We’ve heard the saying time and again, “People don’t buy products, they buy experiences.” And while this adage is definitely true, it is somewhat incomplete. Yes, people buy experiences, but they don’t buy them from just anyone – they buy from brands they know, love, and trust.
Remember when Apple released the iPod and used the catchy line, “1,000 songs in your pocket,” to market it? It wasn’t just that line that drove sales. It was also the fact that the iPod was an Apple product – a globally recognized and loved brand that people were willing to wait hours in line for. The power of Apple’s brand is what really drove excitement around the release of the iPod. And that’s why branding is incredibly important.
So, what is branding, and what can it do for your marketing journey? Let’s explore.
What is branding?
Your brand is your story. More than just your logo and tagline, it encompasses everything that makes you unique and helps you differentiate yourself from your competition. Successful branding helps evoke certain perceptions and ideas in the minds of your potential customers.
Specifically, branding serves these critical functions:
- Differentiation. In today’s saturated market, companies need to distinguish themselves from their competitors. Branding – via messaging, tone of voice, brand story, and more – clarifies what makes a product or service unique and gives potential customers a reason to choose you over others.
- Customer loyalty. Strong branding fosters consumer trust and loyalty and encourages repeat business and long-term relationships. Companies like Nike and Coca-Cola have done a great job of building strong emotional connections to retain customers and increase customer lifetime value for the long haul.
- Market positioning. Effective branding communicates a company’s mission, values, and unique selling propositions (USPs) and is essential for establishing oneself in the marketplace. Your branding will help your customers understand what you stand for and will inform how they perceive your value.
Why is branding important?
A branding strategy is paramount to successful marketing. Below are some reasons why branding should be at the core of your marketing efforts:
- Helps influence purchasing decisions: A strong brand image can shape consumer perceptions, creating positive associations with quality and value. It can also lead to more profitability. According to a recent study, 46% of consumers would be willing to pay more for a product from a brand they trust.
- Solidifies your business identity: Branding provides a unique identity that extends beyond the products or services you offer. This identity helps consumers connect with the brand on a personal level, fostering loyalty, longevity, and preference.
- Enhances brand recognition: As humans, our memories are often tied to strong associations, like a certain fragrance, song, or visual. A well-executed brand has the same effect, increasing recognition in a crowded marketplace and tying your identity to positive experiences. Even reading the words “golden arches” or “swoosh” are likely to conjure up images of McDonald’s and Nike, right? That’s the power of branding.
- Builds trust and credibility: A well-crafted brand fosters trust and credibility with customers. Consistent messaging establishes a sense of reliability, encouraging customers to engage with the brand and recommend it to others. According to a survey conducted by Edelman, 81% of consumers need to trust a brand in order to consider buying from them.
- Differentiates from competitors: Building a strong brand identity helps businesses stand out in a crowded market by highlighting unique attributes and values. This differentiation is essential for capturing consumer attention and preference in competitive industries. A well-established brand will attract more attention than a generic, unbranded competitor.
- Increases customer loyalty: Emotional connections are a key driver of consumer loyalty, and strong branding fosters those emotional connections. Customers who feel a personal connection to a brand are more likely to return and make repeat purchases.
Patagonia is an example of a brand that consumers form emotional attachments to, often sharing and advocating for the brand without any incentive whatsoever. Patagonia’s Worn Wear campaign offers a gear recycling program meant to extend the life of the brand’s products, reducing their impact on the environment.
- Generates long-term value: A well-established brand can enhance a company’s market value and provide a competitive edge. Strong branding can command higher prices, increase revenue, and lead to opportunities for expansion into new markets or diversified product lines. For example, Apple started off in computers, but expanded to dominate the digital space, excelling in everything from smart devices to streaming services.
Branding vs. marketing
People may confuse branding and marketing and think the two are synonymous; while they are related, there are important distinctions between branding and marketing.
Branding is your identity and who you are as a company. It’s your mission, values, the emotional and psychological relationship you have with your customers, and what sets you apart from your competition. Your branding evokes a specific experience with your customers.
