Have you ever noticed how people using Apple products tend to keep using them? This is what branding is all about. The products become a part of the lifestyle, and people become loyal to the company.
Although there are no set tangible metrics to measure branding, it is an incredibly important part of marketing. We have created this guide to help you understand the importance of branding and how you can build brand awareness online for your B2B business.
What is Branding?
Branding is what sets your business apart from other businesses operating within the same industry. It is the logo or the ad jingle or the tagline that becomes the face of your company. It represents your values and your company’s story. Branding is the way your consumers remember you and recall your business when they are considering a product or a service you offer.. For example, think of the jewelery company Tiffany, and most people will immediately think of their light blue luxury packaging.
Why Branding Is Important
The importance of creating brand awareness for your business cannot be emphasized enough. Here is why:
Fosters Association
Have you ever noticed how people say they ‘Googled’ something when they are referring to using the search engines? It is also not uncommon to come across people saying they need to ‘Xerox’ this piece of paper instead of saying photocopying.
This is what branding does. It creates an association between what a company does to its name. So much so that it becomes a part of customers’ daily use staple language.
Builds Trust
Just think about it, would you rather buy your next smartphone from Apple or a new company that you have never heard of before? Even if the company offers better features at a much cheaper price, who would you trust more?
Brand awareness creates trust among consumers, which eventually leads to brand loyalty. By creating a brand name, you are creating a personality for your business, making it easier for consumers to bond with you.
Brand awareness creates trust among consumers, which eventually leads to brand loyalty. Click To TweetCreates Brand Equity
Your brand equity is how much your consumers value your brand. It is determined by your customers’ overall perception of your brand. Positive experiences build positive brand equity, which has a great impact on your business in terms of:
- Greater impact on consumers
- Higher stock value
- An increased perceived value can easily translate to higher prices (e.g. Apple products)
Repeat purchases, even at a higher price, and brand loyalty are the result of positive brand equity. Once your brand equity establishes through brand awareness, your customers will not only prefer you over others and become loyal to your business, but they will also recommend you to their acquaintances.
Effective Ways to Create Brand Awareness
Brand awareness is at the very top of the marketing funnel. It is much like standing at a marketplace and attracting crowds towards your shop. The people interested in what you are offering are your leads, who you must then guide through the funnel towards making a purchase.
Creating brand awareness takes time. It is not a single campaign miracle that happens overnight. To create a lasting impact as a brand you need to strategize, as well as implement, well-crafted brand awareness programs. Below are effective strategies that can increase your brand awareness.
Tell Your Business’s Story
People buy from people and not from businesses, which makes storytelling such an integral part of branding. With storytelling, you give a human face to your company. Humanizing business is the reason networking is part and parcel of B2B business marketing efforts.
Creating a narrative around your business and weaving it into your marketing efforts will not only humanize your business, but it will also make your customers relate to your company.
Your narrative can be about anything. It can about the spark that prompted the start of the business, or it can be a simple story about how your company has touched lives. As long as you are honest about the story you share, recount it well, and it resonates with your audience, it will have an impact on your branding process.
Leverage on Social Media
Research shows that online socializing can have a substantial impact on your brand reputation. People socialize through social media. It is important to have an impactful social media presence to create brand awareness for your business.
Branding is when you humanly socialize with your customers. You should share content that is relevant, interesting, and adds value to your list of followers on social media. It should not soley be about selling your product, which can turn consumers off. Interact with them and potentially hold contests to encourage engagement.
Be active on social media, and in a way that people find intriguing. Your account should be a place that people love to visit and recommend their friends to follow too. The more useful and fascinating content you share, the more followers you will gather, and the more people will know about your brand.
Be a Part of a Social Cause
Make your business stand out by taking an active part in or starting a social cause. The Body Shop is one great example of how a social cause can impact your branding. The company has always shared its strong stand against animal cruelty, so much so that their brand became synonymous with cruelty-free cosmetics and skincare.
Google Green program is another example of how even large organizations can leverage social responsibilities to create brand awareness.
Taking an active part in social causes and incorporating it into your brand image will make you stand out from your competitors. When people see you are not here to only make a profit and instead genuinely care about giving back to society, they trust you more. It makes your business seem more humane.
Sponsor an Event That Resonates with Your Brand
Where would we be if businesses stop sponsoring events? A surefire way to grab the attention of a large number of potential customers is by sponsoring or organizing an event that resonates with your brand. For example, Microsoft may build brand awareness by organizing or sponsoring a coding competition event for youths in schools.
Even if people present at the event have never heard of Microsoft before (although it is highly unlikely), they will surely be interested in finding out about the company that is sponsoring the event.
Conduct Industry Related Research
Do you want to be trusted as a brand in your industry? Conduct surveys, research and studies that are relevant to your industry and get them published on other websites.
Having well-researched studies and publications will increase your brand value, If your research or studies are substantial and provide valuable information, other companies will reference it, thus increasing your brand visibility and equity.
Similarly, you can also publish content on other sites that are relevant to your industry and accept guest blog posts. The more people come across your name in similar websites, the better brand awareness it will create for your business.
Final Thoughts
Creating a positive and influential brand image takes time, patience, strategy, a lot of experimentation, and continuous effort to build a brand name. For more information on building your brand, contact our experts at OneIMS. We’d be happy to answer any questions you may have!
