Many business owners have silently considered, but not had the courage to ask, one question that may be a vital part of marketing strategy. The question is a simple one, namely, what is branding and how important is it to your marketing strategy? Branding is a form of labelling certain items to increase awareness about your business, what it stands for and its unique goods or services and if you were to look around you anywhere, you would notice it on bottles, telephones, even the food you buy from your favourite store.
While branding itself is easy to define, its place in your marketing strategy is not. After all, with so many brands virtually shouting at consumers in every place they go, even on social media, is there a place for your branding? The quick and definitive answer is that there is, as long as you use it in a way that is smart, that opens a conversation with consumers and that makes it stand out.
Add Branding That Stands Out to Your Marketing Strategy
A business that successfully filters through the myriad of messages and into the minds of consumers must stand out and this means not branding in traditional ways. While your competitors may be printing water bottles and t-shirts, which have their value, you should look to cornering the branding market in less obvious places. A company that sells shoes for example could successfully brand stairs in every mall in the country, a clever and relatable way to communicate your brand message.
Remember that in terms of marketing, you are not limited to just physical branding. Branding comes in the form of outdoor media, online and social media and even activations and experiential campaigns. Your branding should fit your budget but be diverse and smart enough to catch attention.
But How Do You Do It?
Looking at non-traditional media in terms of branding means you are surprising your target audience into thinking about your brand and relating to it. While your competitors are all spending their budgets on billboards and TV advertisements, why not consider branding shelves in store, or making your marketing spend work for you through social media? What it important is not how much branding you have, but how you use it.
Remember that wherever you brand, you need to be sure you are fulfilling your marketing purpose, and if you don’t have one of these, your strategy needs to be completely revised. For example, spending money on a billboard when you are trying to sell to a niche market is a big waste of your budget. Conversely, targeting 20 stores in major cities to sell orange juice means you won’t have sufficient reach to sell your product.
So why is Branding So Important to Your Marketing Strategy?
All of this comes down to where, when and how much. If you can answer these questions in your marketing plans, you will never again have to ask the question, what is branding and how important is it to your marketing strategy? You will have the ability to corner a million markets and speak to the consumers you want to target without wasting your whole budget to do it.