As a business owner, plan your branding strategies well to thrive in this highly competitive age. Before talking about the term, let’s talk about branding. Branding is an attempt to combine brand identity, like logo, name, and mission, with visual elements to shape consumer perception.
So, branding strategy is a plan you develop to achieve specific goals. You need to plan the strategy carefully because it will determine the success of your business. You have to make sure that your strategy will make your business stand out from others in the same industry.
This article will walk you through some elements and types of strategies you can consider.
Key Elements
Branding elements are those you should think about when starting a business. There are at least eight of these that you need to have answers to.
1. Purpose and Values
Your brand purpose is the reason your business exists beyond money. It should address the problems you want to solve in the community. Brand values, meanwhile, are boundaries of behavior your business should follow during its operation. These boundaries can be philosophies or ethics that you consider important for your business, consumers, and society.
2. Vision and Missions
Your brand vision will shape the future of your business. While it does not attract money, vision will be the drive of your business growth. Moreover, you need missions, consisting of steps your business needs to take, to achieve the goal.
3. Target Audience
The target audience is a specific group of people who are likely to reach your business when they have a specific problem.
4. Brand Positioning
Brand positioning is a unique area or point that sets your business apart from others in the industry. Brand positioning is related to Unique Value Proposition (UVP). You can highlight the best of your quality-and-price ratio, status, necessity, or reputation.
5. Brand Identity
Create a brand identity that resonates with your vision, purpose, and values. This consists of name, logo, color theme, typography, and voice.
6. Brand Story
Your brand story will connect your business with its right target market. So, write a story that is authentic and relevant for your audience.
7. Tagline
A tagline should make your brand memorable; hence, it should consist of words that sound simple and catchy.
8. Equity
Having answers for the above elements, it’s now time to maintain your values in the consumers’ minds over time. You need to assess brand awareness, loyalty, and perception.
While brand elements are interrelated, you can focus on one or two elements and use them to elevate your marketing efforts.
7 Types of Branding Strategies
There are several strategies you can use to achieve your brand’s vision. Assess your business needs, target audience, and market conditions to know which of the following works best for you.
1. Personal Branding
Influencers, figures, and brand ambassadors need this branding strategy to establish trust and credibility and attract new opportunities, like clients, partnerships, and career advancement. Instagram is a widely used platform to showcase experience and achievement as well as connect with consumers.
2. Product Branding
If you create products, you need to think a lot about your product packaging. Because your product packaging will be your brand ambassador, it needs to be catchy, highlight values, and contain a tagline.
Use the color and typography that you normally use on your marketing channels, like social media, website, and email. You also need to be consistent with your promotion and build a great sales team.
3. Service Branding
Just because you don’t have physical products, it does not mean you cannot strategize your brand. Highlight your brand’s quality and experience to build trust, loyalty, and connection with customers. Maintain your brand’s reputation by providing the best customer experience, exceeding customer expectations, improving online presence, and listening to customer feedback.
4. Digital Branding
If you’re into digital marketing, digital branding is for you. As it states, digital branding has everything to do with your business’s online presence in social media, websites, email marketing, and online advertising. To boost your digital branding, plan your SEO well on all digital platforms and use a user-friendly website.
5. Cultural and Community Branding
Did you notice that some brands celebrate cultural traditions and religious celebrations on their social media? This strategy keeps the business relevant with the local community. This branding may involve storytelling about history that reflects community heritage and values related to the brand, or best wishes to show awareness and respect.
6. Cause Branding
As a commitment to reinforce your social or environmental values, especially for NGO, cause branding is what you need. Choose a cause that resonates with a local problem and is in line with your brand’s values. Cause branding involves initiating fundraising or volunteering, starting a campaign, or partnering with non-profit organizations. Showcase your actions on social media, website, and email marketing.
7. Co-Branding
Co-branding is a smart way to build a strategic partnership while reaching a wider target audience. Co-branding is where two businesses with similar values combine their unique attributes to enhance their appeal. Examples include cross-promotions, collaborative product development, and joint marketing campaigns.
While working on branding elements takes time and requires patience, it is the booster that makes strategizing faster and easier. Once you are done with the key elements, working on branding strategies is just a few steps away