Branding is key to your success today online and offline. With the complex world of digital marketing and social media engagement, comes another worry – getting your business’s message across. It’s easy to get trapped in the one-lane thought process of getting your brand and company out there, getting an online presence, making yourself known, etc.
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Why Branding Matters
But what good is that if you’re not accurately portraying what you’re truly about? Does it look like Inspire To Thrive sells coffee in the image below? 🙂
![branding is key to your success](https://inspiretothrive.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/branding-is-key-to-your-success.png)
Sure, it’s a good idea to market yourself and make your business known but as they say “a chain is no stronger than its weakest link”. And for a good reason too.
It is important to improve and assess the way in which your company comes across to the general public, and how you present your brand.
There are so many things that play a role in this, and you need to understand the key ways of helping to make your business shine and thrive, and being able to enhance your company’s reputation and presence is really important.
Think about some of the key elements that play a role in this, and there are loads of factors that will help you with this. It is essential for you to be able to make the right changes that are going to help you improve your company moving forward.
Here are some of the core tips that you can use that will help you to improve the way your brand comes across right now as branding is the key to success
How To Build A More Premium Brand
You’re likely reading this because you’re about to start a new business or want to improve an existing one.
Is it too late to create a more premium brand? Absolutely not! The following information will give you some actionable tips and tricks you can follow to give your new or existing brand a more premium feel:
Upgrade Your Branding Design
The first thing you need to think about is upgrading your branding. It doesn’t matter whether you’re launching a new business or you’re trying to make an existing one appear more upmarket.
What matters is your branding reflects your business and the target market it wants to attract. For example, a logo with a Comic Sans font is unlikely to appeal to high-net-worth consumers!
It pays to use a professional like strategic brand consultants that can create the right logo and branding for your business that aligns with your goals.
Website Branding – Create A Killer Website
A killer website is a secret to business success, and this is one of the best and most effective ways of shaping your brand experience for customers. Being able to come up with some of the best website design ideas can be hugely impactful when looking to take your company to the next level.
There are so many ideas and elements that you have to think about when you are trying to improve this as much as possible, and creating the best possible website is one of the most important things you can do to help with this.
While you’re upgrading your branding, you should also refresh the look and functionality of your website. It makes sense to give a lot of thought to the overall design and layout, along with color schemes and font styles.
![refresh your website](https://inspiretothrive.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/refresh-your-website-1.jpg)
Those elements alone will make your brand and the products and services you sell more attractive to consumers that happily spend money on high-ticket items. A more premium redesign will also give your brand more credibility through better consumer perception.
Offline Marketing Materials For Branding
Another point to consider when upgrading your branding is to look at your offline marketing materials and redesign them to match your new look.
For example, use a luxury business card printing provider to produce high-quality business cards for you and your team. You should also do the same with brochures, flyers, compliment slips, and other materials promoting your brand to consumers offline.
Other offline marketing assets you’ll need to review include banners, trade show stand signs, and other advertising items you might use offline from time to time.
Spare No Expense On Your Aesthetics
Did you know that brand perception isn’t just about the products and services an organization sells but rather how they get presented? With that in mind, one thing you should never do is cut corners on the cost of presenting your brand’s products and services.
You already know that it makes sense to update your branding for promotional and marketing material that you use offline, such as banners and other signage. But, it also makes sense to look at other ways your customers will see your brand and what you sell.
Product Packaging
Some brands like Apple have contemporary styling for their product packaging. There’s nothing “fancy” about the box that houses an iPhone or a MacBook Air. But, one memorable point about their product packaging is how it has a premium look and feel to it.
![packaging](https://inspiretothrive.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/packaging.jpg)
If your business sells physical products to its customers under its brand name, it needs to adopt such premium product packaging. Again, don’t skimp on the materials used; always use high-quality paper, cards, or other materials for packaging your products.
Remember, branding is key to success for your business.
Retail Store Design for Branding
Does your business have a retail store, or is your startup planning to operate from one when it launches? If the answer to either question is yes, another area where you should spare no expense is the aesthetics of your retail store design.
When your customers walk into your store, they should feel they’ve stepped into a luxury hotel or have got behind the wheel of a Bentley. They shouldn’t feel like they are in a Trader Joe’s retail store. (Which I love by the way!)
Hire a commercial interior designer to come up with a premium look for your brand’s retail store.
Revamp Your Business Premises
Being able to revamp your business premises is one of the best things that play a role in helping you improve your company. You need to ensure it gets the care and attention it requires.
Start off by making sure you are using materials such as custom sheet metal fabrication for a strong and secure roof, as well as revamping the front of the house, and the customer car park.
You want the premises to resemble all the best qualities of your business, and this is why it pays to take the time to focus on this as much as possible.
Adjust Your Marketing Campaigns
Whether you’re launching a new brand or upgrading an existing one, you need to pay attention to how you establish and run your marketing campaigns.
As you might expect, a premium business will only want to target customers from specific niche markets. You don’t want to aim your brand and its products and services at individuals that are highly unlikely to purchase what you sell (or could even afford to buy them).
Spending some time adjusting your marketing campaigns ensures you only capture the right segment of your target market, plus you won’t blow your marketing budget out of the water.
