Revealed: The Secret Behind Successful Brands
Positioning and expert branding can make or break your business. It’s all about setting the core identity of your brand and letting people understand what you represent.
That said, it’s not easy to accomplish branding goals. One wrong logo or Twitter post could off-set people’s perception of your business.
How do successful brands do it? What are their secrets?
Wonder no more! Take a look at these 8 techniques to help you build your brand.
1. Know Your Audience
One of the first things people think of when they talk about Nintendo is the company’s family-oriented direction. Yes, they make action games too but Nintendo prioritizes video game experiences for the whole family.
That’s their audience. They focus on parents as much as they do kids.
Know your audience. Take a moment to look into the metrics and study the demographics that are most likely going to love your products and services. Design your marketing and branding efforts to cater to your niche audience.
2. Take Advantage of Social Media
If you want your brand to grow, social media platforms are your battlegrounds. Facebook alone accounts for over 2.4 billion monthly users. Think about how many people you can reach there and then add in platforms like TikTok, Instagram, Pinterest, YouTube, and SnapChat.
Social media is the place to showcase your brand’s personality. This is where you can play around with video ads, conduct surveys for rebranding purposes, or get people’s reactions towards a new poster, logo update, and more.
Keep in mind that social media is great for branding but it won’t do much directly for SEO. Continuously posting on Twitter won’t boost ranking for a web page but it’ll help you establish your brand.
3. Sponsorship and Influencers
The people your company associates with can affect your brand too. This is why companies often distance themselves from celebrities who get in trouble. If someone got caught on video saying something racist, a company doesn’t want that racist remark to reflect on their brand image.
Remain vigilant but don’t avoid sponsorship programs and influencers. Pick influencers who suit your brand image and offer a sponsorship deal. The fact that you’re working with them, sponsoring their content, will reshape your brand a bit.
4. Smart Visual Marketing
Did you know your company can benefit from custom business stamps, physical business cards, and traditional brochures? It’s all about the smart use of visual branding items.
Say for example you’re at a trade show for small businesses. No matter what you do, it’s unlikely everybody will see or drop by your booth. However, you can still spread word-of-mouth through flyers and creative business cards.
The most successful brands don’t ignore print advertising or old-school formats. Instead, they see different kinds of opportunities. You should follow suit.
What counts as smart visual marketing?
Think about putting your logo on office pens, stamps, or ID straps. These are items people use all the time, meaning they’ll always see your logo. If they share these items with people at work, they’ll increase brand exposure for you.
5. Keep Track of Public Perception
Never underestimate the power of the most basic metrics. Use tools to keep track of things like brand mentions on social media, hashtag use, and how often people share your company’s posts. Doing so can give you a better understanding of your current standing with the public.
You’ll want to weigh how positive or negative the public perception of your brand is. Once things don’t swing your way, it’s time for a course-correction before things get out of hand.
6. Logos Go a Long Way
Your logo pretty much establishes the personality, message, and overall theme of your brand. Every aspect of the image can give people a general idea about your business.
Plan your logo and take time designing it. Don’t rush the design process. Taking your time is better than wasting resources on rebranding and redesigning a logo due to negative backlash.
Think about color psychology in branding, any potential double entendre, and whether or not the logo represents your company’s mission statement. You’ll also want a unique logo, something people can identify even from a distance.
7. Strong Mission Statement
While your logo is the strongest representation of your brand, your mission statement is the foundation that keeps it afloat.
Think about popular mission statements, like the one from Disney. They state that they aim to become a leading producer of entertainment and information, something they continue to live up to.
Amazon’s statement emphasizes three goals: become a customer-centric company, to offer everything in the market, and to offer the most reasonable and affordable prices. Their logo represents this too, with the friendly orange-yellow color and the double entendre, an arrow going from A to Z.
8. Maintain a Personality
Ever spent time digging into Wendy’s Twitter account? They post some of the funniest, savage tweets on the Internet, never backing down from an opportunity to reply with a sarcastic or witty tone.
That’s a personality people remember. It’s a personality many people celebrated.
You don’t have to go down the same route but make sure you always uphold the personality you shape. If you’re going for a wholesome personality, don’t suddenly dip into an angry-filled marketing ploy. If you’re shooting for a fun personality, don’t ruin it with a sad and depressing advertisement!
Follow in the Footsteps of Successful Brands!
Successful brands didn’t get to the top in an instant. They had to work hard and experiment with different branding tactics to get where they are now. These 8 steps can help you find the same level of success so don’t hesitate to follow suit!
Why wait when you can use these strategies too?
Of course, branding is only the beginning. If you’re looking for more useful marketing content like this, don’t hesitate to go over our other posts. We might have the guide you need today!