You brand is your identity – a signature of who you are, what you do and what you offer to your customers. One definition suggests:

‘A brand identity represents how the organization wants to be perceived in the market, what the organization stands for, and most importantly how it implies to the promise made to its customers’

It is one of the most important aspects for any kind of business. Building a strong image for your brand is important; the image created by branding also creates brand loyalty. Associate positive qualities with your brand, let’s take an example of Nike – they have associated athletics with their brand, hence whenever you think about an athletic shoe company the first name which pops up is Nike and their slogan – Just do it!

Branding is not just your logo but it is your business name – be very careful while selecting a name for your identity. It should not only be simple but also should be unique so that it does not sound like another famous or common brand in the market. Selecting a name for the company is often a rigorous and well thought out process. Once the name is done think about the immediate image which comes to your mind in relation to the name you have selected. The image of your brand has more impact on your customers as they tend to remember and recall through that.

Branding is an interesting journey of self-discovery – asking questions like who you are, what your vision, mission, goals and objectives are, what is it that you wish to achieve and how? You need to define your brand characteristics, its benefits to your customers, and it features to offer. A lot of research is put in to understand your target market and its needs; the habits and desires of your prospect customers. Your competitors and what advantages your brand is to offer over theirs. A few benefits for branding are:

1 – It enable you to set trends in the market
2 – It creates loyalty, trust and confidence in your customers
3 – It enables you to dictate your premium price in the market
4 – It helps you grow in markets across borders
5 – Makes you stand out from other brands

Having a slogan or a byline strengthens your brand. It is another important aspect of your brand. It should be short and simple to remember like Nike’s Just do it – or of Nokia Connecting People. Your brand name should be strong enough to convey the meaning and feeling allied with it to your customers which can be achieved by having a slogan.

Once you are sure about your brand it is very important to get it registered. Strong brands instill trust in your customers and have higher return on investments meaning the financial gain of a company with a strong brand is more than a regular one. Also, it injects brand loyalty into your customers – often companies have brand ambassadors who are at times famous people associated with their brand to instill confidence into their customers, this is a part of branding strategy and planning.

It is all about setting perceptions about what you have to offer in the minds of your customers. The value preposition set by you is set around a brand. At times it is by setting a premium price which indicates the quality standard set by that particular brand in the market. Customers tend to buy a brand repeatedly if they perceive it to be a quality brand giving them a consistent utility in accordance to their requirements.

Following are a few points which are important for branding and which one should keep in mind while defining, planning and strategizing for a brand:

1 – Make a professionally designed logo.
2 – Try placing it to as many places as you can.
3 – Summarize a key message which you brand represents and which you wish to communicate amongst all.
4 – Publicize your brand as much as you can through salespeople wear on sales calls, your e-mail signature, everything.
5 – Develop an impressive, momentous and concise statement that captures the essence of your brand.
6 – Use the same brand logo tagline on all your stationery.
7 – Stay true to your brand and fulfill the promise you have made to your customers.
8 – Achieve creditability by meeting or exceeding your customer’s expectations.
9 – Your brand should be based on clear and defined values which are important to your customers and should be in line with your business.
10 – Get your brand registered to avoid infringements.

Educate and encourage your work force and your customers to learn about the importance of branding. Believe in your brand name, what it means, and rest will follow.