Furthermore, do not forget about social media marketing in your budget. Social media is not really FREE as many assume.
Offer First-Class Customer Service
Have you ever noticed that high-end brands often provide first-class customer service? When you’re paying a lot of money for products and services, you expect to get treated with the attention and respect that you deserve.
Keeping that in mind, offering first-class customer service isn’t an impossible objective to accomplish. For example, you could offer a concierge service, so each customer has a single point of contact that takes care of all their needs or issues.
That point of contact should also accommodate any reasonable requests, such as keeping the customer up-to-date with news on any product repairs or details of upgrades to existing items they’ve purchased.
![customer service and branding is key for success](https://inspiretothrive.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/customer-service.jpg)
Consider Creating A Premium Sub-Brand
Lastly, if you’ve got an already established brand, but you want to continue selling to its existing target audience, you may not want to convert that brand into a more premium one. Thankfully, one way around that problem is to launch a premium sub-brand.
Many companies launch premium brands as part of their “group” of brand names. Following such a move could make it easy for your firm to target affluent customers, for example, without needing to spend lots of money on restructuring your existing brands.
Sending A Clear Message In Your Branding
You need to ensure that the branding you’re putting out there is portraying a clear message about what you and your business do, what it can offer people, and why people should choose you. For some in the startup process, you’ll want to think long and hard about how you’re going to portray yourself,
Not only that but what you want others’ first impressions of your company to be.
If you’re an established business, this doesn’t necessarily mean going back to square one. For one thing, simply tweak your website, slogans, colors, logos, and anything else to fit in line with what you represent. Does the image look more like what the business here does?
Your company’s branding is a critical factor in all manners of digital marketing; it’s the foundation of all of your hard work, time, effort, and money put into gathering and winning business online. And for that reason, it’s fundamental that your foundations are strong.
This may be a hindrance if you’ve already displayed your logos all over your company’s assets, vehicles, pens, website, etc. But you don’t have to completely change everything.
As previously mentioned, tweak your current style to fit in line with what you represent. Consider branding your stationery, employee items, and freebies with that strong message.
Then, get your items branded with your message and keep those foundations strong as branding is key to success.
Example Of A Major Brand Fail?
A few years ago I went to a Facebook training session put on by Facebook in Providence, Rhode Island. I was surprised that they gave out several items all branded. Who doesn’t know who Facebook is today, right?
But I will say one thing about the products: They were cheap! The pen was a very cheap plastic pen and the bag was very THIN. The notepad was nice and the little pin was tiny!
So if you are going to brand items think if you want to appear cheap with several items or classy with just one really nice item.
![Facebook branding materials](https://inspiretothrive.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/facebook-branding.png)
Do You Need A Re-Brand?
Perhaps a complete rebrand is what you’re after, which can more often than not, be a game-changer for you.
Therefore, a local web design agency might be the first place to go to help you with that. They can set you off in the right direction, and you can bounce ideas off each other to devise your perfect end goal.
Your website may be the difference between winning or losing that business. So it’s key that your website offers the right tone and first impressions.
Once you’re sure that your brand and message are loud and tell the right story, you can then proceed with pushing it out there and getting on with running your business.
This can then often give you that much-needed breath of fresh air to brush away the cobwebs of your old and aged look which can lead to winning that vital custom.
Your Image for Branding
Ultimately, your image will set you apart from your competitors. It’s your end goal to make first impressions and good impressions and take your company to the next level. You could try using video campaigns to showcase your image as well.
Finally, taking a good hard look at that image from a customer’s perspective may give you a better indication it is of the tale you’re really telling. For example, you could take a poll from your customers.
With that, you can delve into what needs to change and why it needs to be changed as branding is key to success for your business.
Final Thoughts On How Branding Is Key To Success
There’s no denying that launching a premium brand is a smart and lucrative move. If you’ve got an existing business, creating a premium sub-brand enables you to capture a new market and boost your company’s turnover.
Do you have images and logos that really reflect what your brand is about? Have you done a re-brand? I’d love to know more in the comments below. Please share this one on your favorite social network!
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Checking in a few years later on this updated post Lisa. Branding is even more important now with the proliferation of sites popping up here and there. Doing a brand upgrade is key at times so we feel good and clear about our blogs, brands and businesses. I had a big brand re-design a while back with a complete blog theme makeover. Everything about my blog felt better to me when my developer did this.
Now more than ever, building an eye-catching brand makes you stand out in a world of seemingly endless opportunities, sites, forums, etc.
Excellent post.
Hi Ryan, yes that is a great point about branding. I love your new look there Ryan. Much cleaner and easier to read. It is endless, isn’t it? I also love using SEO as my main means of attracting people. Of course, even that changes often today as well. Thanks for coming by Ryan and make it a great day!
Nice post.
Branding means the experience that you got from the product or service, branding helps people to market for you organically. I believe re-branding should be done if the brand is getting negative reviews/bad experience.
If the brand doesn’t get off to a good start doesn’t mean it should be rebranded, it means the service or product is lacking something which one should rectify. So the decision to rebrand needs a deep analysis of the business.
