Simply put, branding is the art of communicating with your audience in the most meaningful way possible. Certain aspects of branding are logo, name, and marketing.

But it goes deeper than that. For instance, Apple and Nike appear less like companies than entities that breathe and move. Let’s take a walk on the magic behind this and how to use it to make your brand stronger.

What Is Strong Branding?

Strong branding runs deeper than just the name and logo. These are important, but they are just on the surface. Strong branding stands the test of time and acquires a dedicated customer base. It is integrated with everything your business does. 

Five Components Of A Strong Brand

I’ve tried to note what each subheading needs to mention by pointing out things. However, try to find out more by yourself. These notes are merely suggestions.

1. Brand Identity 

It consists of many, but the following are what make a strong brand identity.

Name

Identity begins with a name that your business will be known for. So it must be memorable and impactful. Whenever your customers need to recall your company, make sure it reverberates in their minds.

Audience

Any business initiates targeting a specific set of audiences. You need to know to whom you are catering your products or services. A loyal customer reflects your brand’s identity. 

Logo

A logo, for lack of a better word, is a symbol. Something that makes your brand stand out in the crowd. It’s not just a design; it’s an art that tells your business’s ethos. 

Look and Feel

The atmosphere of your brand also creates a strong identity. The look and feel your brand manifests have the ability to reverberate with your audience.

2. Brand Purpose, Mission, and Values 

Your brand’s purpose, mission, and values come together to define your brand. They all tell a complete story. Let’s explain them separately. Beginning with the purpose is the motivation behind your business’s operations. The mission is the overarching goal you wish to attain by operating your business. As for the values, they are basically what represents your brand.

3. Brand Messaging 

Brand messaging is the voice of your business. It helps you have a meaningful connection with your customers and create a more thrilling experience. 

Brand messaging must remain constant, as any discrepancy might confuse the customers. This should be incorporated in websites, social media posts, and any medium you choose to converse with your audience. 

4. Brand Differentiation 

Brand differentiation is your USP, which helps you to stand out from your competitors. The offer you’ll make your customers that they won’t be able to deny. This will ensure long-term brand achievement. 

5. Brand Experience

What makes the brand experience great is how memorable and how cohesive everything is.

Benefits of Strong Branding

Increases Brand Recognition

Strong branding leads you to increased brand recognition. It’s how your target audience specifies your business and its products. It’s a metric of how well your audience sets your brand apart from those of competitors. 

Improves Customer Loyalty to Your Brand

When you have a loyal customer base, they tend to spend more money on your business’s service or products. Research states that 57% of customers would be willing to spend more money on trustworthy brands.

Customer loyalty is the natural process of a growing optimistic emotional experience, contentment with your products, and the perceived value of a strong brand.

Positive Word of Mouth Marketing

Strong branding is what makes people start talking about your business. When your brand has a fascinating story to tell, rest assured that it’ll be repeated all over again from one customer to another.

Research by Sprout Social has shown that word-of-mouth advertising enhances up to 54% of marketing campaigns.

Higher Advertising Effectiveness on Customers

Strong branding creates higher advertising effectiveness on customers. This increases the chances of your customers purchasing your products after seeing your advertisement. You don’t miss out on your advertising. It is bound to click!

Lower Price Sensitivity

When you have strong branding, price matters less to your customers. They know that they can rely upon your products. But more so, they have a positive emotional association with your brand.

More Applicants That Want to Work for Your Brand

People would love to work for your company when you have strong branding. It’ll be an honor for them to have your company’s name included in their resume. And as more and more people work for your company, the name spreads like wildfire.

Engaged Employees Who Are Proud to Work at Your Company

When you have a brand that you can be proud of, believe it or not, the employees working will also feel very proud. When they are proud and happy, their efficiency will be clearly visible. Besides, such employees are productive and 21% more profitable. 

Stand Out From Your Competition

Strong branding makes sure you are different from the rest. You can ensure this through search engine optimization (SEO), where you can cater the tactics to make you more or less visible in search engine results pages (SERPs).

Premium Pricing for Your Services and Products

Strong branding empowers you to charge more prices for your products. When your revenue stream starts to flow better, you will be free to offer customers premium pricing. 

Differentiate What Your Business Has to Offer

With strong branding, you will have the opportunity to differentiate your product or service. You can leverage your marketing strategy by understanding how your customers see your offerings.

Better Teamwork and Decision-Making

With strong branding, your brand’s ethos shall resonate well with your employees. They will be loyal not only to your company but also to themselves. In this way, there will be better teamwork and improved decision-making.

Able to Expand Your Business

Strong branding enables you to partner up with other good brands. In this way, your brand will find its way to business growth. With the B2B connections you make, you can work on the expansion of your business.

