The Importance of Branding for Businesses
Branding is a crucial aspect of any enterprise. It ultimately defines what your enterprise is all about and it sets you apart from other businesses in that industry. Whatever the nature of your business is, be it non-profit or SME, it is important to prioritise branding as this reflects how your business is run and it will also determine how it will grow in the next few years.
While many senior managers ignore the importance of branding because they prefer to pay more attention to other areas such as issuing of sales, restructuring and cost-cutting, it is still important to pay attention to the brand of the business as this is how your customers are going to define you. It is recognised that a lot of people are very particular about brands, they don’t shop aimlessly; they look for their favorite brands. Since most people seek well-established brands when they go out shopping, it has become a common notion among many businessmen that to start now can be harmful to a business because it would be hard to compete with existing brands in the industry. This is not true at all. In fact, people are always looking for new and fresh brands.
The Internet alone offers enough of a testament to the importance of branding. The success of your product online depends not only on the visibility and its visual appeal -how your brand is portrayed is also important. Remember that first impressions are generally made by brands.
Branding focuses primarily on perception. A brand that has a reputation for being accurate and innovative would most likely gain more sales with fewer risks whereas brands that have gained a reputation for taking their customers for granted would immediately be avoided by most consumers.
Numerous businesses these days consider their brand an indispensable asset. Those that have been in business for quite some time have brands that make up a good portion of the company’s stocks.
There are also several companies that use their brand as an organising principle with their chief executive as the primary promoter of that brand. This is how some managers and CEOs of particular companies are associated with their brands. Regardless of whether you own the company or you are a manager, you can get numerous advantages from promoting yourself along with your brand. This is different from self-promotion because you are not trying to gain personal rewards. Instead, your aim is to show your customers that your brand has more value because you are promoting it yourself.
Aspects of branding include brochure design and web design. Brisbane has many choices when it comes to brand image including producting and formatting your company annual report.
Sphere: Related ContentDoes your website deserve to be sacked?
If your website was one of your sales staff would you be happy with his results? A good website design should deliver you quality leads and generate a return on your investment - not just than just sit there and look good.
Remember that website design is a marketing activity not a technology decision. So many people seek out a web developer as their first port of call when they need a website. But that’s putting the cart before the horse.
Your first activity when contemplating a website should be to think about your marketing objectives and what job you need your website to do for you.
To do that let’s revisit the sales person analogy. If your website was a sales person what should its sales process be? How will it get customers to engage with them and your company. Thinking about this analogy forces you consider what information and functions your website needs to get you real sales results.
For a start, You need to arm your ‘online salesperson’ with information to they can appear knowledgeable about the benefits of your products and services. He needs to be able to succinctly articulate what your unique selling proposition is.
You need your salesperson to acknowledge that customers are different stages of their buying process and therefore have different informational needs. For example, provide product comparisons for people who haven’t yet decided on the right product, but also provide in depth product information for those who are further advanced in their decision process.
You need people to trust your online salesperson too – so consider what do you need to do or say on your website to engender trust. Even the aesthetics of your website can contribute to trust. A shabby looking website from 1992 isn’t going to help your image.
Not everyone will buy or engage on their first visit. Your online salesperson needs to provide a reason for the customer to come back. Constantly updated content gives people reason to return. Make sure your website is a worthy destination. A website that never changes is like a retail store that doesn’t change their window display. It makes people think they’ve already seen everything you have to offer and they won’t bother to come in.
At some stage in the process, your ‘online salesperson’ needs to ask the customer’s name and contact details. To do this, you usually need to give them the promise of something in return (eg. early notification of specials, a free assessment). This is a critical point in your sales process. Now your visitor isn’t anonymous – he has a name and you know how to contact him and have permission to do so. At this point, you can call them an actual ‘lead’. Yippee.
Once your online sales person has promised something they have to deliver. They need to follow up on their promise. If you promised email notifications of sales, make sure you do it. Take every opportunity to re-engage with them. That means more opportunities to communicate with your customers and ultimately make sales.
If you actually want to sell your products online, at some point you need to facilitate the sale. Online shopping cart facilities make this easy. Design your sales process so that it provides a good shopping experience. No-one likes waiting in a checkout queue and similarly online shoppers don’t like clunky purchase processes.
So when you’re ready for a new website - remember, the brief to your web designer should read more like a job description than a shopping list.
Jane Davies is founder and Director of Cat and Moose Marketing Solutions and specialises in online marketing in Brisbane. The core philosophy is to create and design websites that deliver real marketing results rather than just sit there and look good. Cat and Moose Marketing Solutions also advises clients that online marketing be used as part of a broader marketing plan.
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