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Branding Tactics 101

Branding is one of the essential elements of any business. An effective branding-tactic will give you a major edge in today’s competitive market. But what exactly do we mean by branding tactics?

Your branding-tactic simply refers to how, where, when, as well as to who you intend to communicate and deliver on your brand messages. So, your branding tactics would encompass where you advertise your business, your distribution channels, as well as what you communicate verbally and visually in a bid to build your brand.

That said, let’s explore some essential branding-tactics that you can adapt for your business.

Deliver Value to Your Target Customers

You should realize that business relationships are founded on helping your customers and business associates to achieve their goals.

Your reputation is an integral component of your brand. Focus on being nice and helpful to others as this should go beyond branding to social media when you consider it paying-it-forward.

Be Sure Your Brand Reflects Your Business’ Growth

MaterCard Inc. is a good example to use in this case. The company has been recognized the world over for processing over 74 billion transactions every year between consumers and businesses via debit and credit cards.

In July 2016, MasterCard unveiled its brand identity evolution with a new brand mark and design system geared to modernize and elevate their brand. According to Raja Rajamannar, MasterCard’s Chief Marketing and Communications Officer, the time for the brand to demonstrate the business it had grown to had finally come.

Establish Your Branded Social Media Presence

If you are looking to build your brand, you should venture beyond the basics on social media. Think about how you want to present your business. You need to cast a large shadow.

You should think in terms of business pages on different social networks. Try to answer these questions:

  • What is the best way to present your business in terms of content, commentary, and curation?
  • How will you ensure consistency in posting without having duplicated content?

You need to decide how your employees will engage on social media. Will they use corporate accounts, or you will allow them to create their own social media presence? It is worth noting that each of these options has its benefits and setbacks. So, do a comprehensive research before you make a choice.

Build The Best User-experience Through Collaborative Approach

Let’s use Google as an example in this case. The tech giant rebranded in 2015, adopting its new corporate structure. It designers spent countless hours on its new identity, considering how its users engaged with the multi-colored brand using various devices.

Google tested the results with the help of its engineering, product, research, and marketing teams. It focused largely on building the best User Interface and User experience. What was the result?

Google closed the fiscal year with $74.54 billion in revenue. 90.4 percent of that came from its online advertising.

Make Your Employees Brand Ambassadors

This is another brilliant branding-tactic. It is imperative that employs understand what the brand stands for and be true to it in everything they do. After all, they are the ones actually interacting with your customers.

Many business executives are ignorant of who they are. They don’t know how to communicate what the brand stands for. Employees of companies led by such executives normally have brand confusion and questions. They are usually not sure how to represent the brand but rely on guesswork. So, how can you avoid this in your business?

It is imperative that you keep your employees informed, engaged, and empowered. Be sure they understand your brand and know to present what you intend to convey. You should not assume they will get everything.

Train them with both positive and negative examples to ensure they are completely schooled to represent the brand effectively. Once they are fully trained, encourage them to promote the brand message and reward them for serving in your brand’s best interests.

Bottom Line

A brand is an identity. It can be a business as a whole, or it can be a particular product or service. In the world of branding, your brand is your promise to your customers. It tells your customers what they should expect from your products or services. Likewise, it sets apart your offering from your competitors. To ensure the success of your brand, you have to adopt effective branding tactics, the best of which are outlined above.

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