The Branding Journal tells us that, ‘Branding is the process of giving a meaning to a specific organization, company, products or services by creating and shaping a brand in consumers’ minds.’ Using strong branding you can ensure that your customers choose your product, instead of a competing product.
Branding best practices change all of the time, which is why it’s vital to keep up with the latest trends. To keep your brand fresh, consider these ideas for 2021.
Visualize your brand as a human
Creating a brand is about visualizing your brand as if it were a human. It might sound strange, but it really works! You’ll need to create a brand identity, by thinking about the characteristics or the personality of your brand. Think about how the brand would act (if personified), and how people would remember it.
Some brands have a formal and professional personality, others are friendly and casual. There are quirky brands, humorous brands, and edgy brands. Your brand might have several aspects to its personality. You need to define all these different aspects to make a start.
Carefully Consider Your Design
Customers judge a brand by its design choices. You need to ensure that your design choices are consistent across all platforms, to help customers recognise you. From your logos to your website design, everything needs to represent the essence of your brand. Choose your colors carefully, and use eye-catching artwork that helps you to stand out. The strongest design trends in 2021 are whimsical illustrations, and designs that follow a ‘hand drawn’ and authentic look.
Focus on storytelling
To build the perfect brand, you will need to think carefully about brand storytelling. Your brand needs a compelling story that stimulates an emotional response. Your audience needs to understand why your brand came to be, what you stand for, and why it matters to them. You can communicate your story to your audience in many different ways. You might use live-events, webinars, video marketing or social media campaigns.
Branded merchandise
In 2021, it’s all about creating branded merchandise. With the help of branded merchandise you can get your name out into the world, and offer extra value to your audience and clients. There are plenty of types of brand merchandise you can create, whether it’s T-shirts, bags, pens or water bottles. To make a real impact with your branding, consider these Performa custom shaker cups.
Competitor research
If you want to take your brand to the next level, you’ll need to keep an eye on your competitors. Research their branding, to help you create a better brand strategy. The following questions may be useful:
- What is unique about my competitor(s) branding?
- What stands out about their brand story?
- How can I create a stronger brand?
There are plenty of ways that you can improve your branding, and set your company apart from the rest. With the help of these business hacks, you’ll perfect your brand strategy for 2021.
