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Introduction to Business Branding

Make Your Business Stand out from Competitors

Jul 21, 2008

Every piece of communication you have with your customers, your peers or your competitors should reinforce your business brand, your image and your company.

Branding is the basis of every great marketing campaign. Your branding should stand out, be recognizable and it should be standard across all forms of advertising and communication. This is something that is often overlooked by most businesses, especially small business or new businesses just starting out.

Why Is Business Branding Important?

Think about the largest and most successful companies in the world. Think about companies you deal with on a regular basis. Do you remember their name, their logo, their brand? Sure you do, they intend to stand out, they intend for you to remember them and they need for to be remembered or they will disappear from the spotlight and become just another blur in the corporate world.

Business branding ensures customers and competitors remember who you are, what your company does and what you can offer. Branding sets your business market position and sets you apart from others. It is your public image and doing it right is the most important thing you can do for your business.

What Is Business Branding?

Branding is more than just an effective company logo, although that is an important part of an entire branding strategy. Branding your company incorporates every picture, sound or written word associated with your company.

Think of a brand such as Ferrari; what do you think of when you think of Ferrari? Fast cars, gorgeous models, palm trees, money and luxury? All of those images are part of the Ferrari brand. They have worked long and hard to ensure that people worldwide think luxury when they think Ferrari; it’s more than just a logo or a symbol, more than just a car. Ferrari is about status.

Branding is about the mental image created when people think about a company or a product. It’s not always an easy task, but it is more importantly about conveying a standard message that is identical across all communication formats.

Steps You Can Take Towards Successful Business Branding

To begin branding your business there are several things that need to be decided:

What Visual Message Do You Want to Portray? – This includes logo, colours, fonts, impact, and stationary, any of the visual communication relating to your company. Should it be old and nostalgic or fresh and young; it’s an important decision.
Emotional Connections – This also relates back to visual connection. What emotions should people feel when they think of your brand? Will it make them feel young and funky or older, wiser and trustworthy? Will your product feel expensive and unique or attainable and high quality? All of these choices need to be made now.
What Type of Client Would You Like? – If you could choose the perfect customer, who would it be? Decide and target all your marketing and branding efforts towards that type of person.

While this is just a brief look at what branding is and why it is important, it is easy to see why businesses that are confident in their branding and with their image succeed high above businesses that don’t plan and implement strong branding strategies. In an overcrowded business world, it’s important now more than ever to be confident of you business brand and do the most possible to promote it.

The copyright of the article Introduction to Business Branding in Corporate Marketing/Branding is owned by Loreena Walsh. Permission to republish Introduction to Business Branding in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.