Marketing is how you get your word out about who you are.
It’s how you build awareness about your brand and how you promote your products or services. Marketing encompasses the campaigns, tactics, and tools you use to sell your brand.
It’s important to understand these key ways that branding differs from marketing:
- Branding is for the long-term. Branding is the story that you build for the long haul and shapes how people perceive your brand. Marketing happens in the short term and is a tactic to drive awareness and sales.
- Branding builds emotional connections. While marketing campaigns can evoke emotions, their main purpose is more transactional. Branding is meant to form connections with prospects and create impactful experiences.
- Branding drives loyalty. Marketing campaigns are meant to drive results, while branding builds a foundation that will attract loyal, repeat customers. In essence, branding is what helps make marketing campaigns more effective.
| Aspect | Marketing | Branding |
| Definition | Activities and strategies used to promote products or services to consumers. | The process of creating and establishing a unique identity and image for a company or product. |
| Focus | Short-term objectives and tactics aimed at driving sales and engagement. | Long-term vision and strategy aimed at building a strong, recognizable identity and relationship with the audience. |
| Objective | To generate leads, increase sales, and drive short-term results. | To build loyalty, trust, and a positive perception over time. |
| Scope | Includes advertising, promotions, public relations, sales, and market research. | Encompasses logo design, brand messaging, brand voice, and overall company identity. |
| Timeframe | Typically focuses on immediate or short-term goals and campaigns. | Aims for long-term goals and sustainability, often evolving over years. |
| Message | Often centered around specific features, benefits, or promotions of a product or service. | Centers on core values, mission, and the overall story of the brand. |
| Audience engagement | Often seeks to attract new customers and influence their buying decisions. | Aims to foster emotional connections and build loyalty among existing customers. |
| Measurement | Success is measured by metrics such as conversion rates, ROI, and campaign effectiveness. | Success is gauged by brand recognition, customer loyalty, and overall brand equity. |
| Example | Running a Facebook ad campaign to promote a new product. | Developing a brand’s visual identity, such as its logo and color scheme, to represent its core values and mission. |
How to create a compelling brand strategy
An important part of building a successful business is creating a brand strategy that works, and this involves more than just designing a logo or coming up with a tagline. Make the following considerations when building your brand strategy:
Determine your target audience
It’s important to know the demographics and behavioral patterns of the people you want to sell to. When it comes to your brand identity, you must also think about your target audience’s wants, needs, and values, and the types of experiences you’ll want to cultivate for them.
It is crucial to understand who you’re speaking to.
Nike is a brand that clearly targets athletes and fitness enthusiasts, but they wanted to tap into something beyond performance. Instead of just focusing on apparel and shoes that will enhance someone’s fitness game, they successfully tapped into themes of empowerment, personal achievement, and perseverance. Their “Just Do It” campaign motivates people to go after their goals and never give up.
Establish your mission statement
Your mission statement is the “why” behind your brand. Most companies list their mission statement right on their website, and it is meant to convey their values, what’s important to them, and what they stand for.
Patagonia’s mission statement is concise yet powerful: “We’re in business to save our home planet.” It reflects what many people already know and love about the brand, which is their commitment to environmental sustainability. That commitment resonates with and is shared by many loyal Patagonia shoppers.
Define your brand values
Brand values – sometimes also known as your core values – are the principles that guide a company and the actions that the company takes. A brand’s values are embodied by the employees of that brand and are reflected in that brand’s marketing campaigns. These core principles are what shape a brand’s personality and tone.
TOMS was entirely built around the value of improving lives and helping people. They became known for their business model, donating one pair of shoes for every pair purchased. Today, they give ⅓ of their profits to grassroots missions.
Define your brand voice
Your brand voice is how you present yourself across all communication channels. You may be informative, playful, inspirational, friendly, thought-provoking, professional, informal, empathetic, and so on. Whatever direction you take, your brand voice should align with your values and should be consistent across all your marketing channels.
