Partner Article

Top 10 tips for branding success

The branding of a company is one of the most important aspects of a strong company when it comes to securing the goodwill and trust of your customers.

By following a few simple guidelines a strong brand can add value to your company and ultimately generate sales – Carl Buckley from Urban River Creative explains how.

1. Put your customers first - Identify who they are and how they think. What are the factors that lead them to want your product or service? Now match your business offering to match their needs.

2. Brand identity – A strong element of how your company is seen by your customers, your brand identity should remain consistent to reinforce your values continually. This will help your customers make the decision to buy from you instead of your competitors.

3. Positioning – The way you ‘position’ yourself in the market will determine how customers think about your company in relation to your competitors – are you price lead or quality driven? Whatever your chosen path, this should be reflected in your marketing copy, images and materials.

4. Keep it simple – Keep names and straplines short, simple and consistent. Once chosen, use the company name and strapline in every possible means of communication to ensure future recognition and brand association.

5. Involve all staff – Your greatest ambassadors or your biggest weakness – how you involve your staff in branding will determine how much they can help reinforce that brand. Keep them updated, encourage involvement and ensure a united front for the business. A united staff team will appear
extremely professional and trustworthy to potential customers.

6. Develop a brand plan – Careful management of a brand on an ongoing basis will ensure the brand remains strong, clear and unaffected by outside influences. Form a plan to maintain brand values and ensure any changes are made in line with brand values.

7. Consistency – A simple set of guidelines will ensure that everyone (internally and externally) can apply your brand in a consistent manner – crucial to ensure your potential customers develop a familiarity with, and trust of, your brand.

8. Different media – Keep a close eye on the use of your brand guidelines across different media such as newspapers, radio, print, website and email marketing. Size, colour and positioning of your logo are crucial and the correct use of these should be ensured at all times.

9. Review – Make sure all occurrences of incorrect branding are tackled as they arise and the correct guidelines are understood for the future – nipping such problems in the bud will avoid long-term damage.

10. Involve the professionals – While it’s tempting to enter into a spot of DIY branding this is often not a good idea and can be costly in terms of time and money to address at a later date. Employ a professional creative agency to help secure the future brand security of your company.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Hannah Mattinson .