We know Mum said ‘don’t judge a book by it’s cover’, but… we’re all guilty of it from time to time! Maybe not with individual people, but certainly businesses we encounter on a daily basis. A lot of this is to do with branding… but what exactly is branding? And how can it affect your business?
Here’s a fun experiment for you. Take a look at the images/symbols/text in the photo below….

We can almost guarantee you recognise every one of these logos, names and symbols, but most importantly you could also tell us exactly what products or services each of them offer and how reputable their brand is? Are we right or are we right?
However, not one of the names or symbols really give away what they do or sell. These are companies who have a well established brand, their branding is consistent, their message is clear, and they stand out from the crowd! Interesting hey? This all comes down to their well executed branding.
Branding gives you an opportunity to distinguish your business from its competitors, it allows you to tell your customers who you are, and what products or services you offer. It all comes down to the company ‘image’ and how the public perceive you. This is achieved through your business name, logo, design and symbols. Your brand should give people a true representation of who you are and what your point of difference is.
Branding goes further than just images of the business, that’s just the ‘front line’ of your business. Branding is achieved through a lot of processes that go on in the business every day; the language you use on social media & marketing, what your business values are and how you promote them, your customer service, the quality of your product/service, how you deal with complaints, and also your level of professionalism.
Essentially it’s the face of your business and you want to use it to clearly tell your customers who you are, what you do, what makes your business unique, and do it in a way that grabs their attention.
Research suggests that we are exposed to upwards of 5,000 brand messages PER DAY! It’s hard to believe, but with the growth of social media and the internet in general, brands nowadays can reach you from the moment you wake up and look at your phone (before you’ve even lifted your head off your pillow!!), kind of scary! But, as businesses, we should all be tapping into this huge opportunity!
Amongst all of this noise and information being thrown at people every day, you have the challenge of making your business stand out from the rest, and this is why your branding is so important. So, what are the successful companies doing in the branding department?
Recognisable Instantly, you recognise this brand when you see their logo and they can’t be confused with another brand. Being a well established brand helps with this, but every business started at the bottom before they reached the top! Having your business name included in your logo can be really helpful with your branding, it makes it easier for your customers to instantly recognise your brand and know who you are and connect a name to the product. You want your brand to be obvious to the customers. If they love your product or service and they recognise your logo, their brand loyalty will continue to grow and they will become loyal customers for a lifetime. But if they don’t recognise your brand, but love your product, you may miss out on an opportunity for repeat customers.
A lot of brand loyalty nowadays is built through word of mouth or affiliation. If someone notices their friends or maybe even their favourite celebrity use your product or service, this will instantly build trust in the customer. But if your branding is not easily recognisable you could be missing out on a massive opportunity for brand awareness, simply because your branding wasn’t on point.
ConsistencyCoca-Cola have had the same logo since the early 1800’s! Their branding has been consistent not only through the decades but also the centuries!! It’s important for your branding to be consistent throughout your entire business; logo, signage, website and even the language you use online compared to talking on the phone.
For example, you might have lots of fun on your social media, be more down to earth and relate to your customers, but then you have a website that’s written in a very serious manner and straight to the point, this is sending mixed messages to your customers. You want their experience with you to be consistent throughout all the different business processes. So perhaps you need to look into adding more personality into your website content to capture this aspect of your branding? Giving customers an impression of the type of person they are working with or purchasing from, allowing them to connect with your business and your personality.
Simplicity Simple is always better! You don’t need to have a logo with a heap of different elements and things going on, keep it simple while still allowing it to make a statement. You want your logo to be versatile so it can be used in a variety of ways; on promotional material, merchandise, your website, letterheads, etc. The more simple, the easier this is to execute, allowing you to achieve the consistency we mentioned above.
Branding has the ability to impact your sales potential, profit and business growth. Don’t let something as simple as poor branding hold your business back from reaching its full potential. We recently launched The Branding Box, a new package available at The Island Creative and clients are loving it! We find that a lot of the businesses we work with know exactly how they want their business to look and how they want their brand to be recognised, but struggle to execute it. This urged us to launch our branding packages, to take the hard part out, you share your ideas and business goals with us, and we bring them to life! With everything you need included into The Branding Box, businesses no longer need to work with 5 different professionals to get the job done, we have packaged all the necessities into one little box so you only need to communicate with one team; saving you time & money, and most importantly allowing for that consistency we talked about.
Lastly, let’s talk rebranding. Do you ever feel like your business is completely different to what it was when you started and your branding really doesn’t do it justice anymore? We did! And that’s why we rebranded! Rebranding doesn’t mean you have to start a new business and give it a new name, sometimes it’s as simple as a freshen up; a new colour palette, a shiny new logo and a beautiful website. Businesses change over time and it’s important that your brand is consistent with your current business and not what you started out as. The Branding Box is designed to help you fine tune the details of your business; we listen to exactly how your business works, what you’re passionate about and how you can help people, and then reflect that in your business content and image. If you’re ready to take your business to the next level or want to launch your new business with a BANG, get in contact with us today, we can chat all things branding and the steps to take, so you can be hitting your business and financial goals by the end of this year!