Makeup brand Elf Cosmetics uses a fun, informal, and playful tone in its branding, appealing to a youthful and trendy audience.
Explain your features and benefits
While your mission statement, brand values, and brand voice go a long way in setting the tone for your customers and helping them decide if your brand aligns with their own values, you also need to clearly communicate how your brand will solve a problem or improve the lives of your customers.
You must explain the benefits of your offer and how it will address your customers’ pain points.
For example, Tesla doesn’t just sell modern, innovative cars. They sell the benefits of electric vehicles: eco-friendliness, sustainability, independence from fossil fuels, and high performance.
Create your logos and other visuals
An exciting part of building your brand is bringing it to life visually. The aesthetics of your brand should reflect your brand’s personality and, ideally, be easily recognizable.
Your logos, colors, images, and other visuals are elements that are memorable and help a user recall positive emotions associated with your brand.
Almost everyone can conjure up an image of McDonald’s simply upon hearing the words “golden arches”. The golden arches are one of the most recognizable symbols in the world and are associated with being welcoming, nostalgic, fun, and satisfying.
Market your brand
Once you’ve established your brand identity and voice, you need a strong marketing strategy to get the word out. It’s important to be consistent with your marketing and across all channels. From social media to digital advertising, your brand’s messaging should always be clear and cohesive.
Since its inception, Apple has used simple and sleek advertising, often with something as simple as their logo. They are effective at conveying that they are innovative and user-friendly, and this messaging can be seen across the board.
5 examples of strong branding done right
The reason why many brands are globally recognized and enjoy longevity is because those organizations have done a great job of knowing who they are. They’ve built their brand identity, stayed true to their mission and ideals, and have effectively communicated their message consistently and cohesively.
Let’s take a look at 5 brands that got it right.
1. AirBnb
Airbnb’s brand is all about customers feeling like they belong anywhere. Since the beginning, they connected with their audience by using storytelling to show that Airbnb creates authentic, local experiences for traveling, which sets them apart from traditional hotels.
2. Nike
Nike’s “Just Do It” slogan is an anthem for athletes around the world. The brand has been enormously successful in showcasing their brand’s value: their belief in human potential and their passion for fueling that potential. Year over year, their ads stay true to their messages of empowerment and standing up for all humans.
3. Coca Cola
Coca-Cola has evoked a warm and fuzzy feeling over the years by focusing on a message of togetherness. Coca-Cola wants to be there for your best moments, and they have managed to convey that consistently with their iconic and timeless branding. Whether a holiday campaign or a social media campaign, Coca-Cola promotes sharing, living in the moment, and staying classic.
4. Starbucks
Starbucks made the art of buying coffee a global phenomenon. They have created a unique and consistent experience that can be felt in any store in every corner of the world, and they’ve been able to do this thanks to their simple and effective branding.
Starbucks focuses on providing a high-quality customer experience, and this comes through in their branding.
5. Apple
No one can talk about branding success without referencing Apple. Apple has created a massively loyal fanbase. Have you ever been asked if you’re a “Mac or PC” person? Apple succeeded in creating a whole category of innovative products, a category in which they stand alone thanks to their consistent innovation, sleek branding, and emotional connection with their audience, which was made possible by their products.
Create brand awareness with personalized landing pages
Marketing your brand is a critical part of showcasing your identity and building awareness. It’s important to create a strategy that has consistent messaging, aligns with your brand’s values, and has memorable aesthetics.
Personalized landing pages are a powerful way to provide a tailored experience that resonates with your visitors and reinforces your marketing efforts.
Instapage is a leading landing page platform that is easy to use. You get a drag-and-drop builder, hundreds of templates, an effective way to A/B test landing page variants, plenty of customization options, and an analytics dashboard that makes it easy to see what’s working and where improvements can be made.
Ready to use landing pages to fuel your branding and marketing strategy? Try a 14-day free trial of Instapage today and take the first step in building an impactful, long-lasting brand.