What is Branding?

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What is Branding in Marketing?

Branding is the process of creating a strong, positive perception of a company, its products or services in the customer’s mind by combining such elements as logo, design, mission statement, and a consistent theme throughout all marketing communications. Effective branding helps companies differentiate themselves from their competitors and build a loyal customer base.

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In a Zendesk survey, 87% of consumers said consistent branding across all online and traditional platforms was important.

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This means that customers expect that your tone of voice is the same over email, your website, customer service, and every other touchpoint in your business. If you rebrand, you need to change your logo, and styling everywhere both online and offline. Make sure you create a consistent brand so that your customers revel in your omni-channel presence.

Branding in-store can be very different to online branding as in store you have to worry about positioning of products and props that can effect how a customer experiences your brand. Branding in-store is more experiential as people can walk around and pick things up, whereas customers online are experiencing a two-dimensional scene. Of course, certain elements of branding are consistent both online and in-store. These include consistent imagery and logos.

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Why is Branding Important?

A unique brand can have a huge impact on your bottom line by giving you a competitive advantage over your rivals and helping you acquire and retain customers at a much lower cost. In eCommerce, where new companies (and therefore, new competitors) are springing up every day, an established brand can be an invaluable asset in bringing customers and generating profit.

Regardless of whether you’re investing time and effort into crafting a compelling brand or paying no attention to it whatsoever, your business still has a brand. However, it may be completely different to how you intended to be seen.

By carefully constructing your brand through stories, relationships, marketing messages and visual assets, you have the opportunity of shaping your customers’ expectations and creating a unique bond that goes beyond the buying-selling relationship.

Good branding is strategic, while marketing is tactical. When you establish the higher objectives and clearly define your brand promise, you can start crafting a marketing plan that’s geared towards achieving those goals.

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The Importance of Branding in eCommerce

Branding is a complex process that requires careful planning and calculated approach. Ideally, you should have your branding strategy worked out before you launch your online store to avoid working backwards to try to aligned your store with customer expectations. A strong brand is easy to relate to and draws on values that resonate well with the target audience. For an eCommerce shop, a strong brand can also be a safety net protecting a business from having to compete on price.

So how do you go about building a brand for an online shop? Here are the key steps in eCommerce branding:

• Understand your customers. To communicate effectively, you have to identify the elements that influence your target customers and focus on leveraging them. What do they like? What motivates and attracts them? What do they like about your brand.
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• Define your brand persona. A brand persona is the personality of your business in which you will deliver customer experiences. It will be strongly influenced by the insights you manage to gather about your target customers. What tone of voice will suit this audience? What type of language will have the greatest effect? What images will attract their attention.
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• ‍Crystalize your brand promise. What is the ultimate promise you’re making to your customers? How will your products/services make their life better? How are you going to deliver this promise. 66% of consumers think transparency is one of a brand’s most attractive qualities.

• Perfect your visual assets. Online shoppers don’t have the luxury of touching and feeling the products they buy, so the visual experience is extremely important. A brand’s visual assets are all the front facing elements, such as the website design, fonts and typography, color palette, logo and ad designs as well as the packaging and unboxing experience you create. It’s a powerful branding tool that reaches its peak when all the different moving parts are consistent and work harmoniously. Research shows that having a memorable signature color will increase the chance of customers recognizing your brand by 80%.
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• Refine customer experience. Although you have little control over how your customers will ultimately feel about your brand, you should do your best to make sure every interaction and touch point you have with your customers is aligned with your brand promise and follows your brand guidelines.
  69% of consumers say that the most important thing brands can do to improve their experience is “knowing them”. This will encompass everything from your return policies to shipping arrangements to email marketing communications and more.
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• Remember to give back. Something as simple as saying thank you to your loyal customers can go a long way in strengthening your brand image. Show gratitude by running special loyalty programs or promotions, offering occasional free gifts or extending discounts. It’s a surefire way to build long-term relationships with your customers and humanize your brand.

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