Great Branding vs. So-So Branding
what separates the best from the rest

Branding is all about expressing who you are as a business. It is a strategy that defines you and makes it easier for your target customers to recognize and experience your brand. In the din of digital marketing, you need more than a beautiful logo to stand out from the crowd. With the best branding strategy, you can differentiate yourself, your products/services from anyone else on the market. 

Branding offers multiple benefits; including enhancing brand recognition, building customer trust, boosting customer acquisition and customer loyalty (retention) and enhancing credibility. Research shows consistent branding can boost revenues up to 23%. The same report shows 89% of shoppers are loyal to brands sharing similar values. The best branding practices also increase the value of your brand and the company. 

But branding campaigns aren’t equal. Find out the difference between great branding and so-so branding that won’t have an impact. 

Great branding is a holistic approach that encompasses everything from your logo, color theme, customer service, premises, marketing products, marketing campaigns, social media interaction. Some of the characteristics of a great branding strategy include:

Planning: Planning guarantees better outcomes for a branding campaign. A lot of work goes into a branding strategy, including defining mission, values and goals, and the target audience.

Defined brand identity, brand story, brand promise, personality value proposition, etc.

Multi-channel approach: A great branding strategy aims at creating visibility across multiple channels. Target both online media (website, blogs and social media networks) and offline platforms such as billboards and others.

Consistency: The messaging has to be consistent across the channels you have used. The images, colors, and other aspects of your brand personality must be uniform.

Uniqueness: Go for something distinctive that makes it easier to point out your brand’s messaging.

Engagement: Engagement is at the core of great branding. Make sure your branding techniques are interactive to start building relationships, get feedback and acquire new customers.

Forward thinking: Leveraging the latest technologies and expertise

Your website helps build brand visibility, enhance brand awareness, build trust, and provide a platform for engagement, a digital store for executing sales, building your SEO efforts, and much more.

Lack of a proper branding strategy or a so-so branding campaign is the biggest mistake you can make as a business. Internet users are lost for choice, and if you don’t make an effort to stand out in the crowded market, it’s easy to sink into oblivion.

A viable business can easily collapse due to a half-hearted branding campaign and this is a pitfall you should avoid. Some characteristics of so-so branding include;

1. Branding for branding sake (getting lost in the branding hype)
2. Lack of goals/objectives (or ignoring the set goals)
3. Focusing on a single channel
4. Too much regular change
5. Poor branding design
6. Dishonesty
7. Lack of consistency in messaging and/or confused messaging

These poor branding tactics erode trust and lead to customer churn. Your brand also loses credibility and you’ll find it hard to make an impression.