If you think that branding is all about pretty colors and cool logos, this blog is for you. The importance of strategic branding gets lost in the dazzle of starting a new business, but it is one of the key components to ensuring successful communication with your target market. And without customers, well, you can pretty much call your business dead on arrival.
Branding is everything
A strong brand is built around a coherent and consistent message. This will be captured through your brand message and promise as well as your pillars and will be heard by your consumers through everything you do, including services, products, marketing campaigns, social media interactions and more. The three components of a strong brand include:
Brand message: The way your brand communicates its unique value and personality through both verbal and nonverbal messaging. It is the reason why your brand has a relationship to its consumers.
Brand promise: This is the unique value or experience a consumer can expect to receive every time they interact with your brand.
Brand pillars: These combine your message and promise to create the foundation on which your brand is built.
We call them “pillars” for a reason
Your brand’s pillars act as a support for your brand message and promise, therefore guiding all of your decisions. When you aren’t sure what to say, for example, all you need to do is consult your pillars, which are everything that make your brand tick. And when you are trying to align your customer service with your values, consult those pillars to make sure you are delivering!
Perhaps you are beginning to see why establishing a cohesive message is important before creating that show-stopping logo? Because everything, even your logo, will need to report to your brand’s message and the pillars on which you have built your business. And, best of all, your brand’s message will tell your consumers why they should choose your business over others. (All the more reason to make it a strategic one, you see.)
So, how do we find your brand message, promise and pillars?
Here at P&A, we believe in a hefty amount of research. We offer our clients a full spectrum of strategic marketing practices that will help them to build the brand message, promise and pillars they need to create a cohesive message. We collaboratively deep dive with clients to define the target persona of customers — not just a label or one-liner, but specifically identifying their lives, from hobbies to social media habits to daily routines. We meet clients where they are on this entrepreneurial path and help build the scaffolding that will support the growth of their business.
Once we have a clear understanding of a client’s messaging, we create a Brand Message Guide, a document for internal reference that is to be the starting point for everything, from graphics to news releases. With marketing support staff working from the same guide, it creates a common voice that consumers can begin to see easily when interacting with that brand. And then, yes, logos, colors, fonts, and other visuals are developed to support the brand voice.
Consumers trust brands with consistent messaging
With today’s throngs of new businesses, marketing, campaigns, scams and more, consumers are weary of anything that seems confusing. In fact, they want ease and some predictability. By doing the research and then creating a cohesive message, promise and pillars for your brand, you will be able to relate better to your target market and they will, in turn, become important long-term customers!
From our new Entrepreneurial Path to our Biz Squad, we are here to help ensure the success of your brand (and answer all of your burning questions)! Contact us to find out more.