Become More Credible

Strong branding fosters trust and credibility. Your loyal customers will take your word for whatever you sell or vouch for. They will trust you, and that’s not something you can take for granted.

Increased Marketing Budget

When your branding is that strong, it’s only natural that you will have bigger marketing plans. And that’s beneficial for you because with the cash flowing in, you will have an increased marketing budget. 

This will enable you to go all out with your marketing plans.

Your Actual and Perceived Value Rises

Lastly, strong branding increases your business’s actual and perceived value. Customers will see it as something respectable. And whatever you say or sell will have an effect.

How to Build A Strong Brand

1. Discover or Develop Your Brand Purpose

Everything we do in life has a purpose. A brand is no different. It can only be strong if it has a cause. Otherwise, its existence remains pointless.

2. Know Your Competitors

Now that you know your brand’s purpose figure out who your competitors are. And study their strategies and lackings. This will help you to get the upper hand.

3. Determine Your Primary and Secondary Target Audiences

After knowing your competitors and setting your primary and secondary target audiences, you must understand to whom you are catering your business. That way, all your business operations, and marketing strategies can be more specific.

4. Build Out Your Brand Strategy

Strategize your brand. From communication to ethos, make everything defined. Even the language should be random. It would be best if you strategized in terms of timing and how it connects with your audience.

5. Develop A Compelling Brand Narrative/Story

Your brand must have a story to tell. Make it compelling enough that it pulls your audience and makes your competitors curious. Having a meaningful story will make your brand experience more humane.

6. Set Hard Deadlines When Making Creative Decisions

Without deadlines, it’s easy to go trackless. Therefore, giving hard deadlines while making creative decisions is necessary. You would then know when to begin and when to stop, and be more punctual in this regard.

7. Create a Brand Identity

Give your brand identity through name, logo, and feel. Imagine how it would sound if it were a human. 

This will allow your customers to have an in-depth connection with your brand.

8. Get Help From Outside Your Company’s Walls

Build connections aside from your organization. Know people in and out. This will strengthen your brand beyond the horizon. That way, it will be inevitable. 

9. Explore Leaner Creative Options

Go all out with your creativity when you are strengthening your brand. You never know which idea will work and which will not. Exploration is the key.

10. Create A Brand Manifesto

A brand manifesto clearly defines intent and clarifies what your brand stands for. It speaks of the relationship your brand will have with the customers. All in all, it’s a creative statement.

11. Live The Brand

Once it’s all done and dusted, embrace your brand. Live it. In your clothes, statements, and aura you carry, live the brand. Make it known to people with your very existence.

5 Strong Branding Examples

Tesla

Being a luxury brand, Tesla keeps aside prices and concentrates on the quality of its vehicles. 

What sets Tesla cars apart is that they are eco-friendly and electric. It created strong branding through CEO Elon Musk’s Tony Stark-like persona and witty ads such as “Ludicrous Mode.”

Apple

In the 21st century, Apple is the most popular textbook example of a strong brand. 

They are known for building sleek, innovative computers that create a different experience and resonate smartly with their consumers. 

They created their strong branding by conveying the message that if you are an Apple person, you are bound to be innovative, imaginative, and creative.

Trader Joe’s

Trader Joe’s has stood out from the crowd by positioning itself as a “national chain of neighborhood grocery stores.” 

They provide a more homely corner store shopping experience instead of being more premium. They indicate they are all fun on their website with the phrase: “if an item doesn’t pull its weight in our stores, it goes away to gangway for something else.” 

Dollar Shave Club

Dollar Shave Club is cheeky and casual. Its strong branding suggests that they are affordable yet excellent. 

Their purpose was to cater to the average consumer, and they couldn’t have done better!

Nike

It’ll be a shame to discuss strong branding and leave out Nike. 

Their “Just do it” slogan was enough to create a buzz. 

Nike is such a strong brand that despite offering sport-centric products, it focuses on the average person’s struggle. Something every single person on earth can relate to.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the benefits of strong branding?

Some of the benefits of strong branding include increasing brand recognition, improving customer loyalty to your brand, spreading positive word-of-mouth marketing, higher advertising effectiveness on customers, and lower price sensitivity.

What are the 4 elements of a strong brand?

The 4 elements of a strong brand are brand identity, brand purpose, mission, and values, brand messaging, and brand differentiation. 

What are the qualities of a strong brand?

Some qualities of a strong brand are brand purpose, brand manifesto, being aware of the competitors and knowing both primary and secondary audiences, brand identity, etc.

Final Thoughts on Strong Branding

Thank you for being with us through this comprehensive article. But as we are talking about solid branding here, we had to go in-depth. 

Before we conclude, here’s a reminder to make your brand personal, human, and purposeful. In that way, you can create a connection, and your brand could be called a strong brand.

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