In general, what sets one product apart from the rest is branding. Branding is a method that differentiates a product and makes it easily identifiable. It should therefore be an important component of your company’s marketing thrust. It is a twofold concept, involving the promotion of both your business and product. Business branding involves the utilization of diverse tools to promote your business’ strengths in order to attract customers, and cement your position in the market.
For the small business with limited resources, less costly marketing tools like social media, can be used to create value for the business. Sites like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and others, present the opportunity to spread the word about your business, and get your name ‘out there’. However, use of these resources should be part of an overall brand strategy, aimed at developing a well-defined brand (unless you’re planning to waste lots of time without seeing any tangible results).
You can start with logo, sign, image, or business name, but remember that branding goes much deeper than that and it will depend on the brand strategy you choose. However, your branding needs to be clear, and represent your company well. Brand represents the personality of the company, and presents a promise to the customer, because it communicates what they can expect from your business, product, or service. It is therefore vital for your company to deliver on its brand promise.
Brand promise also represents what your customer should expect not only in terms of product, but also in terms of service. In order to ensure that this is upheld and there are no broken promises, your employees should also play an integral role in your brand strategy. This is an often neglected area when companies are formulating branding policies. However, failure to include employees can result in promises being compromised.
Brand promises are within the normal expectations that consumers have for a product. For example, customers anticipate that the quality of a Wendy’s natural cut fries will be the same wherever it is sold, after all the company’s tagline of ‘quality is our recipe’ evokes this. Should the company break its promise and fail to meet those expectations, then the most likely result would be a decline in sales.
Social media makes it possible for bad experiences to go viral in no time. When this occurs, it can disrupt what started out as a well-planned brand strategy. Therefore it is important to cover all the bases when coming up with a brand strategy. The key to remember is that you must deliver whatever you promise, because this is exactly what your clients expect from you.