6 Things That Makes Great Branding

Strong brand awareness and brand recognition mean that when people think about the type of goods or services you offer, your brand is the first thing that comes to mind and they know your logo or tagline, which makes it easier to get your message across through social media, especially with pictures or short videos. BUT before you can build brand loyalty, you must first make people aware of your business. After all, buyers won’t love your brand until they know and recognise it, think along the lines of Apple, Nike, Coca-cola (or pepsi, whatever your cola preference may be!). You don’t have to be as big as these companies to gain from brand awareness, but you can learn a lot from how they built their brands.

Here are the six things we think are most important for a good brand and GREAT branding…

1. Make yourself seen

Building a brand is an important first step towards making people aware of a company. So, you need to know exactly what your brand is and what it stands for. What does your business look like? Sound like? What does it create or provide? One of the most important parts of a brand is brand voice – Your business voice on social media might be more lighthearted and fun than, say, the voice you use in print ads. But the way you talk to customers and talk about your offering should be the same no matter where they hear it. Choose some key words and sentences that you will use often and stick to your brand guidelines. The look of a brand is also important and consistency is key, what are the colours of your brand? What fonts do you use? What does your logo look like? Be consistent with how you present all of these elements in print, on social media and wherever else you are seen online ie, website, blogs, business forums.

2. Share your brand’s story

Your brand story is the story of how your business became what it is now. For an entrepreneur, their brand story could be that they saw a problem at work and came up with a way to fix it.

For a bigger business, your brand story might be a combination of your mission statement and your history. Each brand has its own history. But telling that story is the most important part of building company awareness. Use your workforce and your customers to tell the story of your brand. For example, you could use testimonials or important points in your company’s growth, employee experiences and the celebrations of milestones and celebrations all shared via your social media profiles.

3. Provide added value

Creating value beyond your goods and services is a key way to make sure people remember your brand in the long run. Think about how you can teach, inform, or entertain people. Use a blog, a podcast, a YouTube account, or a newsletter to share what you know. Marketing and social media marketing shouldn’t be about directly selling all of the time. Instead, this is a way to build relationships and raise brand recognition, giving people more chances to learn about your brand.

4. Make your content “share-able”

Create content and online marketing that is easy to share. Even though you can’t always tell what will go viral, you can take steps to make your content easier to find and share.

First, you should use best practises for social media optimisation, like sharing regularly and at the right time. But you should also make material that people will want to share. This fits with the idea that your content should offer something of value instead of always trying to make a sale. Try putting in a call-to-action that tells people to share your resources or tag a friend.

Also, make it easy for people to share your content by putting social sharing buttons on your website and blog.

5. Give back to your community

Building a name isn’t always done online. You can raise awareness of your brand by doing concrete things to help your community, like sponsoring events, giving corporate donations, or helping your team do charity work. This can be as elaborate as sponsoring a big event, or, it could be as simple as donating something to an auction or raffle for a local charity event.

6. Create a “give-away”

Free stuff is always great. Free stuff is a good way to get people who aren’t sure about your offering to try it out. It can also spread the word online about your business. Whether it’s a free sample, a free trial, or a free upgrade to a premium service, giving people a no charge taste of what you have to offer brings them in and spreads the word about your brand.

We’ve detailed how to describe how your business looks, sounds and presents itself, but business values are what make a company what it is. The most important part of building a well-known brand is having a clear set of business values. Don’t get stuck on what you think ideals should be good business values and great branding have more to do with figuring out what your brand stands for and how to show that to everyone, from customers to employees. Make sure that your brand’s ideals match those of the people you want to reach. According to the Edelman Earned Brand study two thirds (64%) of consumers buy or promote companies based on their beliefs and values, this goes to show that what you say is as important as what you do.

At Cornell we have a track record in developing branding concepts that resonate with our clients (and more importantly their customers!). Creative that works across a multitude of platforms and formats including web design, digital, branding, animation, graphic design, UX design services, print and media across a wide range of industries, giving our clients and their teams the tools to attract their ideal customer, over and over. Contact us to find out how we can create great branding for your business – Call +44 (0) 28 3833 9100 or eMail hello@cornellstudios.com