What is Branding?
Branding design is the way a company chooses to visually present themselves to consumers. This is done through a variety of elements including logo, typography, color, icons, textures, and more. These visual representations engrain themselves in the memory of consumers, creating brands that stand out among competitors. This can create a huge impact for the company, increasing brand awareness and sales alike.
Where to Start?
When creating a company, it can be hard to figure out a starting point in branding. It is important to first understand how the company wants to be perceived by consumers. Voice is one of the most important elements to consider. A company communicates their voice through more than words. Typography, colors, and icons all shape the way consumers read the personality of a brand. A fun, playful brand might choose a curly, cursive type, and use purple tones while a more serious, elegant brand uses a strong serif typography and neutral colors.
It can be helpful to map out the target consumer prior to discovering the voice of the brand. This can be done through user personas. This means creating made-up characters that represent different consumers of your product. By determining the types of customers your company is looking to reach, you can form a strong brand identity based on the way your consumers might think or speak. The digital space is already crowded, so it is important to listen to customers and still have something unique to bring to the table.
How Does Branding Relate to Marketing?
Branding can increase the relevance that a business has in its industry. This allows them to spend less on overhead costs. Branding is not something that only large companies can do. Even startup’s can have incredible branding that allows them to be seen and in turn gain investors and consumers. Good branding can put a company in a position where they can take risks without worrying about customers leaving for competitors. Strong branding can create an unbreakable bond with consumers, making them consumers for life.
Companies can focus less on marketing when they have good branding because consumers do the marketing for them. When a person really enjoys a brand, they are more likely to share it with others. Brands that are seen over and over again are recognizable by their brand elements, colors, logo and more. When a consumer visits a store, they are more likely to reach for the product with the logo they know and have seen from another consumer, than a random competitor of which they know nothing.
Reputation is Everything
Companies end up with a reputation no matter what they do. It is better to be in front of this by creating a reputation for yourself. By creating unforgettable branding, companies can shape the attitude consumers have toward them. It also allows companies to gain more loyal employees, because they are excited to be working for a well known brand that has tons of consumer love. This makes it easier for the company to continue doing what they do best, making a product that is well known and well trusted. Companies often create style guides or brand guides that allow other companies to be aware of their logo, color and branding rules. These help separate brands from one another and uphold consistency in branding for a company. Branding and marketing go hand in hand, and branding can be the difference between a company soaring or flopping.
It is a company’s choice whether or not they want to integrate themselves into the lives of their consumers, and it usually benefits the company to be beloved by those they sell to.