5 Reasons Your Business Needs Great Branding NOW

We are so happy to feature Nora Richardson, branding expert from Spot On Branding, with an awesome guest post this week! Read on to find out why you need branding and how it’s crucial for your business to get clear on branding and messaging now.

Have you heard the buzz about branding? If you’re out of the loop and you’re not sure why branding is important (or if you’re thinking about cows right now), then we need to talk! Great branding is essential to an effective marketing strategy. Period.

But what is great branding and why is it essential for business success? I mean, if you’re already enjoying moderate success in your industry as a small business owner, then why should you care about the difference between stellar brand awareness and mediocre marketing?

I’m here to tell you exactly why you need to care about branding NOW. Branding is a big deal and its importance continues to grow in today’s digital age.

Your Brand *IS* Your Business

Many people use the word brand and logo interchangeably, but branding is SO much more than “just a logo.” Don’t get me wrong—a great logo is a fabulous brand component. However, full-force great company branding is the glue that ties all those consistent, recognizable brand elements together. Your brand can be composed of a logo, brand colors, a specific look and feel, a unique font, a jingle, or even a smell! But you don’t have to have every one of those brand components to create a complete brand identity.

Now that we’ve cleared that up…

Here’s why YOU NEED A GREAT BRAND for your business…NOW:

1.  Be Unique—A great brand is unique. Your unique branding ensures your business stands out from the crowd. Most importantly, a unique brand differentiates your business from the competition. What business owner wants their target market to regard their products and services as interchangeable with their competitor’s? Not a one. How many more of your competitor’s customers could you gain if your brand was more easily recognizable?

2. Be Memorable—When your brand is more easily recognizable, you build a reputation amidst your customer base and within your target market. They remember your products and services as superior and they keep coming back for more. It’s called brand loyalty and it is oh so valuable. You can’t have brand loyalty without a great brand.

3. Attract Ideal Customers—That brand loyalty you’ve established means you’re working at top speed within your target market. Likeminded buyers are looking to purchase products and services like yours, and they’re more likely to do so when they recognize your business is reaching out to them. A stellar brand creates the opportunity to speak directly to your target audience, build a relationship and draw them in for the sale.

4. Tell Your Story—Everyone loves a great origin story. (Hence the popularity of superhero movies, am I right?) Today’s consumers are conscientious buyers. They care about supporting organizations that have visible roots and give back to the community and the world at large. A great brand allows you to share your unique story and get to the heart of what really drives the sale: creating an emotional connection.

5. Communication is Key—Effective communication today is nearly priceless. The popularity of content marketing tied in with excellent brand messaging is just what you need to stand out from the barrage of digital information we experience on a daily basis. If you want to gain that coveted web visibility your business needs to thrive, step away from the robots and hire a real, live copywriter to build your brand message. You need a writer who can look at your email blasts and tell you what’s missing, or glance at your website copy and zero in on what it really needs to shine. Someone who can create a blog for you or improve the one you already have. Someone who can WRITE and consistently and effectively communicate your brand message to your potential customers.

So if you’re still coasting along thinking your business success will continue with a mediocre brand (or no branding at all), please consider what you’re missing out on: it’s truly the untapped potential of your business. It’s all about reaching your target audience and translating that growing series of interactions with your brand into a sale. Without a great brand, you’re simply missing out on more business success. That’s all there is to it!

 

Nora D. Richardson, owner of Spot-On Branding, is a brand identity expert, specializing in creating strong brand identities for business owners and entrepreneurs across a wide variety of industries. Nora has a passion for encouraging brand alignment and brand evolution whenever beneficial to business growth, so much so that she created her unique Brand Alignment Package to better advise business owners on comprehensive brand strategies.

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