In this blog, we’re going to learn how to create an effective digital branding strategy for your businesses and what is the process of strategy creation?
“Your brand is what other people say about you when you’re not in the room” – Jeff Bezos
Mr. Bezos said it rightly. Branding is indeed the most crucial element of marketing.
In this article, we will explore why branding is considered the holy grail of the marketing world and what’s more to it than it lets on.
Branding: The Holy Grail of Marketing
Branding.
The word in itself is enough, isn’t it?
You see all sorts of scenarios playing in your mind when you hear this word.
You see many famous brands’ logos, think of their taglines and their advertisement, and even their jingles for that matter.
But what do business branding and marketing strategies exactly mean in the digital world and what importance does it have for the brands?
Why is it such a big deal to get the branding right?
Did you know the studies suggest that over 90% of the purchases are influenced by the branding of a company? Share on X
Complete Social Media Branding Strategy: A Step-By-Step Guide for Small Businesses
What About a Digital Branding Strategy We’ll Cover in This Blog?
So, there was this show on Netflix I was watching the other day called “The Stranger” and I realized there was a lot of chaos and confusion because no one knew the elements of discussion in the show.
There were many questions that were in the protagonist’s minds and answers unraveled one after the other
So I thought I’d lay out the elements that we will be discussing here before getting into the in-depth discussion about branding. In this article, we will be answering the following questions.
What is Branding?
Understanding the Concept of Brand
Before understanding the very concept of branding, let’s understand what a brand actually is.
Did you know that it takes 5-7 strong, powerful, and lasting impressions for people to remember a brand?
So what is a brand? We understand it here.
What is a Brand?
Brand is a picture, an experience that company creates about themselves in the minds of the customers.
A brand is not just the name, but the feel. The visual and aesthetic representation and also an experience as a whole.
It’s a consistent perception of what a company is all about.
Recent studies have shown that a brand’s consistent presence across all the marketing channels can increase revenue by up to 23%.
Therefore it is incredibly important that everyone perceives it the right way and creates lasting impressions on customers’ minds.
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Three Characteristics of a Brand
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- A brand is an identifier
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With a brand image that you create for your products and services, your customers will be able to identify your products from your competitors.
Be it logos, pictures, any visual or textual element that you incorporate in your brand. It will help you stand out and improve your identity and visibility.
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- A brand is an asset
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There’s no denying that if you play your cards right, your brand will stand out and generate quality customers.
This means that it generates revenue. So by simple mathematics, a brand is a very valuable asset that generates much-needed returns when used well.
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- A brand is a perception
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Did you know brands are created by customers and not by the company?
Yes, it’s true.
Every customer or audience, in general, has a perception when they see a product or service. A mindset if you will.
So, it’s on the basis of how they perceive you is how your brand gets created.
According to the data, 64% of consumers stated that they trusted a brand whose perception matched with there’s.
Now it’s up to us to make these people perceive it in a positive and considerate way, isn’t it?
Understanding Branding
Branding is incorporating brand values into the process of marketing.
It is a process that helps a company stand out from its competitors by the means of visual, audio, aesthetic, literary, moral, and other important differentiation.
It is no surprise that these days people take everything very personally.
So a brand that incorporates personal touches and moral and social values into its branding will win and studies are proof of it.
It’s a proven fact that about 89% of the customers will stay loyal to the brands they connect with, brands that share their values, and that they feel a connection with.
What is Digital Branding?
In today’s world, 62% of marketers are of the belief that online branding helps build their brand loyalty more than traditional branding.
Now that’s a fairly vast statistical difference, isn’t it?
With globalization and technological advancements, digital business branding marketing strategies have reigned supreme over and above traditional branding.
But what exactly does digital branding entail?
Let’s see here.
Digital Branding
Simply put, a digital business branding Strategy is a way of creating a brand presence on the digital avenues. It combines all the arenas of digital branding including online branding, social media branding, and more.
It’s a nice way to have an interactive brand presence on a fairly impersonal platform.
Studies suggest that 52% of customers prefer brands that are digitally communicating with them at the right time.
They expect the brands to know what is the right moment to interact with them and prove their brand presence.
As we all already know, establishing a brand presence is imperative.
In this digital age, it’s plain common sense that all that’s available should be utilized for branding purposes.
