When businesses think about branding, usually it’s surrounding a few aspects of branding, such as a logo and fonts, the colors you should use, and how your website looks. The thing is this is only one side, the visual side. So much more goes into creating your brand than looking good.
It’s important to be clear on what goes into branding so you can create your business brand with a strong foundation. See you have a brand whether you intentionally created one or not.
Branding begins and ends with how well you authentically represent and communicate about your business.
Branding is the umbrella that encompasses the way you are perceived, the way people emotionally connect with your messages and respond to the way you represent ideas and your company visually. See the most powerful brands use visuals to expand and express revolutionary ideas, concepts and it is the expression of your why and what’s possible in the world through your business existence.
Most people who work in branding, focus on making you look good, and while this is important, it is vital that your brand is an authentic reflection of who you are and what’s important to you and your customers.
Having a powerful business identity is the same, in our minds, as having a powerful brand.
Now you will find the nine components of branding along with our perspective on these components.
9 Branding Components Every Business Should Have and Why
1. Brand Identity
The first, and most important step of branding your business is your brand identity. Just like who we are is unique, your brand identity is about how your business is unique. Owning how you do business and why you do it a particular way will authentically set you apart from other businesses, especially those in the same industry.
Brand identity brings together everything your company has to offer, this includes your mission, value, core values, culture, and your approach to delivering services or why your products are made a particular way.
Essentially it comes down to who you are, what you do, and how your business can authentically reflect that.
Having a Brand Identity is the foundation of where you can be confident. If you aren’t willing to own the value you bring, or why you do the things you do, it will be hard to build an intentional brand. Taking the time to be intentional about this from the beginning will reduce challenges and confusion in the long run. This is the time to get confident and own who you are, and the unique value you bring to your industry, with your business.
2. Brand Personality
It can be difficult to grasp the idea of a “brand having a personality personality” because it requires you to assign a set of human-like characteristics to your brand.
The easiest way to accomplish this is to ask yourself “if my business was a person, how would they speak, act, look?” Would this “person” be trustworthy, unique, creative, disciplined…would they choose quality over quantity?
Getting clear on the descriptive words that you and others use about your business are the applied characteristics that create the emotional connection between your business and everyone else.
Branding personality really comes down to the way you express who you are, and how you use your voice to communicate with your audience.
Here it’s important to explore the terms and jargon you use, and what you need to educate people on so they can emotionally connect the concepts, plus the emotional values and benefits. Some brands take serious topics and make them more fun, or they break them down in ways that make it less intimidating.
Picture a Lawyer breaking down the law in understandable terms that relate to your life and experience with the goal to empower you instead of proving they know the law better than you. Different experience with those lawyers.
Imagine a carpet cleaner that teaches you the science behind carpet cleaning, and the process that delivers consistent results, versus someone who focuses on cheap pricing, and not taking care of their customers. They might also make jokes like crap happens when it comes to pet treatments for your carpet. It’s relatable because that was their goal. So you get to choose your goal as well.
When done well, a Brand Personality allows your target audience to live inside your business’s world and core values. They will understand why you are relevant to their time and focus, and they will start to emotionally connect with you. You won’t have to tell them what your core values are because they will know who you are, and in the long run, they will trust you because you have authentically shown them, the who, what, and why.
3. Brand Positioning or a Positioning Statement
Branding positioning is a way for people to know who you are, what you do, and why you are different in a short sentence–8 words or less. This is what people like to call the elevator pitch.
For example, An outdoor movie company makes inflatable movie screens, this company’s positioning statement is “Your Source for Outdoor Movies and Equipment.”
Their positioning statement tells the consumer all they need to know about the business. Source, meaning they are a one stop shop, and they are experts. Outdoor Movies and Equipment tell their customers they not only provide the outdoor screen but equipment like speakers, projectors, cables as well.
A successful brand will have ways that it stands apart from its competitors and how the brand associates for its potential customers. When you are clear and direct about your spot and position in the marketplace, it creates a way for people to connect and to easily share about you.
The more authentic this is, the more successful it is to build that trust, and a long-term group of loyal customers that become your raving fans.
4. Brand Image
Your brand image is very important to develop because it’s how your customers will visually interact with you, and it’s how they will know it’s you. This is where having your logo, fonts, colors, and elements like – angles, sharp corners, waves, rounded buttons, etc. When these are not set up in a consistent way then you can create brand confusion, or brand disillusionment, which is when someone can’t tell if you are the company they already interacted with before or not.
See Brand Image should be developed after all the steps before this. When your brand image does not reflect your values, your why, even who or what you do it can drastically influence your success. Because visuals are the first thing people connect with. It’s why most people think branding is about visuals. The real power of a brand comes when the visuals align with the messages, and the core why of what you do and offer.
A company with a branding image that doesn’t authentically align with who you are will fail. If you make promises, you don’t actually keep them that will create a brand division, and over time ruin trust. So being clear on what you will deliver and why will come through in the visual side of your branding.
This image isn’t developed overnight, and it evolves over time. Knowing the experience and interactions you want your customers to have with your brand helps you to set the precedence of what they can expect from your business day in and day out.
If your company has a strong brand image you’ll see more abundance as new customers are drawn to your business and you’ll be able to easily introduce new services and products under your brand. You’ll see customer retention and better business-consumer relations by remaining consistent with your message which creates an emotional connection where your consumers can see the value you bring in simply because you are sharing what you offer.
To ensure you have a strong brand image, focus on how your brand will look, how your customers or clients will feel when they look at your imagery, and what associations you want to create and establish for them.
Potential clients will develop their idea of your brand image in their minds based on previous customers’ experiences and the environment that surrounds your business. Operating under integrity and authenticity will ensure that you are authentically expressing and showing people who you are.
