Every business owner knows it’s important to offer a high-quality product or service. But, lo and behold, with a high volume of competition, that’s not enough anymore. A unique identity is critical to stand out from the crowd—and effective branding is one key to thrive at this.
So what makes one brand awesome and edgy, aka memorable, and another brand plain and ordinary, aka forgettable?
Consider these five elements of a killer brand to make sure yours doesn’t go bland:
1. Simple (but Memorable) Logo
Think Apple’s apple, Nike’s swoosh or the golden arches of you know who. They’re all simple in design, but you instantly recognize them—and you remember them. Even kids can associate good logos with their respective brand.
The right logo is simple, striking and will look great whether it’s displayed on a phone or stretched to fit a jumbotron.
2. Consistent Color Scheme
Bringing together the color palettes of all your marketing properties helps customers instinctively recognize that the store they love visiting on Main Street is the same service they can find online.
Your web page, storefront and business cards may not all look the same but, by offering a consistent color scheme, a brand builds more successfully across platforms, both online and off.
3. Authoritative Voice
Content marketing is crucial, and there’s a rush to publish for the sake of SEO and marketing. This can be a mistake, though.
Spend time on the content you publish and make certain you write with an authoritative voice. After all, if your customers choose to read your content, you should reward them by producing high-quality information that’s worth their time.
4. Smooth User Experience between Sites
You probably have more than just one website—there’s your main site, a couple of landing pages and a number of social media profiles attached to your brand. Sites should not only have a consistent appearance, but customers should be able to move smoothly from one location to the next.
Provide social media links on the main page, and vice versa. Always keep your social profiles up to date. When you do it correctly, your profiles and sites will all work together to create one cohesive and brandtastic user experience.
5. Superior Customer Service
Offering excellent customer service is essential in all aspects of business, including brand building. When you consistently exceed the expectations of your clients, not only do you retain regular business, but your brand becomes more memorable. Brands that fail to do that fall into the category of “boring,” and poor customer service can wreck a brand’s integrity.
When you thrill your customers, they naturally “work for you” as branding agents. Loyalty evokes positive word-of-mouth chatter, favorable reviews, more followers and genuine enthusiasm about your brand.
The biggest, most memorable brands all share these five characteristics—but they don’t all approach each one in the same way. Use this anatomy as the skeleton for your brand-building process. Then it’s up to you to flesh out the complete body of your brand and get your marketing plan in shape.
What about your personal brand? Check out 3 ways to heat it up.
