What is a brand? Is it just the company name or an entire experience coupled with the name? Let’s see how big and small digital marketing firms see branding and why they are essential for your startup.

Introduction

Building a company is exciting, thrilling, and usually involves a roller coaster ride to reach the pinnacle of success. Getting your vision for the brand on the right track is as essential as it sounds to be. And that is when people start tracing their competitors, which may seem okay for the moment, but down the line, it can sure backfire! So, what should you do to set the right foot forward in the market and give a victorious kickstart to your Startup? Ask just about any digital marketing firm, and they’ll say that you need to focus on ‘BRANDING.’

Establishing a comprehensive branding strategy for your startup can be really perplexing. It may take you days and months to build a robust and well-defined strategy, but it is essential to take all the time in the world and put together every bit of this plan in place.

And that’s precisely what we are about to do in this blog. Right here, we are going to discuss what branding is and what are the top 5 strategies that every Entrepreneur must know!

What is Branding?

Don’t confuse Brand with Branding. These are two different concepts!

The American Marketing Association defines ‘Brand’ as the name, design, symbol, or any feature that lets the consumers distinguish one seller’s products from the others!

For Example, Pepsi and Coca-Cola both sell soda or soft drinks. But, how do we distinguish both of them? Well, with their Name, Logo, or even slogans at times!

On the other hand, Digital Marketing and Social Media Marketing experts say that branding is the ‘experience’ that the product or brand wants its consumers to feel. Branding is how people picture the product in their minds. Business owners make branding Strategies to help their customers quickly identify the brand and the experience conjoined to it. It is how the organizations give consumers the reason to choose their products over others in the market!

For instance, Red bull has made itself the face of ‘adventure’ associated with extreme sports! Apparently, the brand is supposed to Give You Wings!

Now, do you get what a brand and branding are?

5 Branding Strategies Every Entrepreneur with a Dream of a Startup Must Know

Branding actions are what add value to the brand. Big Companies like Coca-Cola, Starbucks, and even Apple know how to create a unique identity that people can relate to and trust!

So, here are some strategies an Entrepreneur must know and administer.

#1. Don’t forget to create an ‘Identity’

As digital marketers say, identity distinguishes one person or thing from another, which is, by the way, of utmost importance for a Business, especially a Startup! Identity gives the brand a distinct image that helps startups gain attention in this saturated market. How to create your own identity? Well, this can only be answered by researching the two essential kinds of research, one, your market, and two, your competitors!

While defining your identity, all the aspects are considered, including the brand content, your storytelling, tone, logo, and much more. Also, you can answer a few questions to find the answer to ‘how will people identify my brand?’

• What are you offering in the market?
• Who is the target audience?
• How do I feel about my product/service?

#2. Maintain a consistent social media presence

This branding strategy revolves around digital marketing and social media marketing. Kepios analysis says that there are over 4.62 billion social media users worldwide. Imagine how humongous a consumer market you have! Consumers always turn to a Brand’s Social Media Accounts to research them and know how they interact with the audience, what they sell, and even how consumers see their products as ‘worth their money.’

Therefore, your social media presence can be solidified only when you plan out the following things and include them as a part of your Branding Strategy!

• Know You Audience: See which social media platform they use the most and leverage that platform!
• Get your Social Media Account Verified: Getting verified is the process where a platform like Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, or Youtube evaluates your content and helps your brand identify itself as a celebrity!
• Interact with Audiences: Now, the most Important thing – interact with your audience! It is the only best way to build relationships and grow your connections.

#3. Visual branding works wonders

Your brand’s style guide plays a crucial role in ‘visually’ representing the overall experience, from fonts to your logo, color palette, graphics, and everything in between. All these components work coherently. Therefore, entrepreneurs must realize it’s crucial right from day 1 when they start planning their business.

Don’t forget the visual style guide once you get going. Digital marketing firms emphasize their impression on every piece of your product, its packaging, billboards, and even the images you post on social media handles. Make use of the style guide on your website, as it is one raw resource your consumers will keep their watchful eyes on. Your websites should be well-branded from head to toe!

Consumers will see your logo, and if they don’t find it at the right place, then trust me, you’re going off track from your branding strategy! True, visual components aren’t the only important thing, but that’s no excuse to put them off the radar.

In short, make sure you put your Brand’s mark on the website, social media sites, and every piece of marketing material.

#4. Tell your story because it speaks about your brand

One strategy that emotionally connects your brand with the audience is your story. Entrepreneurs usually find it difficult, somewhat challenging to pinpoint the emotional connection. But, you have to do it, go the hard way, to complete the puzzle about your brand. A few ways to receive an emotional response are:

• Telling the story: speak about how you started, what motivated you, how you always felt that this brand is essential to you, and what challenges you put together. There’s no doubt or questions about your journey because people love Stories, the Original ones, to be specific!
• Express your values: Digital marketing and social media marketing experts believe that broadcasting your values helps your customers understand where you have come from and where you want to go (I mean, what you want to achieve). Connect a WHY to these questions. Your customers want to know why you’re doing what you’re doing. And, broadcasting the brand values will help you form a connection, an emotional bond!
• Be ORIGINAL: authentic, genuine, or personal brands have a record of connecting well with their audience. Don’t cover up your blemishes in order to make yourself unique. People will love to know your challenges, mistakes, and how you overcame everything to become the BRAND they know today.

All these aspects will only act as a helping hand to grow your business and achieve your goals in the long run.

#5. Promote your ‘PROMOTIONS’

Startups launch new ideas, concepts, and a new kind of personality in the market. Amid the chaos, they forget to demonstrate the immediate value your brand provides to the customers in the form of Promotions. Your customers are always on the fence to try out new brands, and digital marketing firms say that the customers can be swayed by your promotions, offers, or deals!

Promotions can be offered in many faces – gifts, discount coupons, first-time purchase deals, etc. As newcomers for you, a brand should and must provide promotional aspects to trigger interest in your brand. Branding your promotions means the Entrepreneurs have to do more than just stamping their logo on the advertisements.

Ensure that every promotion you put up on trial perfectly fits the purpose of your brand, its true spirit, and its values! Remember, promotion is not only to attract your potential customers but to build repeated customers, repeated orders, and constant interactions! Try combining initial promotion benefits with a loyalty program for a two-for-one branding strategy. IT’S ONE EXCELLENT WAY to help customers start their journey with you!

In Conclusion

To sum up, what Brand and Branding Strategies are, is more than just your name and logo. As already said a thousand times, it is the experience that matters when people turn to your brand!

Startup owners or Entrepreneurs should first look for things they use every day, maybe from a water bottle to the smartwatch you wear, earphones you use to listen to your favorite tracks on repeat, to even the cereal brand they eat!

Everything around us is a brand!

But, if you are struggling with how to create your own brand, then the best way to move forward is to get assisted by digital marketing firms. It may take a while for you to figure out how to portray your business, but experts who have been building brands for years have world-class knowledge about it!

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