Important Elements of a Strong and Effective Brand
There are many important elements of a marketing strategy. One frequently forgotten element of a successful strategy is taking the time to create a well-defined company brand. Essential for long-term marketing success, creation of a solid brand can at first seem a daunting task. It doesn’t have to be. Building of a brand is not difficult when you pay attention to a few key marketing elements. Let’s take a look at what some of them are.
What is a brand?
The first key to creating a powerful brand is to understand exactly what a brand is. A brand is a personality that identifies and shares the beliefs and core values of a company or endeavor. This can be accomplished with a number of commonly used items including company colors, tag lines, unique designs, fonts, logos, graphical creations, and slogans. A well-defined brand captures the attention of a potential consumer and portrays the unique identifiers associated with the business. A strong brand also should securely engage the attention of current clients while growing recognition, affinity and loyalty.
Consistency is essential
When it comes to brand effectiveness, maintaining consistency is of utmost importance. When engaging current and potential customers, there must be a palpable element of trust associated with your brand message. Just as with interaction between people, real trust cannot be achieved without consistency. Inconsistency, or a change in brand message, can be perceived by a potential client as a business changing what they stand for. Maintaining consistency also allows a brand to develop a depth of meaning and attachment that contributes to brand familiarity and brand recall, both of which are essential to business success.
Variation is necessary
Despite a clear emphasis on maintaining brand consistency, there is still plenty of room for variety within brand marketing pieces. In today’s fast paced information superhighway world, variations in marketing content are not only desirable they are essential. While the consistent elements of your brand should firmly remain, the details surrounding them should be unique, inventive, and ever changing. Smart marketers use proper planning to determine what brand elements provide consistency, and what elements can be creatively modified without harming brand recognition.
Branding over time
Building a successful brand is a marathon endeavor. While many online companies come and go due to the ease of website and social media profile setup, the companies that stand the test of time are the ones that build brand credibility over long periods of time. Brand consistency builds fierce loyalty from repeat customers. Examples of powerful brands that were built over several decades include The Coca-Cola Company, The Target Corporation, and even the long-standing mom and pop dry cleaner that everyone in the community likes to patronize. A long running and well-established brand is like an old friend, and that is a hard habit to break.
Using varied consistency over a long duration of time can build a remarkably powerful and effective brand for your company. Take heed of these simple rules for brand building and in due time, you are sure to reap the results!
Maeyen Bassey
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- Important Elements of a Strong and Effective Brand - July 7, 2015