Is Branding Important for Your Business? (Branding Bites EP3)

1. Class Trailer: In today's crowded marketplace, standing out isn't just a bonus. It's a necessity. Branding is the heartbeat of any business shaping how it's perceived by the people. But is branding really important for your business? Hey, guys. My name is Kathen. I'm a brand consultant and the founder of a branding firm called Brand Spree, and welcome to a new mini class in my branding focus series here on Skillshare called Branding Bytes. In this class, we'll look into the three crucial reasons that make branding extremely important for your business and we'll also address a few challenges you might face during a typical branding process. 2. Class Project: As part of the class project, please pick your favorite food brand or beverage brand and list down all the brand assets that have helped it truly stand out in the industry. Upon completing the project, please upload your work to the MI project area in the projects and resources section of the class. Also keep an eye out for any interesting guides and resources available in this section. 3. Logo Vs Branding: Oftentimes those who are aware of the term branding confuse it with the business's logo. This is especially true in developing nations where the concept of branding is not very popular yet. While logo design plays a significant role in branding, it is much more than just the logo of the business. The logo is a symbol or graphic that acts as an identification for the business. It acts as the face of the business and represents it in any visual communication carried out to improve the business's awareness. On the other hand, a brand is a perception created in people's minds about the business. It is how people value a business and its products or services. Branding of a business is essentially the process of creating this value or perception in a person's mind about the business through various ideas and processes that aim at improving the quality of any possible interaction between the business and the person, thereby turning a potential customer into a loyal customer. 4. Benefits of Branding: While branding does many things in favor of building a business and ensuring its success, there are three functions it primarily serves. Number one, differentiation. A well researched branding helps a business stand out among its competitors both visually and verbally. This is ensured only if the branding takes place after a thorough and in depth market research and competitor analysis wherein we study how the players that are already present in the industry are interacting with their customers, communicating their ideas with them, and maintaining their brand image through consistent use of messaging and visuals that are unique to the brand. Number two, reassurance. Since branding involves creating a perception in people's minds, they tend to associate a certain value with that brand's product or service. This could either be through short term interactions like product packaging or long term interactions like advertisements on social media and billboards. Now, when a person is in a position of choosing this brand's product over their competitor's product, branding provides the assurance that the person has made the right choice as it has already managed to create a certain value for the brand in that person's mind. Number three, identification. Now in this world filled with numerous brands, it's essential for any business's success that people only buy from them. To ensure this, people must always be reminded of this specific brand when they think of a particular product or service category. Branding helps achieve this by ensuring that the brand's name, image, verbal tone, et cetera, are always on top of people's minds. This is done through the use of consistent visuals and tone of voice that over time help people identify the brand even without any mention of the brand's logo. 5. Challenges to Branding: Apart from its benefits, it's also important for businesses to understand some of the challenges associated with it in order to make a better decision. There are three such important challenges to note. Number one, the cost of branding. Branding is extremely important for a business's growth as well as survival among the sea of brands that we see today. And as with anything that's crucial for the survival of an entity, branding also comes at a price. As a popular opinion, it's advisable for established businesses to spend around four to 10% of the business's annual revenue on its branding. And if you're just starting out with the business, then it's better to spend no more than 25% of the overall budget of the business. Popular big name agencies known for the branding of top companies would charge in hundreds of thousands of dollars, if not millions. And instead, if you go for freelancers for their affordability, it could also lead to a compromise in the quality of the service, if not chosen carefully. Number two, connecting with the target audience. The first step in any business is to understand the target audience and build up an ideal customer profile. We as people are hardware to relate to or resonate with other people. So in order to make a person feel associated with the brand, it needs to have a relatable personality of its own. This is by far the most important challenge that needs to be addressed through a thorough research and branding process. Modern brands like McDonald's, for example, have been pioneers in their industries as they've understood the value of connecting with their customers at a very emotional level through the brand personality that they exhibit in an advertisement or any other customer interaction. Number three is keeping up with trends. Trends are always a part of life, but the important thing to note is that trends come and go. They are by definition, temporary in nature. But the very foundation of a business is for it to survive strong in the industry for as long as possible, if not forever. While it might be attractive to jump on the ongoing branding trends, it'll only ensure short term gains and not long term success. It's always good to be aware of the ongoing and upcoming trends, but to ensure a business's longevity, it's better to opt for branding practices that are timeless and memorable without the influence of the trends. The sweet spot, in my opinion, is to have timeless branding to be the business's foundation and to experiment with advertising strategies that are at par with the popular trends. This would cater to both short term gains as well as long term success. 6. Conclusion: In summary, branding serves three primary functions which are differentiation, reassurance and identification, which make branding crucial for ensuring the business's longevity in the industry. It's not to say that it doesn't have any challenges that need to be taken into account, like the cost of branding, connecting with the right audience, and keeping up with trends. For a much deeper understanding of the branding, business and design world, please check out all the other classes listed on my Skillshare profile page. And if you found this class interesting and insightful, please feel free to leave an honest review about the class. Thanks a lot for joining in. I'll see you in a different class. Have a wonderful day.