Let me know what you think Lisa.
Hi Lisa,
Great article. Branding was something I was thinking about this weekend. I went on a tour through a chocolate factory with my kids… (they want bananas over it) and they showed me how everything worked.
The next day when I went buying chocolate I was more leaned to the brand that I saw in the chocolate factory.
Because they showed me the ins and outs of the factory I become suddenly loyal to their brand and that started to make me think about what else we bloggers can do to create a brand in which we can get loyal followers…
Well, by giving free stuff even though it’s made very cheap like that pen they gave you. You’re absolutely right off course that making the product cheap can seem not worth it but here you are mentioning it… and me wanting it 🙂
Thanks for the share…
Cheers,
Engin Soysal
Hi Engin, That sounds fun! Which chocolate factory? I loved that old movie “Charlie and The Chocolate Factory.” If you are in the US I’ll have to send you one 🙂 I’m hoping to have more promotional products in the coming year as well to give out. Thanks for your input on this one Engin and have a great start to the new week!
I’m always fascinated by branding. I believe when creativity and simplicity gel together, they create a great mix. Plus, a clear message goes a long way.
I know many who are always wanting to know how to do it and the best ways. Passing it on. The weekend is almost here!
Thanks for sharing…
Hi Paket, Yes creativity and simplicity go really well together indeed 🙂 You are most welcome. Are you branding your wedding website? Thank you for coming by and have a great new week!
Lisa: Have you got your own promotional products? It was interesting to read about your thoughts on FB’s giveaways and your comment on the quality. I have several brands to cultivate, e.g., EGO NetCast podcast (with a caricature of yours truly, created by John Cox), GOT Tea Party tea brand (with a cartoon lion, holding a teapot, created by John Cox), TeaParty.Media (my “last” website, presenting all my social media activities and new media services, logotype created by John Cox).
Hi Martin, oh yes, I love my pens that I can give out. I do have a t-shirt and computer case too with the logo so everywhere I go people will see it. Of course I have business cards as well. I hope to purchase more promotional items this year. Not sure yet what, I do have a catalog to go through. I’ll have to check yours own Martin, sounds like you have quite a few there. Thanks for all your shares everywhere on this one. Much appreciated 🙂 Have an awesome day!
Hi Lisa,
While reading through this post, first time that comes to mind is my blog logo.
Honestly, there is no consistency across all marketing channels(social media accounts).
I need to go back and see what to do about it, is been more than five years I last design the blog log.
Time for a change.
Thanks writing, Lisa.
Hi Shamsudeen, yes – you need some consistency across all of your channels with your brand. Otherwise, people won’t recognize it there. Yes, 5 years, sounds like a little change may be needed. I hope you have success with it. Thanks for coming by and have a great rest of the day there.
Brand is everything which builds or destroys reputation.
Update is very important in every field so as in logos and other branding items.
From my personal experience, I feel really excited about what will be new look and how it all will work.
Yeah! sometimes it becomes very annoying if this process is very frequent.
Awesome post Lisa.
Keep sharing such content.
Hi Kaushal, branding can build or destroy a reputation. I like change but we have to be careful not to change too often either – like you mention. People will think you can’t make up your mind 🙂 Thank you and I appreciate your coming by. Enjoy the rest of your day.
Hi Lisa,
I’m always fascinated by branding. I believe when creativity and simplicity gel together, they create a great mix. Plus, a clear message goes a long way.
A lot of brands update their logos and branding because they understand that giving the brand a new look could infuse new energy to their marketing.
I might also change my blog’s look this year. I thought a few weeks ago.
Great post, Lisa.
Hi Hassaan, Me too! It’s interesting to see how some brands can get very creative. And others something so simple goes viral. Amazing! If it works, keep it, if it could use improving I would go for it. Good luck! Thanks for coming by and have a great day.
Hi Lisa
Branding is everything, I wish I had stumbled on a post like this when I just got started. I had to rebrand my blog and it was a such a pain but it was worth it. Even though I’m still in the process but I’m glad I did try
Thank you so much for sharing
Branding is literally like a branding iron Lisa, leaving a firm impress on our minds. I am ruthless with my brand. From my blogging course, to eBooks, to audio books to paperbacks, everything has my brand logo stamped across the covers. No other way to do it if you want to be memorable. Plus I write in my brand voice across all that I do. Rocking post buddy.
Hey Lisa. My employer does the same kind of cheap thing. Iritates me so bad because I think it makes the company look bad. I expected more from Facebook. Was it them or the event who branded those items. How was the training overall? Did you learn much? Thanks for sharing this post on branding. I know many who are always wanting to know how to do it and the best ways. Passing it on. The weekend is almost here!
Hi Bren, Yes, I agree. It was them for REAL. I wasn’t sure when I signed up and it was sponsored by the Providence Chamber. They did have a nice notebook for me with the prize though. That was a hardcover notebook with Facebook engraved on it 🙂 The pens they passed out to everyone and the “bag” was very cheap though. The presentation was great and I did learn a few things I can use for myself and clients going forward. If one comes near you, do check it out! Have a great evening Brenda. Thanks for coming by on this one.