The most straightforward definition of business branding is a concept that your company’s brand or service is distinguished from other products, services, or concepts so that it can be easily communicated and marketed. Business branding is the process of creating your company’s brand name which can be applied to the entire corporate identity as well as individual services, products, and projects.
Most of the time they are protected by trademarks from an authorized source. You can hire a firm or try to do it yourself and find out if no one else is using it. When you learn that no one else is using it you can begin using your brand name as a trademark, simply by registering it and stating that is a trademark.
Brands are often expressed in the form of logos, taglines, websites, and graphic content of the brand, which is able the express and convey the brand message and vision to the current and potential customers.
Public awareness of the company and its products is used as a factor when evaluating a brand’s reach.
A strong brand is reflected in all aspects of customer service and overall experience from the business cards, to the advertisements on billboards and TV to the company’s merchandise.
Having the right approach to your company’s branding is essential for a successful business that is perceived positively and comes to mind by the customers. Your branding should reflect what you have to say and what sets you apart from your competitors. It expresses your business qualities, personality, and values.
History of business branding
Most of us have a preconceived notion that branding is somewhat of a recent phenomenon. Especially after the 90s branding emerged as something that’s not only for corporations and their products and services but for NGOs, universities, countries, and even individual people like politicians and celebrities.
Business branding became ever-present in our lives. One of the most famous examples we’re sure everyone is familiar with is Coca-Cola and Proctor & Gamble and other big companies that started branding their products in the mid-to-late 1800s.
Looking even further back we can see that even in the early 1800s tobacco companies started branding their products. Around the same time, fraternities and sororities would brand their pledges in a practice now referred to as hazing.
In the middle ages criminals, we’re also branded as a form of punishment or identification. Different countries were using different symbols for “skin branding”.
Even more interesting is that in the 1200s in England goldsmiths and silversmiths were required to brand their products to ensure honesty.
Painters also used marks on their art and creations as a form of identification and recognition.
Branding goes even further back to when human civilization was in its infancy. Potter marks we’re used on porcelain and pottery found in China, Rome, and Greece.
Historians have evidence for forms of advertising in the earliest civilizations like the Babylons. So we can confidently say that branding has been around for thousands of years before it took the shape of what we’re familiar with in modern times.
Why is business branding important?
We can say with absolute confidence that business branding is the most important aspect of your company because of the overall impact it has and the influence it garners with time and the right methods.
Branding can have an impact on how people perceive your company and products, it can drive new customers and solidify the existing “fanbase”.
It can increase the value and prestige but it can do the opposite if you don’t do it correctly.
Business branding’s main goal is to achieve and play a positive role in people’s lives and drive innovation and further the progress of society.
No matter what good or bad your business does reputation is something that always builds up. The result is pretty straightforward. It would be either a positive or negative reputation in the eyes of the consumers. Good branding involves a mix of different competencies and tools to utilize in order to have a positive outcome.
Business branding drives more customers
Strong branding generally means there is a positive impression of the company amongst the general public, and they are likely to do business with you because of the familiarity of using a brand name they can trust. Here is how you can do that in 2022. Once a company has been established, word of mouth will be one of its best and most efficient advertising tools.
Just like with the reputation of a person, the reputation of a brand precedes it. Once a certain perception of the brand has been established in the market, a chain reaction of word of mouth begins and further solidifies the brand’s reputation. If it’s positive, potential new customers may come into contact with the brand, having an already-positive association in their mind that makes them more likely to make a purchase from your company than your competitors.
Be consistent with your business branding
After you’ve defined how your brand should be perceived, then organizing your business based on this perception and further communicating this idea, you must be consistent. Tesla, for example, is recognized for making cars that are both elegant and innovative:
The idea here is to develop trust and value in your audience. Your customers must see your brand as something they can interact with and get a satisfying experience from. Consistency is often the hardest part, but the one with the greatest rewards.
Your brand is no longer its name or logo – it’s the expectation of its customers.
When applying such a strategy, your business will gradually be able to increase its sales. Your brand will become one of your business’s most valuable assets and the one with the most impact on society.
