Creating a brand identity is an important and fun process that will shape the customer perception of your business. Many variables go into creating the brand identity – anything from the logo to the core message. To encourage customer loyalty, you need to create a brand that customers can get behind emotionally. For example, brand authenticity is an important factor for up to 86% of consumers.
Achieving high customer loyalty makes growing your sales and business an easier process. Customer retention will rise, and you will even have brand ambassadors that share your products with their social circles. Think about it – if you had a great experience with a brand, you would want to tell your friends so they can enjoy the same quality too.
Not sure how to create a brand identity that resonates with your marketplace? There are proven strategies that countless companies use to attract and engage audiences. You will see that it is a simple and methodical process any company can implement.
Your Core Brand Message – Essential for Brand Identity
The brand message should differentiate your company from the rest of the marketplace. It can be as simple as an idea for why the company started. Perhaps you wanted to reduce waste by creating carbon-neutral solutions, or maybe your company offers services that do not harm the environment.
Having a strong cause gives customers a reason to support your brand. They might even decide to buy your products at a higher price if they know it contributes to a good cause they support. It means you can steal sales from competitors that do not share your company values.
To give you an idea of how to execute a strong core brand message, here are three examples:
- Nike: When it comes to sportswear, no brand has hit the mark quite as Nike has over the decades. They align themselves with the top athletes in the world like LeBron James and Cristiano Ronaldo. The average consumer’s message is to push your boundaries and strive for greatness like the top sports figures. The message implants the idea that greatness can be achieved using their products – just like the athletes in the promotional material.
- Walmart: The brand message here is to live a better life by saving money – a benefit that the average consumer can get behind. The marketing highlights the positive emotions and benefits that will be experienced by saving money and, as an extension, by shopping at Walmart.
- Tesla: The core idea why Elon Musk founded Tesla was to shift the world population to electric cars to reduce the negative impact on the planet. It is as inspiring a brand message as you can get from a brand. Many customers choosing to buy cars from Tesla will do so because they want to avoid adding to the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
Brand Messaging – How to Tell Your Story
Once you come up with an engaging brand story, you need to share it consistently and clearly. Too many companies confuse the issues by launching complicated marketing campaigns that differ for each channel – do not be one of these brands! Instead, create a core message that you could share with a strange over a few sentences, and they get the point.
Creating a consistent brand message across several marketing channels ensures the customer gets the same experience at every turn. If there is a miss-match between what you are sharing on social media, your website, and video marketing, it leads to confusion. That is a bad outcome because confusion can cause customers to avoid shopping at your brand.
How do you share a strong brand message consistently over time across different channels? Great question! By creating a brand identity guide to guide every company member. Whether you have hired a freelancer to write a blog post or are shooting a video, having a brand identity guide ensures that you implement the same core values.
The brand identity guide should include factors like:
- Company beliefs: what is the company mission and why
- Tone: consider how messages are delivered – inspiration, educational, or through comedy
- Logo: choose a logo that is consistently portrayed online and offline
- Color palette: customers can recognize a brand just by the color on the screen, so pick them wisely
- Imagery: photos, videos, and personas should be consistent
This is just a sample of what you have to consider when creating a brand identity guide. As your company grows, you may remove, edit or add aspects of the brand based on market research.
Tips for Improving Brand Loyalty
Creating a strong brand presence in your marketplace can be quick and cost-effective when using the correct strategies. Follow these strategies if you have a limited budget and want to speed up the brand-building process:
- Influencer marketing: Aligning your brand with influencers in your niche is a powerful way of leveraging their trust in their audience. Influencers love to receive new products to share with their followers – it is a great source of content, and who does not love freebies. In return, your brand gets exposure from a trusted figure in the community.
- VIP program: Reward customers that buy from you repeatedly by offering a VIP program. It could include special promotions, loyalty points, and prize draws. Nowadays, you will see that an increasing number of businesses are offering a loyalty program of some kind. Therefore, you will need to get creative with the rewards, so they are better than the competition.
- Stick to your brand identity: Want customer loyalty for many years after the first purchase? Then do not deviate from your brand identity. Naturally, customers may decide to give up on brands that no longer represent the values they look for.
These are just a few of the top ways that you can encourage customer loyalty to your brand. However, as with most things in business, being experimental and unique can be the most effective method. Use these methods as a starting point and build your strategies.
Final Thoughts on Brand Identity
Creating a strong brand identity allows your marketing efforts to be more effective. Once customers generate positive emotions towards your brand, then they are more likely to respond to marketing. Think about some of the top brands that you love to hear from? Consider why they stand out and capture your attention above others. You may notice a common theme that you can use to build your brand loyalty.
Encouraging brand loyalty can take time, but it will pay off in the end. Your customer base is an asset that drives your business’s revenue – it is worth the investment! Focusing on creating loyal customers rather than generating a quick sale is the way to go for long-term success.