How is Digital Branding Different From Traditional Branding?
While the core business branding marketing strategies concept remains the same, the areas of functioning of traditional branding are different from that of digital branding.
Traditional branding is creating brand awareness and recognition using traditional means of advertising and marketing.
These means include print media, broadcast media, radio, and television precisely.
On the other hand, digital branding as already discussed includes branding through digital means.
While traditional branding was once very much a factor in a brand’s success, digital branding is what rules these days. Moreover, digital branding has a wider reach and is more directed towards target customers than traditional branding.
This is why digital business branding marketing strategies are said to provide greater revenue, cost-effectiveness, and wider reach and recognition.
But at the same time, a proper balance of both digital and traditional aspects of business branding marketing strategies can be used to get the best of both worlds.
Overwhelming?
Don’t worry.
You can approach us.
Importance of a Digital Branding Strategy for Businesses
PC – Carfax
Let’s look at this objectively.
Firstly, customers, these days judge a brand within 10 seconds.
Yes, that’s it. It takes 10 seconds to create a brand impression in a customer’s mind.
Secondly, studies further suggest that over 51% of the customers will not give a second look at a brand if it doesn’t convince them the first time.
Moreover, Not just customers, even 77% of the marketing leaders believe that branding is critical to the survival and growth of a company as a whole.
So it’s understandable why the importance of branding is increasing day by day.
Branding can not only identify and differentiate your brand, but it’s also extremely critical for generating leads, conversions, and revenue.
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1. A Digital Branding Strategy Creates Trusts
Creating a solid foundation of trust among customers is extremely crucial. It will not only help a business function but also help it thrive.
In this extremely competitive market today, it’s important to develop lasting, professional, relatable, and unique business branding and marketing strategies for yourself.
So there it is, this is why branding is so important, but there’s more.
2. A Digital Branding Strategy Attracts Customers
The core of everything is customers. A brand takes all the efforts, from product designing to marketing for its customers.
But if the business branding marketing strategies are not right, then all of the efforts will go to waste.
Strong branding will not only help you gain significant quality customers, but it will also help you retain them.
Like I said earlier too, 90% of the purchases are influenced by branding.
That’s some statistics, right? So why not make all the efforts to attract and retain customers through branding?
3. A Digital Branding Strategy Increases Awareness and Recognition
Without branding, your business will be like Australia without vegemite.
You can’t imagine Australia without vegemite right? That’s something that sets Australia apart from the rest of the world.
Branding is almost as similar to that.
You can have a wonderful product or service but still not get leads because of poor branding.
With branding, you are seen. You get awareness and recognition and if you play your cards right you can also become a global phenomenon.
8-Step Process for Creating an Effective Digital Branding Strategy
Step 1) Logo
According to a recent study done by Pam Moore, it takes about 5 to 7 impressions for customers to recognize a brand logo. So what is so important about a logo?
Simply put, logos give visual appeal and identification to your branding. Let’s take an example of some strong branding logos.
Consider Pepsi, the moment someone says Pepsi you immediately imagine a red and blue ball like a logo with a little white gap in the middle.
More than 72% of the customers decide whether they are attracted to a brand by looking at the logo alone. Share on X
So simply put, logos are everything. They’re what carry your brand to the customers’ subconscious minds so that they can make conscious choices. Needless to say, it matters a lot.
Step 2) Tag line
When I say “finger-lickin’ good” you’d immediately think of KFC right?
Or if I say “you’re worth it” you’d immediately know the conversation is going to be about L’Oréal. 82% of marketers believe that a good tagline is very critical in the branding process.
Taglines are crucial to any branding process as it gives a perception of memorability to the customers. Amazing taglines have the long run, create better awareness, recognition, and retention and help in achieving conversions.
Moreover, if you really go all out there and open your creative horizons, you can even create a tagline that can live on forever.
Like a legacy. That sounds amazing, doesn’t it?
Step 3) Brand Color
Snowballing from the last two points, a visual appeal is as important in branding.
According to color matters, a specific, branded color can boost brand recognition by 80%. Share on X
Moreover, a recent study by Elle&Co conducted in 2019 suggested that 60% of people decide whether they’re attracted to a branded message based on the color alone.
This is why color is one of the most important factors in branding because when used correctly, consumers will be easily able to recognize a brand from its color.
