When you think of hugely successful companies, they usually have an equally successful brand identity. Branding is so important when it comes to the fortunes of your company. Branding is the art of defining your company clearly and effectively – not only to your core audience but to you and your employees as well. It embodies the core values and beliefs of your company, without stopping at what those values look and sound like. So how can this then translate into real success for your business?
Be unique
Having a brand that is unique will help you to stick out from the competition. With so much choice offered to us on a daily basis, we’re drawn to those brands which look and feel a little different. Take the iconic Apple for instance. When they first began to dip their toes into the water of mobile phone retailing, their simple logo and plain packaging were nothing short of revolutionary.
This coupled with their already established name in the world of computers meant that the buying public took to the iPhone like ducks to water. This visual was so arrestingly different to what was on offer at the time that buyers were nothing short of captivated by it. The result? Rival companies began to look to Apple in an attempt to improve their own fortunes.
Be consistent
Your company branding can also contribute to the success of your business if it is strong and consistent. Using the same logo and colour scheme across all of your products, stationery and web design means that you create a visual representation that can be substituted for the name of your company. This consistency helps to establish a familiarity between you and the customer, to the point where they will actively seek out your product on the shelves.
It’s the same for online browsing too – your customers will be able to pick out your company from the competition a lot more efficiently if they recognise your branding.
Know your demographic
Knowing your target audience well will help your company to keep growing. A good brand will appeal effortlessly to its target demographic. For example, Chanel’s clean and chic monochrome logo and branding appeal to the customer with more sophisticated tastes. Likewise, a company providing a product or service for children would go for bright colours and cartoonish imagery rather than push a more adult style of branding.
After all, monochrome to a child is going to be seen as boring rather than timeless. Sometimes a company can appeal to kids and adults alike – think McDonald’s with their simple logo and bright colour scheme.
Don’t underestimate the importance of branding
Building your brand can be a long and complex process. The support of a professional design studio can be invaluable during this time. They’ll help you to come up with a great logo, stationary, social media accounts and a company website, carrying your brand over to each one and keeping everything consistent. Good branding in is invaluable for those who want to move forward with their business and become a household name.
Natalie Sullivan is the Founder of one of the South East’s leading Graphic and Website Design Agencies – Design FX Studio. Natalie has helped SME’s throughout the South East improve their visual communications and corporate image since 1993.
