Branding is a vital part of any business, sometimes overlooked, under prioritised, and often forgotten about. The power of a brand in the 21st century is rapidly changing the way the nation thinks and feels from fast fashion to food and beverage, big moves make big results. With the perfect mix of creativity, strategy, and marketing skills, a brand can gain momentum to outperform competitors at rapid rates.
What’s the difference between brand & branding?
Essentially, a brand is everything that an entity stands for, from the messaging to the direction of the brand. Culture and personality should shine bright through every individual within an organistaion and be reflected in every business output.
Branding is a little simpler. Branding is visual identity – the pretty bits. Ultimately how you take the messaging and visually articulate it to stand out. For example, the Mcdonalds golden arches, their fries box, the adverts produced, yep that is all branding which is underpinned by their mission, vision and values (the brand).
Why is Brand Important?
If businesses don’t consolidate both the brand and branding together to create a solid, consistent foundation, it will quickly show cracks and hinder overall growth. Brands often get watered down by different external and internal factors meaning the road map to success may be lengthened and marketing efforts subject to dwindling results.
Fact: Presenting a brand consistently across all platforms can increase revenue by up to 23%.
(ref: https://www.smallbizgenius.net/by-the-numbers/branding-statistics/#gref)
A brand strategy brings the brand & the branding together within one framework. Aligning the brand message, values, mission, and vision with creativity, giving one point of call to refer to when making any decision.
What are the consequences of not having a strong brand presence?
A strong brand presence defines you from competitors and aids long-term stability. As well as identifying gaps in the current market, niches, and trends. If your brand isn’t under constant scrutiny for improvement you are at threat of falling behind competitors.
How can you identify when your brand needs help?
That’s where we come in. Your brand can in fact save you money in the long run. From hiring the right team to marketing the business with thumb-stopping content, the most significant decisions should consider brand positioning. Does one of the points below fit your current situation?
- Have you revisited your brand in the last quarter?
- Do have a handle on what documents are reaching clients?
- Has your marketing team has changed in the last 6 months?
- Was it over year since you altered the design of your website? Is your website responsible for a percentage of sales?
- Are sales or consumer engagement are declining?
- Do you feel your creative is looking stagnant in comparison to competitors?
- Do you ask cultural questions when recruiting the finest talent?
- Is your shop window looking dated?
Hatch offers a variety of creative and marketing services to support brand growth along with building authenticity. If you’re a business that fancies a refresh or wants some advice on how to better your brand, drop us an email at hello@hatch.co.uk
In conclusion, First impressions count (and so does every other engagement after). By building a brand that consumers can relate to on an emotional level across all touchpoints will put an organisation at the forefront of innovation.
