How to Build a Brand That Sticks

When trying to grow your company, it’s absolutely crucial to build a strong brand. In fact, this is such a crucial aspect of business that companies often have their own distinct marketing department that’s dedicated solely to brand building. This is because branding is so multi-faceted: from using consistent fonts to finding an effective way of printing stickers online, you’ll want at least one person dedicated to it. 

One of the main goals of branding is to build an image that adds value to your products and services. Brands that specialise in providing luxury products or services are a great example of this: people are willing to pay so much for a fancy wrist watch or handbag not just because of how it’s made but also because of who made it, or even what materials were used in its production. 

But what if you don’t manage a luxury brand? Well, thankfully there are still a handful of great, cost-effective, and evergreen ways that you can build a brand that well and truly ‘sticks’. In this article, we’ll go through four foundational ways to build a brand that stays with your customers and that adds value to your company. 

1. Consistency Is Key

When it comes to building a strong brand, there’s nothing more important than consistency. You can do everything right when coming up with brand elements: you can have the catchiest tagline in the world, a stunning logo and a distinct brand voice. However, all this won’t do much good if you aren’t consistent in the application of these elements. 

Admittedly, there are many different ways that you can harness the power of consistency for your business, from your daily operational processes to your customer complaint protocols. In the context of branding, however, consistency is all about ensuring that your clients and prospective clients know just what to expect from your company’s branded materials, and can thus maintain a sense of trust and reliance with your brand.

Your brand needs to permeate everything you do as a company. This includes marketing material like promotional emails, stickers and online ads. It also affects things like how customer-facing employees interact with your audience, how you design your stores and even the design of your products. 

And remember that in order to build a consistent brand, you’ll need to educate your whole team, not just the marketing department, on your brand. This is precisely why brand bibles are so important for not only internal training, but also for working with any freelancers or consultants. 

2. Build a Strong Branding Team

As a business owner or the head of a department, you’ll have learned that you can’t do everything by yourself. If you can afford it, you should hire at least one person whose sole job is building your brand, and not simply delegate the task to one of your other marketing employees. Their job description will include building and making changes to your brand book, handling social media accounts and making sure that all company communication adheres to your brand guidelines. 

In many ways, what you’d look for in a member of your branding team is what you would in any other employee. Some of these key qualities include a genuine interest in and passion for the role, adaptability to various situations and problems and an ability to communicate effectively (this is especially important for a branding professional). You’ll also want to find someone who’s a great fit with your company culture. 

3. Use Data to Your Advantage

Many branding professionals feel an urge to leave the room when the topic of numbers comes up. However, it’s important to fight this urge: data, when used properly, can give you a serious advantage over your competitors when it comes to building a brand your audience will respond to. 

Doing market research can help you identify what branding strategies would be most effective. First, it’ll help you identify who your customers are. It will also give you guidance on how best to communicate with them: what channels are they reachable through? What tone do they resonate with? Is there anything in terms of product design that you could be doing better?

4. Craft a Brand Voice

One of the most crucial aspects of brand building is creating an effective brand voice. There are a few factors that go into this, but one of the most important is to resonate with your audience. Remember that your company doesn’t exist in a vacuum, and that you’re communicating with real people. 

This means understanding your customers, knowing how they talk, and what sort of language they’ll respond to. Don’t use formal, bourgeois language if you’re a fashion forward brand targeting teenagers. Similarly, using Gen Z slang in your advertisements probably isn’t the way to go if you’re a company that sells life insurance who serves an older market. 

Your brand voice should remain consistent across all your public communications, from physical stickers to social media ads. Also, remember that the goal is for people to be able to identify your brand just from your voice. 

In this article, we’ve gone through some important ways to build a brand that sticks to your audience’s minds. Branding is absolutely crucial to your success in pretty much every industry because it gives customers a way to distinguish between you and your competitors. 

If you’re in charge of a business or are part of a marketing team, these tips will help you build a powerful brand that will set you apart from the field. If you’ve just finished this article and realised that there’s more you could be doing to build your brand, don’t wait around. Start implementing these ideas now, and your business will thank you.