What is branding and why is it important for your business?

Close your eyes and think about your favorite clothing brand. Can you imagine its logo, its colors, and even how you feel when you think about it? How about its brand values — does that same brand stand for quality, eco-friendly sourcing, or size inclusivity? Everything you’re imagining is the result of the branding process, or the actions taken to create a company persona that stands out in your clients’ minds.

Branding your company takes creativity, thought, and planning. Use this guide to branding to make smart choices for your business every step of the way.

What is branding?

Branding is the process of creating the look, feel, and persona for your company. The main goal of branding is to create a positive perception of your company in the public eye, shaping how you want customers to think about your brand. How your brand looks, communicates, and operates are all essential parts of the branding process.

What are the elements of a brand?

Your brand is made up of multiple components, each of which requires some strategy and a little bit of polish. The branding process involves developing some or all of the following elements:

• Your mission statement: The mission statement is a clear and concise statement that provides an overview of what your company does, how your company goes about accomplishing that work, and the “why” behind your company’s goals.

• Your brand values: Does your company stand for a certain cause or set of ethics? That can play a big role in your branding process. For example, if you’re an independent designer that only uses recycled or deadstock fabrics, your planet-friendly approach may take center stage in your branding.

Photo by Clair on Unsplash

• Your reputation: How people perceive you is tightly intertwined with the image you’re hoping to project to the world. Consider how you want people to feel or what you want them to think about when your company name crosses their minds. Does it evoke fun, expertise, authority, or something else altogether? Those qualities are part of your brand, and they influence the decisions you make while crafting other brand elements during this process.
  
• Your customer’s experience: The success of your brand is dependent on how customers receive it. What do they think about your company? How do they feel when they interact with your content, customer service representatives, or in-store employees? This all plays a role in your brand identity and its overall success.
• Your advertising: Advertising is how your brand values are carried out in the public eye. Ads use imagery, words, colors, shapes, and other elements to create meaningful campaigns that connect with your customers and encourage them to do business with your company.
• Your visual identity: Your visual identity is composed of everything your customer sees when they look at anything that represents your company. Brand colors, fonts, patterns, shapes, and your logo are all parts of your visual identity. Speaking of logos…
• Your logo: Your logo may be top of mind when you think about the branding process, but it’s only a small part of what you need to do. However, as one of the most visible components of your brand, a lot rides on it! Your logo is more than just a company name — it’s the visual representation of everything your company stands for. If you’re ready to create your brand’s logo (for free!), check out Namecheap’s Logo Maker. This tool will guide you through the process of building a logo that looks great and is easy to use.

Made with Namecheap Logo Maker

• Your brand voice: How you speak to your customers drives home your brand values. Whether you want to sound like an authority on your subject, a helpful sibling, or a friend who loves to joke around, the words you choose play into how those tones and messages are conveyed.
• Your photos and videos: Visual media can reflect your brand values, too. Think about your favorite brand: Are their photos and videos sleek with a studio touch, outdoors with an organic, flowy feel, or right at home at the family dinner table? The setting of each element supports, uplifts, and further reinforces your brand identity.
• Your website: Your digital presence is where many parts of your brand come together. Your brand identity is put to use through the website creator, which helps you to create an intuitive user interface that’s easy to navigate. The photos and videos you select and the language you use also help to convey your brand identity and brand values.

Made with Namecheap Site Maker

Why is the branding process important for your business?

Some business owners may think that branding involves whipping up a quick logo and calling it a day. In reality, branding requires some strategy built upon a foundation of principles, values, and sense of purpose. 

It can help influence a customer’s decision.

A growing number of customers take brand names into account when making a purchase. Precisely how your brand influences a customer’s decision can differ depending on the customer. Some folks will gravitate toward you out of a sense of loyalty to your brand, while others will be attracted to what you stand for. And for some, it can be as simple as recognizing your brand from somewhere they’ve encountered it before.

It ensures your company is memorable.

Your brand plays a hand in every part of your marketing strategy, from highway billboards to forward-facing social media posts. A strong brand remains top of mind for your customers, so they recall your company when it comes time to utilize your products or services.

Photo by Nico Smit on Unsplash

It helps your customers connect emotionally to your company.

Branding brings humanity and personality to your brand to help your customers better connect with your company. Whether that’s through humor, empathy, or trustworthiness, your brand is responsible for creating, shaping, and maintaining that persona to better connect with customers. And many customers will conduct business with a brand with which they feel connected.

It communicates to customers what they can expect.

Do you want customers to know you’re trustworthy, forward-thinking, hard-working, fun, or something else altogether? No matter what you want your customers to know, your brand plays a role in communicating those expectations. That can be communicated through the content on your website, how you respond to a customer on a review website, or with a tagline you print on a billboard, among other ways.

It ensures your visual identity is properly developed.

Many components of your brand’s visual identity are shaped by your company’s reason for being. That’s because the shapes, fonts, and colors you use all communicate important messages about what you stand for and what sets you apart from your competitors. For example, blue is associated with assurance, making this color a great choice if you want customers to know that they can trust your company. 

Photo by Marques Thomas @querysprout.com on Unsplash

It can make your company more valuable.

Trust leads to loyalty. A customer that believes in your business will return time and again. They’re also more likely to recommend your business to their friends and family, make referrals to colleagues, and share positive reviews about you online. All of these actions bring more customers into the fold, increasing your bottom line. 

Branding is the cornerstone of your company

Your brand is central to your company’s continued growth and success. Turn back to your brand to inform your marketing strategy, expand your services, add new products to a popular line, or strengthen awareness of your company. This guiding light ensures that everything you embark on is part and parcel of what’s realistic for your company. 

Every entrepreneur needs the right tools in their corner to get their message out there. That’s where Namecheap’s Visual suite comes into play. These easy-to-use tools can help you design your logo, share your messaging online with a drag-and-drop website builder, and design and print business cards to take along to your next networking event. With a great idea, some creative thinking, a game plan, and a few clicks, you’ll be ready to debut your brand in no time.