Step 4) Brand values
These days, customers are everything.
As a brand and as a marketer, we have to put ourselves in our customer’s shoes and think like them.
Any customer will be more likely to consider a brand if it shares the same values as he/she does.
According to a study conducted by Forbes, about 64% of consumers said that they are more likely to trust a brand that shares values with them.
So, business branding marketing strategies in a way that’s inclined with the values of the target customers is the way to go.
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Step 5) Brand Personality
Not many are aware that they can humanize a brand by appointing a personality to it. It is nothing but a set of human-like traits and characters assigned to a brand.
This makes the brand more approachable and relatable to the customers.
According to Jennifer Aaker, these personalities can be classified as ruggedness, sincerity, excitement, sophistication, and competence.
Let’s understand this more clearly. Consider a brand like Harley Davidson, its business branding marketing strategies are rough and tough.
Do you know why?
Because that’s how its brand personality is. Sheer ruggedness.
Now let’s consider Tiffany & Co, it’s a no-brainer that it screams sophistication. See how easily you can relate to a brand persona?
That’s why it’s so crucial to the business branding marketing strategies as a whole.
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Step 6) Brand Communication
Even if you have done all the branding, it is going to go in vain if you don’t communicate it well.
At the same time, customers will also be put off if a brand communicates too often.
Shocking statistics reveal that in the last 6 months, 77% of customers have rejected a brand due to poor communication.
45% of the customers rejected a brand stating that the communication was too often. Share on X
It is therefore important to build an effective brand communication strategy. There has to be a balance between when to start and when to stop and how to send the message across.
Don’t be too overwhelmed, we are here to help you with it. (See what we did there? That’s called brand communication)
Step 7) Brand Positioning
Brand positioning is a concept. It is a place that you want to establish in your target customer’s mind.
Brand positioning is derived by understanding what a customer wants, what you have to offer, and what your competitors are offering.
Once you have that understanding, you can then position your brand in such a way that it impresses your customers and makes a mark.
Furthermore, if they have developed a successful emotional attachment with your brand, you were successful in positioning your brand perfectly.
Also, studies suggest that an effective brand positioning strategy will not only maximize your customers and brand value, it will also increase the referrals by as high as 94%.
Quite some data to consider brand positioning seriously right?
Step 8) Brand Experience
The world is operating in a holistic way today, so should the brand. This is where brand experience comes.
It’s all about creating a memorable experience for the customers these days.
An experience that leaves a deep imprint in their minds and hearts and makes them be attached to your brand for life.
Not only this, but a good brand experience will also spread through word of mouth and get you, new customers, whilst retaining the old ones. Win-win right?
Apart from brand experience and all other points discussed, other important elements of business branding marketing strategies will include everything from brand perception to telling a brand story in the most unique and creative way.
S,o are you up for it?
What All Can Be Branded?
Anything.
Literally, anything can have a core branding process and concept attached to it. It can be as small as a pack of eggs or as big as a spacecraft.
Anything that gives your customer experience, a chance to interact, and takes advantage of the product or service can be branded.
Branding can be from something as trivial as a safety pin to something as crucial as an AI virtual assistant software.
Even a person can be branded.
So whatever can be marketed, can be created for customers’ benefits, has scope for interaction, personalization and experience can all be branded. Branding is all-inclusive; it’s for everyone and everything.
Do Small Businesses Also Need a Digital Branding Strategy?
The shortest answer to this question is yes.
Many small businesses have a misconception that they’re just a business.
But they fail to see that their business can become a brand. That’s why they need a stronger branding and digital branding strategy.
Although, it’s understandable that the following questions might arise in your mind.
Why does your small business need branding when you have a limited audience base? Is it even important for you to focus on branding?
Our answer is yes. Branding paves the way from being a small city business to a countrywide brand.
If you are happy with your growth, maybe you don’t need it. I would recommend highly against it as this will leave you vulnerable to attacks by other competing businesses and ultimately business failure.
However, if you think just like us that no growth is too big, you have to start working on it. And believe it or not, no growth is too big for anyone these days.
What About B2B Businesses? Do They Need a Digital Branding Strategy?
Moreover, if you’re a small business and a B2B business, you also need branding as much as any B2C business.
