for and serve as a compass that guides the brand story, behaviours and decision-making process. The core values act as a constant reminder of what’s important to the business and to the consumers, which makes it easier when having to make tough choices.
While the brand mission, vision, and values work together and build on one another resulting in a solid company foundation, they are very different:
MISSION- the reason why a company exists and does the work it does
VISION- a company’s aspirations for the future and what they hope to achieve
VALUES- the standards a company will follow and uphold in pursuit of its mission and vision
Establishing brand values goes far beyond simply providing products and services to consumers. If the company wants to be memorable and gets consumers to keep coming back, it is vital to connect with them on a deeper level.
The benefits of brand values are…
Attract new customers:
77% of consumers will buy from brands that share their values. Brand values will help form the marketing narrative that will propel the brand’s storytelling. Research has shown that if content is delivered via a story, it will be 22 times more memorable than pure facts. So if brands fail to define and express the personality and values, it will miss out on attracting customers.
Improve brand experiences:
The average consume has seven interactions with your brand before they make a purchase, so by having clearly defined values, a brand will be able to create consistency across all touch points effectively. Comparing brands with well-defined and consistent branding to ones without, those with consistency will achieve an average 91% higher annual increase in their customer retention rate.
Build brand loyalty:
This is a key to achieving long-term business success. Customers are 50% more likely to try new products and spend 31% more in the brand they are loyal to compared to new customers. In the modern business environment, consumer trust is extremely low, by establishing core brand values it will help maintain brand authenticity, which will lead to customer retention.
Retain top talent:
It isn’t just the consumers who want companies to have core values, it is the employees as well. It is shown in multiple studies that employees engagement is impacted if the company has similar values to their own. Having a brand with strong standards and beliefs will inspire team work which helps the business grow.
Improve operational efficiencies:
Brand values provide a brand strategy that helps leadership and employees become more effective decision-makers. By following brand guidelines, a company can align the team and increase the speed at which the product will be launched. The tough choices would be easier to make when looking at them with the brand values in mind.
Develop a competitive advantage:
This can be achieved by having the ability to make quick decisions in the ever-changing business world. also, by communicating the brand values by marketing it will present the brand in a way that will form deep connections with the customers. 57% of branding spending increases and
Overall, it is clear that a brand without values, isn’t going to succeed. It is always vital to be aware of who the target audience is and making sure the values align with how they would think and feel about things. It is not just about consumers, who are vital, but there wouldn’t be a functional brand without employees so it is key the brands also work with the workers as well.
Examples of brand values…
American Express wears its values on its sleeve. They deliver excellent customer service on all fronts and the credit card company stays true to its brand mission of ‘providing the world’s best customer experience every day’. The company’s brand values include:
We back our customers. We make it great. We do what’s right. We respect people. We embrace diversity. We stand for inclusion. We win as a team. We support our communities.
Adidas’ mission reflects what they do, making products to help boost athletes’ performances, as well as showing its dedication to trying to be the best it can be – ‘committed to continuously strengthening our brands and products to improve our competitive position’. The company’s values align with their mission being; Performance, Passion, Integrity, and Diversity.
Starbucks’ success is often attributed to its culture and their mission statement ‘to inspire and nurture the human spirit, one person, one cup and one neighbourhood at a time’. Starbucks has very detailed core values which include:
Creating a culture of warmth and belonging, where everyone is welcome
Delivering our very best in all we do, holding ourselves accountable for results
Acting with courage, challenging the status quo and finding new ways to grow our company and each other
Being present, connecting transparency, dignity and respect
Defining what tone of voice to use across the branding aspect of a business is key to see success. As it helps navigate and reach the target audience in a crowded market. It is how the character of the business comes through in words, written and spoken. It isn’t always what is being said, but how it is being said. In turn, it is important to think about the impression it leaves on the consumers in the audience.
The tone of voice represents the brand’s personality and values, including the words chosen and it applies to all content, over all formats. Deciding where the company sits on the continuum from personal to corporate helps generate the types of words to use and what tone of voice to use as well.
The tone of any piece can be analysed in five ways:
Frozen: the Bible, US Constitution
This is called static register as it refers to historic language and communication which had/has the intention to remain unchanged.
Formal: a TED talk, business presentation
It is used in professional, academic or legal settings where communication is expected to be respectful, uninterrupted and restrained. No slang language would be used.
Consultative: teacher/student, doctor/patient
This is a conversation when someone has specialised knowledge or could be offering advice. The tone will be respectful but can be casual depending on how long the relationship is. Slang can sometimes be used depending on how well those involved know each other.
Casual: friends, family, co-workers
This would be how most talk with people that they know. A lot of slang would be used and vernacular grammar is common. Expletive language can also be used in some settings.
Intimate: non-public, private vocabulary
This can also include non-verbal messages. Most commonly used among family and close friends.
If the target audience is young, it could be effective to combine some of these forms, to keep up with how they would speak with slang but also keeping it professional by keeping formal elements.