Strengthening your brand – what you need to know

Creating a strong brand is all about knowing what your business represents, and communicating this to your customers and potential customers. While aspects such as a relevant and memorable logo are important representations of your brand, you need to start by ensuring that your overall branding strategy is in line with the ethos of your business.

We recently spoke to Glenda Wynyard, a media and marketing expert with more than 25 years’ experience. We asked for her opinion about strengthening a brand. She told us how important it is for businesses to adopt an, “Intuitive and creative approach to media, that is underpinned by insights from a strong foundation of research.” This approach should be at the foundation of all aspects of building the strength of your brand. Read on for more information about making this happen.

Consistency of image

Once you have a brand in place, it’s only going to be truly strong if it’s consistent. If you are not consistent, your customers will notice, and this can have an adverse effect on brand perception. Introducing a style guide is a good idea, as it helps to keep the language, images and colours you use in line with your brand strategy.

Personalising the experience

Using your brand on promotional materials is a good way of getting your business out there; supermarkets do it all the time with packaging and bags. If your business has a stall at a conference, consider investing in branded useful items such as USB sticks or pens, to take with you. Doing so means that you can send people away with a positive reminder of your brand.

Watching your competitors

There are two very good reasons why you should watch competitors, and take a look at their branding:

• You can learn from their mistakes and successes.
• You need to ensure that your branding is not overly similar to theirs. You want your business to stand out from the crowd.

You can also learn from the experts, by following them on social media. Take a look at Glenda Wynyard on LinkedIn, and see what she has to say about branding.

Using social media in the right way

Social media is one of the most effective ways to interact with customers, and open their eyes to your brand. However, you need to ensure that you use it in the right way. Everything you post should be in line with what people expect from your brand. Just because other businesses are commenting on a particular story does not mean you have to, if what you are saying could have a negative impact on your brand perception. Think carefully about everything that you post, and refer to your style guide.

Networking to promote your brand

There is nothing quite like networking for getting to know the right people. These are the people who can help to strengthen your brand just by being associated with you. If people can see that your business is associated with reliable and reputable brands, the strength of your brand can only increase.

A strong brand is essential for any business that wants to succeed and grow. Taking into account these aspects can help you to strengthen your brand and improve the potential of your business.