Studies have proven that 75% of B2B buyers prefer businesses with a good and strong branding setup. This helps them to research new business ideas and consider them over and above other competitors.
So business branding marketing strategies are everywhere. It’s like air, it’s required, it’s life and it’s omnipresent.
Should Startups Consider a Digital Branding Strategy?
In today’s world, startups are a growing phenomenon. The competition is wild and startups are armoring to fight.
Be it any industry, startups are making sure they leave no stone unturned when it comes to marketing their products and services against their competitors.
This is the reason why they should give a much-needed weightage to branding.
Customers these days prefer quality and relatability over anything. If they feel they can relate to a brand, they will definitely stick to it even if it’s a startup.
So the first impression that gets created is extremely crucial. Studies have suggested that over 48% of the customers are more likely to become loyal to a startup.
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- The aesthetics
Firstly, an aesthetic visual presentation will be a good place to start. According to lucid press, 90% of purchases are influenced by visual factors. So it is a given to consider visual appeals very closely.
- The animation element
Secondly, today’s world is digitally active and evolving. Customers want something that’s appealing and interactive.
Statistics suggest that 64% of the customers will buy a product or service if they find the animation element of branding worth their time.
So investing time, brain, and money on animation branding marketing strategies will really help the startup.
- An interactive overall brand experience
With millennials, Gen X, and Gen Z rising in the buying power, and with modern technical advancements, interaction and unique brand experience is the need of the hour.
From AI to augmented reality, every startup has to find new ways to interact with its target audience and develop branding accordingly.
With all these tools available at hand, brand positioning can become accurate and fit into the consumers’ perceptions.
What are the Elements of Digital Branding?
Website branding is so much more than making a website and flashing out the logo. This is a crucial element of digital branding.
What is Website Branding?
Website branding ensures that relevant audiences are visiting the website, and also turning into conversions. This is why a website should be well branded.
According to Forbes, 38% of the target customers will stop using a website if it’s not compatible, user friendly, and unattractive.
Not just that, a company has to ensure that the website is also mobile-friendly. If you play your cards right, hire the right team to do the job, you will have a well-branded website.
And once your website is well branded, it will not only attract customers but also turn them into revenue.
3 Effective Website Branding Strategy Tips
There’s no one correct way to perform a branding process. However, a few simple tips can help you make sure your website branding is presented correctly.
1. Make Sure Your Traditional Branding Reflects on Your Website
The website should be designed in a way that enhances your brand aesthetics. From logo to website colors to even typography, everything needs to be perfect. Then comes the most important part – reflecting your brand values and personality through your website elements. This is going to be the toughest part of your digital branding.
2. Don’t overcomplicate
As already said, customers get put off if a website is too complicated. Make sure your website is equipped with all the information. But don’t get carried away. Keep it simple, clear, and concise. That’s the right way to go.
Today’s market is a bull market. Customers desire information and they seek it. That’s why it is important to give it to them. One of the best ways to do that is through blogs.
According to an analysis by demand metrics, websites that have blogs generate 67% more conversions than those that don’t.
That means the more the leads the more the revenue. So, if you decide to have a blog, make sure that it reflects your branding vividly.
3. Consistency is the key
Let’s consider another important piece of data from demand metrics. It states that a brand that is consistently present across all channels is 3.5 times more likely to be visible than others.
So, consistency is really important when it comes to branding.
It is a very simple concept, if people know what you’re selling, they relate to it, they will buy it.
But if you post different claims on your website and different claims on social media then that will put customers off.
Before beginning with your website branding, you must design a plan of action as to how to consistently approach across all the branding channels.
Now since we mentioned social media here, let’s next talk about the concept of social media branding.
What is Social Media Branding?
Did you know 60% of Instagram users find new brands on Instagram?
When you talk about social media branding, a lot of expressions are that of bafflement.
Does it really exist?
Is it really a thing?
Why is it even needed?
Now let’s try to find answers to these.
Let’s understand this with an example of an extremely famous brand Wendy’s.
If you have a look at Wendy’s Twitter account, it’s filled with all sorts of fun, interactive, and engaging branding content.
Wendy’s does not only strive to create a social media branding presence but also strives to create a branding experience for its customers.
So, what exactly is social media branding anyway?
Well simply put, social media branding is the process where you manage your company’s brand image across all social media channels.
