Too many business owners and marketers think that all that goes into branding is money. Few things could be further from the truth. What makes branding work is everything. The simplest way to put is this: your branding is everything you do and everything you do is branding. Here is a list of items that go into successfully branding a business:
- The Product
- Customer Experience
- Customer Satisfaction Level
- Employee Satisfaction
- Corporate Responsibility
- Logo and Slogan
- Marketing
Did you notice that we put marketing at the bottom? The reason we did that is not to say that marketing isn’t important. By all means, that’s how you get the word out about your business. But the question is do you have a product or a service worth getting the word out about? Let’s go through these one by one.
The Product is what you are presenting to the public. If it rarely works, or it tastes terrible, or it doesn’t do what it was intended (like a diet plan or clean better than other cleaners), then it will fall by the wayside because the public not buy it. When the purchasing power is gone, then there is no money to put behind the company, much less marketing.
Customer Experience is extremely important and it doesn’t solely revolve around the product itself. This includes the customer’s online experience and interaction with employees that represent your product and company. Even if the product is good, if the customer experience is terrible or even mediocre, then customers will find a competitor that sells a similar product. Even if the product is the same or just not as good, the customer experience can push customers out the door.
Customer Satisfaction reflects the customer experience. When customers aren’t satisfied it shows up in social media and word of mouth. In this day and age, bad reviews on Facebook, Google, and Yelp can really hurt your business. Mess with the customer experience and you mess with the satisfaction rating. Traffic will often follow the ratings: high or low.
Employee Satisfaction can directly impact the previous two. If your management doesn’t care about the employees, then the employees will care little about customer satisfaction, customer experience, much less the product itself. The employees are direct representatives of your business. If they don’t enjoy working for you, then chances are they won’t care much for representing your business well.
Corporate Responsibility can be a big deal, especially if you’re a business that professes to be about the community or the environment or the like. This is a great method to getting your business in front of customers and showing that you are more than about the bottom line. Today’s customers often dig this, but it isn’t crucial.
Logo and Slogan is important, but not as much as you would think. There are plenty of businesses without good logos and some with no slogans who have made it big. Yes, it is preferable to have a professional looking logo and a slogan that people can remember, but without the previous items (perhaps sans the corporate responsibility), there isn’t much point. That being said, Yes, get a nice looking logo. The quickest way to put your best foot forward is to put your best foot forward.
Marketing is the last item on the list. This doesn’t mean you start marketing once all the others are in line. Marketing begins at the beginning. You market from the get-go. Don’t wait until everything is perfect because nothing ever will be. You can only do the best you can, and doing your best in all of these categories is what goes into branding. At INFINI Marketing, our Houston marketing firm will work with your business to make sure all your branding is being done effectively and efficiently.
