Nine expertly answered questions about branding for small and midsize businesses
Learn all the answers to your frequently asked questions about branding to ensure your organization’s success
With 68% of professionals reporting brand consistency has contributed to somewhere between 10% and over 20% of their revenue growth, establishing a strong brand identity for your business could prove crucial to your growth and success. [1]
Amid so much jargon and confusion about branding, we invite you to join us to explore the list we’ve created of some of the most frequently asked questions about branding with answers compiled from our team of experts.
#1: What is branding?
Branding is the creative process of identifying and creating unique elements for your business that contribute to its overall perception in the public eye.
It’s a common misconception to think that branding is just about the visuals, but it’s so much more. The right branding utilizes powerful visuals and messages to communicate your business’s values in a way that allows people to easily recognize your organization and the services it offers.
All the elements—logo, colors, images, messages—that people encounter when they interact with your business is an important part of your branding.
#2: Why is branding of a company or product important?
An effective brand is essential for businesses of all sizes to succeed. A strong brand will allow your business to stand out from competitors, build customer loyalty, and establish trust with your clients.
One of the best examples of an effective brand is Apple. Apple does more than just manufacture great products. They wrap their products in a cohesive design language that we would all instantly identify with Apple, even if the logo was not on the box.
#3: What makes a brand unique?
In an age where we see a countless amount of ads per day, establishing a unique brand identity is crucial to standing out in a saturated market.
While there’s no formula to creating a unique brand, partnering with an experienced branding agency that creates custom designs and compelling brand stories is a great place to start for most businesses. The right agency partner will be able to create a distinct visual expression, brand personality, and position to identify and differentiate your business amongst a sea of competition.
#4: What are the best tips for coming up with a perfect brand identity?
Realistically, there’s no way to create the “perfect” brand identity, but a great place to start can often be what NOT to do.
To create a strong, memorable, and lasting brand for your business, avoid the following common mistakes:
- Being boring or being too bold
- Not matching your business identity
- Mixing old and new branding
- Following trends
- Not having a brand story
Learn more:
How to avoid these common branding mistakes
#5: What are the differences between marketing and branding?
The terms marketing and branding are often used interchangeably or incorrectly, but knowing the difference between these two essential activities can help you successfully achieve your business goals.
In the simplest of terms, branding is who you are and marketing is how you build awareness for your business. Both branding and marketing are important, and there can be some overlap, but they are not the same.
#6: What comes first, marketing or branding?
Establishing a brand identity is the most important first step every company should take to give them the best possible chance at success. Your brand will act as a single, unified identity that is protected and maintained not just by you, but by every partner, employee, customer, and prospect that interacts with your business along the way.
Once your brand has been established, you can proceed with promoting and selling your product or service through marketing, while looking back at your brand visuals and messaging to guide every campaign you create, every email you send, every social media message you post, and every trade show you attend.
#7: How do businesses use marketing to communicate their brand?
Although they’re not the same, branding and marketing are intrinsically linked. If a brand is properly established, then a targeted marketing campaign should be created that uses the brand visuals and messaging as the touch point for every piece of content created and initiative completed.
Marketing is all about communicating your brand to your target audience to drive conversions and sales.
#8: What is the purpose of brand strategy?
A brand strategy will accurately communicate your identity, offerings, and values to help you foster brand loyalty and nurture leads. It provides a clear plan of attack for your marketing initiatives to be based upon and offers every member of your team clear objectives for success as they identify key performance indicators (KPIs).
Learn more:
Four simple ways to start building the best B2B brand strategy
#9: How can I decide on a branding strategy for my business?
Although the resource linked above is a great starting point, your team should consider partnering with an experienced branding and marketing agency to identify the best brand strategy for your business. They will have the resources and expertise needed to set you up for success and meet all of your identified goals.
Interested in next level branding services for your business?
At Different Perspective, we’d be proud to partner with your business to provide a tailored branding strategy that works to help you tell your story, connect with your target audience, and achieve your unique goals.
We offer a variety of branding services to our clients depending on their unique needs, including, but not limited to:
- Competition Analysis
- Brand Story Development
- Brand Positioning
- Logo Design
- Brand Style Guide
- Brand Application
- Business Name Development
Ready to level up your business?
Learn more about our branding services or schedule a meeting with a brand strategist.
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