Which Social Media Channels to Include For Branding?
All channels, from Facebook to LinkedIn.
Every social media channel will be covered under social media branding.
At the end of the day, it’s all about creating a memorable brand presence for the potential and target customers.
What is the Importance of Social Media Branding?
Yes. In fact, a 1000 times yes. I’ll tell you why.
71% of the customers are most likely to buy from a brand they follow on social media.
There’s more, 80% of the customers evaluate a brand on social media first before considering it.
Moreover, 51% of customers will unfollow a brand if it does something they don’t like.
It doesn’t end here.
27% will go the extra mile and report or block the brand if it puts them off.
So considering these statistics, it is safe to say that a well thought social media branding strategy will help you move ahead. If you mess things up there, it will be a long hard way coming back.
But you can still make your way back. This brings us to our next possibility, rebranding.
Rebranding: What? When? How?
Do you remember raider?
Of Course, you don’t.
Because no one knows raider as raider anymore, it’s now globally called Twix.
Let’s try another one, did you know that apple’s logo wasn’t always the sleek metallic one we see today? Long back before in 1997, apple’s logo was a rainbow one.
So what are all these changes that a brand keeps making? This is exactly what is the core idea behind the rebranding.
More than 50% of the brands undertake rebranding within 4 years of their brand set up in America alone. Let’s understand rebranding a little more deeply here.
What is Rebranding?
Rebranding is like giving a makeover to your brand.
It entails changing the name, symbol, color, tagline, concept, or a combination of these to revive a brand or expand it.
Rebranding is not uncommon. Many small and big brands have undertaken rebranding at some point.
From Dunkin donuts to Walmart, there have been some rebranding elements attached to a lot of the brands.
This can be because of many reasons. Let’s see what these reasons might be.
3 Ways a Rebranding Strategy Can Help Businesses
Rebranding can be done for many reasons. Maybe the brand wants international exposure. Or maybe there was bad press in the beginning and it wants to leave the past behind, then it rebrands itself.
The telltale signs that your brand needs rebranding will include.
1. Changing an obsolete brand image
Almost 39% of the brands become outdated with time.
Whether it’s modernization or expansion, brands have to keep up with changing times. If a brand is maintaining an image that no longer works in today’s world, it’s bound to lose market shares.
Can you remember Pepsi’s logo from a long back? I’m sure not.
It has changed a lot with time and has become sleek and modern.
Rebranding is on point.
2. Clearing out the negative reputation
Sometimes, a business creates bad publicity for itself. This doesn’t go down well with customers and the sales begin to drift.
Take McDonald’s for example.
A few years back a document called “supersize me” was telecasted.
It was in a way stating that McDonald’s was promoting an unhealthy lifestyle and pushing people towards obesity.
As soon as this documentary came, McDonald’s’ sales began plunging.
It was then time to rebrand itself.
McDonald’s made a smart move and added salads, greens, etc on the menu. And it spent a lot of money doing it. Get an idea about the lengths a brand would go to clear out a negative image?
3. Gaining international exposure
Did you know about 58% of the small businesses already have a customer base abroad?
Not only this, but another 96% of the brands are also confident they’ll be conducting business abroad soon.
With these statistics, it’s imperative to make changes to a brand to suit the global requirements. In today’s world, one has to think globally and act locally.
This means that while keeping a global standard branding in place. Some of the elements of the branding need to be customized to suit the countries you’re operating in.
Taking McDonald’s again for example, in India, McDonald’s has a different menu than that in the USA. So branding and rebranding have to be done keeping all of these factors in mind.
This is not an exhaustive list, there are many other reasons why rebranding should be done and how it helps.
While a few a standard across all brands, a few others depending on brand to brand. The point is, rebranding helps. Period.
Key Takeaway: Digital Branding Strategy
So this was all about branding.
I’m sure all of us now have a deeper understanding of what branding is all about.
Also, with all the statistical information we have in hand, we realize branding is so crucial to a business.
Everything from digital to traditional and rebranding, all help shape a business and contribute to how the next few years are going to be like.
Whether you want traditional branding or digital branding or rebranding? Are you a small business or a startup? Branding will differ from business to business.
It can all get too much too quickly. But don’t worry, we are here to help you at every step. Reach out to us, if you need expert branding help.
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