The 5 Components Of A Successful Branding Strategy

Originally published by Results Driven Marketing the 5 Components of a Successful Branding Strategy are:

Successful businesses rely on different marketing strategies to roll out their brands, from search engine marketing and pay-per-click advertising to display advertising, social media campaigns and live chat.  Every successful branding strategy, however, consists of common elements to build and maintain a relationship of trust with customers.

Here are 5 components common to every successful branding strategy:

1. Vision:  why are you in business?  The obvious answer is “to make money.”  But aren’t there other reasons?  Perhaps it’s also because you like helping people and feel good when a satisfied customer calls to thank you.  Maybe it’s because you like the people who work for you, and like watching them succeed along with you.  Chances are, your business means more to you than money.  You need to formalize whatever that reason is in a vision statement.  Your vision statement tells employees and customers alike who you are and what your purpose is.
2. Consistent Messaging:  once you’ve settled on the purpose of your business, you need to craft messages which clearly and consistently communicate that purpose to your customers.  When you think “Geico,” you automatically think “15 minutes could save you 15% or more on car insurance,” but also funny commercials, and of course the gecko.  Consistency is about logos, design, the words you use, and more.  Above all, it’s about all the pieces of your message working seamlessly together.  To help ensure consistency, consider creating a style guide which clearly outlines not only your logo and slogan, but also acceptable color schemes, fonts, and tone.
3. Extending Brand throughout the Company:  a style guide is a great start to ensuring consistent communications, but it’s ineffective if your employees don’t adequately communicate.  Your employees can be your greatest asset in communicating your brand, or they can scuttle your best efforts with one bad customer exchange.  Make sure everyone in your company is fully aware of your brand and understands how to talk to customers to convey it.
4. Emotional Connection:  the old maxim that people justify purchases based on logic, but make those purchases based on emotion is true.  Emotion sells.  Think of Dawn Dishwashing Liquid’s Saving Wildlife commercials.  The emotions viewers feel watching those ads become part of the company’s brand.  Some potent emotional triggers are those which arouse sympathy, give people a sense of belonging and make their lives easier.
5. Nurturing Loyalty:  according to Hubspot, 15% of a company’s most loyal customers constitute 70% of total revenues, and 80% of future revenues will come from 20% of current customers.  Successful branding strategies nurture loyalty by thanking their customers and telling them they’re special with loyalty rewards like discounts and special gifts.