5. Brand Equity
Brand equity is technically defined as “a value premium that a company generates from a product with a recognizable name when compared to a generic equivalent.” From our perspective, brand equity sets the stage for people emotionally connecting to the value you provide them. It clearly involves the identity that you’re naturally going to bring into your business and brand. It’s the value you naturally bring to people because your business exists.
When you are in full expression of who you are, what you do, and why you do it, this increases the value of your business and your brand. This is why it is so important that you have authenticity baked into your brand and that you are committed to it.
Your mindset also has to be clear, what are you really doing this for? Why do you get up and do this every day? A poor mindset where businesses forget that they care about people and focus on money instead of the people they care about is what leads to their downfall.
Don’t let this be you; continue to see the value you bring to your clients. When you build a business that takes care of people, the finances and the full equity will take care of itself, as long as you have built your pricing and offers correctly. This all stems from your beliefs, your brand, and your business model, all of which have to be about how you take care of people. Money is the result of taking care of people, and when we are playing the game for people, money will come.
Don’t let this be you; continue to see the value you bring to your clients. When you build a business that takes care of people, the finances and the full equity will take care of itself, as long as you have built your pricing and offers correctly. This all stems from your beliefs, your brand, and your business model, all of which have to be about how you take care of people. Money is the result of taking care of people, and when we are playing the game for people, money will come.
6. Strategic Brand Communication & Messaging
Knowing your audience is key to having effective strategic brand communication. Think of it this way; if you had a guest over for dinner and didn’t know they were exclusively gluten-free and you didn’t serve them gluten-free food, what would the repercussions be?
They may feel offended, there could be health issues that arise, and overall it would show a lack of knowing your guest. You want to know your audience, and clients to avoid instances where you cannot deliver, or you miss the mark.
You want to meet your clients where they are in their decision-making process by knowing the concerns and challenges they are facing. Knowing the emotional benefits and value you give them is important as the business-consumer relationship stems beyond products and services. Your clients need to see that your products and services are the bridge from their problem now to the solution they want and need.
Again, when this is done inauthentically, or unclearly it creates a negative impact on your brand and business. This is why businesses have a brand be it they intentionally created one or not, so you may as well get intentional about it all. Because branding is just the way you reflect who you are out into the world and attract people to you. It’s all about authentic visibility so that you can find the right people, who truly need your services or products.
7. Brand Differentiation Opens the Door for Clear Value
To establish brand differentiation, you have to ask yourself some key questions:
- What do my consumers want?
- How are others in my industry positioning their brand? Where am I the same? Where am I different than them?
- What is my brand capable of that sets us apart from similar brands? How do we do it differently? Better? Why?
- What value do I bring to consumers?
- What is my approach or process that is unique and delivers results?
At Business Inspired Solutions, we have four pillars that are part of our approach that we take our clients through that bring them very specific results. What is the process you take people through, whether you are a carpet cleaner, chiropractor, or coach, you need to know your approach to solving your audience’s problem? The approach you take to solving those problems is how you differentiate from others in your industry because they are not you. This is how you can empower people to know the value you bring, without even needing to talk about your competitors, because you are sharing about your way and what’s possible through working with you.
Again, it comes down to confidence, saying this is who I am, what I do, and how it works. It is your business after all so owning it, and then sharing it makes it way easier to find who you need, and it creates a pathway to short-term and long-term results because you are building and growing the trust of that audience, even in your local community.
8. Brand Gap – What’s Missing for People to Connect With You?
To understand the Brand Gap, you have to look at the way that you take care of things that other businesses don’t provide. What is missing in your industry that your business solves or provides? This is part of your brand identity.
A brand is just a reflection of your identity as a business. The goal isn’t to just look good, but to allow your customers to know who you are if they can trust you and if you can actually solve their problem. If you can’t, you won’t be able to sell to them, because that doesn’t embody integrity.
The other thing that is important here is that when your clients or customers have questions or concerns those can be indicators that there is a gap in your branding. Meaning that you need to answer something for them to build that trust. Also, questions can be a double-check for customers if you are who you say you are and if you will actually deliver on what they need. So don’t shy away from questions or concerns, they are actually an opportunity to know what people still don’t know about you, and where you can evolve. Questions and concerns are all part of the feedback.
9. Brand Experience & Extension
Your consumers’ experience with your business should always align with your brand voice and identity. This is why the best businesses are built off of authenticity; if you are authentic in who, what you do, why you do it, and how, then your customer experience will always align with what you actually offer.
Take all of the elements of your brand and combine them to create an exceptional experience for your consumers. Brand experience is a delivery system for results where people get what they need. All of these components are tied together to help you yield experience, results, and delivery for your customers.
Good experiences are going to automatically lead to Brand Extension.
The way you build a community around and stemming from your business is going to be the way that others see you, and talk and share about you. This is where you want to take feedback seriously. Utilizing a feedback loop will allow your consumers to provide feedback that you can see and use to improve upon. Take your consumer feedback seriously as your customers become an extension of your brand and the way you understand it.
Each of these elements combined is how you take your business brand to the next level and develop your legacy. None of these elements mean anything to build your brand if they are not developed from authenticity and implemented with one goal in mind: taking care of people.
When building your business and brand remember that abundance does not come strictly from monetary value, but the value you see in yourself, your clients, and the value your clients and customers see in you. A strong foundation creates a strong brand, and being intentional about your business identity will give you the ability to navigate and withstand storms and challenges that may come your way.
If you need or want help to develop your business plan or brand, we have a few options. You can start with our basic branding guide for free here, or you can schedule a free discovery call where we can talk more about our done with your services so that you can create and establish the foundation you need to make a big difference.