Creative branding is an important part of any business. It can be the difference between success and failure. Additionally, if your branding is poor, it can ruin your reputation and negatively affect the success of your company.
The bad news is that creative branding is not as easy as it might sound. Nonetheless, you don't need to be a creative genius in order to develop something meaningful for your business! Below are some brand-building strategies that will help you create a brand that will stick out from the crowd.
Define Your Brand
This is the first step in the creative branding process. Defining your brand means coming up with a name, logo, and tagline which will allow you to present yourself as an individual business that has its own unique characteristics. Think of it as creating a person or character that everyone can relate to. You want this 'person' (your company) to be memorable for all the right reasons.
Below are things you should not forget when defining your brand:
• Brand values: These are the core principles your brand is built upon. They are the foundation of what you stand for as a business.
• Brand personality: This refers to how other people see you and perceive your personality based on who they think you are (your values). It's important that customers know what kind of person they're interacting with when it comes to doing business with your company.
• Unique selling proposition (USP): This is the one thing that makes you stand out from your competitors. It's what separates you from everyone else in the market.
• Simple, good-looking logo: Yes, a logo is important. No matter what you think about logos and business branding strategies in general, the fact of the matter remains that customers need to identify with your brand. They can't do this if it doesn't look professional or good enough for their taste. Make sure that your logo is relevant to your business. For instance, if you serve cuisines, it makes sense to get to in touch with restaurant logo designers to learn how to go about it as opposed to picking a cute cartoon, or a photo of yourself, that doesn't resemble your business at all.
• Target audience: While we might all believe our products and services are targeted towards everyone in society - this simply isn't true. You'll find that most businesses focus on very specific target audiences because it helps them to better position themselves in the market.
• Competitors: You should always be aware of competitors because this will allow you to do better than them. For example, let's say one competitor has an outstanding logo but poor branding strategy in general, take note of this and try to improve yourself in this area.
• Content: Content is king. It's important that you create quality content for your blog posts, website, and social media platforms. You need to follow best practices and the latest trends. For instance, social media management is must for branding nowadays and you should think about video marketing as well. Note that content will make or break the success of your business online.
Position Your Brand
After you have defined your brand, it’s time to position it. This means having a clear understanding of the kind of audience you are targeting, what your competitors are doing (or not doing), and trying to stand out from everyone else.
You can do this by creating effective marketing campaigns for each social media platform. For example, if you want your brand to be seen as cute and quirky then promote it like that on Instagram but play down the quirkiness when promoting it on LinkedIn or Facebook because these platforms require more professionalism.
• Work with influencers: This is one of the most successful ways to position your brand in today's world where people love following influencers who have an enormous amount of influence over their lives. It will allow you to gain recognition faster and easier than when you do campaigns on your own.
• Be a voice in your industry: This is very important if you want to stand out from the crowd. People love connecting with personalities and they'll be more likely to connect with you when they see that your brand has a face, rather than just being an invisible business entity.
• Focus your marketing on a targeted group of people: This is very important if you want to win customers. Think about what your brand stands for and think of a specific group of people who can benefit from it the most. For example, let's say your business deals with fashion brands aimed at women aged 20-35 years old - focus on this age group when marketing your fashion products online because that will ensure they are the ones connecting with you in the end.
• Don't forget about SEO: Optimizing your website or blog posts for search engines like Google ensures that more relevant traffic reaches them which means more exposure for your brand as well as higher conversion rates (more sales!). This also helps improve its organic ranking so make sure you optimize properly before anything else.
• Align yourself with other brands or clients: If possible, try to align yourself with other brands and clients in your industry. This will allow you to position your brand as an authority figure. You can do this by hosting joint events or creating content together. This is a strategy that will help you gain a wider audience, and ultimately lead to more success.
• Be consistent: You have to be consistent with all your branding strategies if you want people to remember and recognize them. Don't confuse or mislead potential new clients by changing what makes your brand unique (the logo, tagline, etc.). It will do more harm than good so make sure that everything stays on point at all times.
Give Your Brand an Identity
This is another branding strategy that can help you out in the long run. It's important that your brand has an identity because it will be easier to market it and most people are drawn towards brands with a clear purpose or mission.
Below are some tips that will help humanize your brand:
• Personify your brand: Think of your brand as a person and answer these questions: What does it look like? How old is it? Why was it created in the first place? Who are its customers or target audience (the people who will buy from you)? And when you have the answers apply it to your branding wherever possible. Treat your brand as a person speaking about your business then you’ll get an idea.
• Give your brand a face: This is another strategy that will help make your brand more relatable. The first step of course is to get the logo designed to reflect your brand image. The logo design should be used in all the relevant places where brand communication and brand interaction take place. From the entrance door to the paper towels in the toilets all have potentials of speaking to your customers. Needless to say, use your logo imagery to help you communicate your brand message.
• Hire a spokesperson: Another aspect of giving a face to your brand is to have someone, such as an employee, influencer, or celebrity represent your brand on social media by posting content that represents your brand's identity. For example, if you're trying to create a fun and quirky brand then have someone post photos on Instagram of them having fun with friends while using your products.
• Mascot anyone? Some brands just need plain old mascots to represent them. If your brand belongs to the sports industry, restaurant niche, or children’s products then a mascot is the best way to give your brand the identity it needs. With a mascot you can literally speak with your audience of your brand values with the least hindrance.
• Create an origin story: This will help people connect even more to your brand because they'll be able to see the thought process behind it. People love origin stories so all you need is just a short paragraph or two about how it came into existence in the first place. It would be even better if your brand story is used in all branding materials integrated with the brand message. Everyone loves a brand story that they can relate to, and reminded of the same, every step of the purchase journey.
Win Clients With Creative Branding Strategies
These are just some of the creative branding strategies that you can use to help your business stand out from the crowd. So, even if you believe that you're not creative, there are many ways to solve this. While we aim to give you direction, you don’t have to be limited to these ideas. You can use them as jumpstart points and add your own creative ideas. After all, it is your unique brand, and it deserves your unique touch of creativity. Last but not least, remember, it's important to be consistent with these creative branding strategies, so make sure not to change anything too soon once they start working for you. Finally, be patient when it comes to branding. You won't achieve overnight success. After some time, you will experience brand favorability and see the impact that your branding strategy did to stand out and get an edge over your competitors. Growth Hackers is probably one of the best branding agencies helping businesses increase their engagement, retention and revenue. We help startups, small businesses and entrepreneurs succeed by defining for them growth hacking strategies. If you are looking for some creative banding strategies, contact our growth marketing experts now.
Janil Jean
I am a Head of Overseas Operations at LogoDesign. I love to write about graphic design, digital marketing, branding, storytelling, startups and small business management. Connect with me on LinkedIn or Twitter.
