Brand Over Products/Services: Importance of Branding in Digital Marketing

Imagine a phone brand.

It’s pretty obvious many of you have thought about the iPhone. inc. not the phone, not Steve Jobs, the first thing that popped into your mind is the apple logo. Let’s take another example, imagine a burger- definitely, the big M has flashed through your mind or a juicy mac burger. These are not coincidences or any Jedi trick. In simple terms, these are effective examples of branding. Every business owner has at least once thought about taking their business to global levels and leaving a mark of legacy among the people, well there are no shortcuts to those golden steps. Branding is the only way to attain such long-lasting influence.  

Branding is a psychological approach to the customer using the soft power of advertisement and other key elements.  With distinctive logos, catchy taglines, impactful names, and recognizable designs, branding offers your company a unique identity. To stand out from your competitors and leave an impression among your customers, branding is the only solution.  Your company needs a statement to stand out and establish a name among customers and competitors. Additionally, it aids in representing your company faithfully and conveying to your customers what they can expect from your services.

Branding can affect these following fundamentals

  • Credibility and trust
  • Brand recognition 
  • Brand legacy 
  • Increasing potential customers
  • Intensified customer experience
  • Attracting new customers
  • Increasing revenue

1. Promises of a faithful brand

Today’s digital era demands a brand strategy for every company. When branding is put second to a digital plan, the digital landscape can easily fragment. Managing your brand promises is the key to your business strategy. In order to achieve a customer experience that is superior across all of your digital channels, your marketing strategy needs to consistently deliver on this promise. The best way to invite prospects into your brand experience is to interact with them at every digital touchpoint in their everyday lives. Trust is at the core of any business relationship. Credibility and affinity with your customers’ values should be the goals of your branding efforts.

Don’t just produce content. Rather, create emotional, relevant customer experiences. Establishing a powerful, recognizable, and relatable brand offering-one that will set you apart from other companies and last across all the different platforms will enable you to build brand trust. Potential long-term customers value trust than obtaining products or services at a lower cost. This is the exact reason many luxury brands aren’t out of business even though the pandemic and soaring price hikes.

2. Using the emotional card

Why do people buy Harley Davidson?
Among other high-performance motorbikes, people still choose this vintage piece for emotional reasons. Why do some advertisements remain in our minds? What might be the reason, some advertisements make us cry, happy, nostalgic? Simply put, nostalgia marketing or branding is effective in the fast-paced digital age.

Psychological tactics are used in branding strategies to reach consumers. Those brands that employ these marketing strategies connect instantly with consumers who would like to live the past again and enhance the aesthetic appeal of the experience. The relevance and the demand of coco Chanel number 5 perfume is an example of a well-played emotional strategy.

3. A call for new customers

Why do people buy Harley Davidson?
Among other high-performance motorbikes, people still choose this vintage piece for emotional reasons. Why do some advertisements remain in our minds? What might be the reason, some advertisements make us cry, happy, nostalgic? Simply put, nostalgia marketing or branding is effective in the fast-paced digital age.

Psychological tactics are used in branding strategies to reach consumers. Those brands that employ these marketing strategies connect instantly with consumers who would like to live the past again and enhance the aesthetic appeal of the experience. The relevance and the demand of coco Chanel number 5 perfume is an example of a well-played emotional strategy.

4. An experience that matters

In any business environment, digital or not, tactics without a solid strategy fail to achieve business goals. Executing your brand promise is the first step to achieving your business goals. In order to intensify customer experience across all digital channels, your marketing strategy should center around consistently delivering on this promise. To invite prospects into your brand experience, you must engage them across all digital touchpoints in their everyday lives.

There is no change in the fact that someone needs to see a message seven times before they are able to remember it. In Salesforce’s study, 75 percent of consumers expect consistent experiences across multiple channels (web, mobile, in-person, social), and 73 percent will switch brands if they don’t get them. A customer’s experience determines their loyalty and retention. Moreover, more than 76 percent of respondents said it’s easier than ever to go to another brand for a better experience, switching from brand to brand to find a brand that fits their expectations.

Digital technology provides consumers with a vast amount of information and choices, which means they hold the power today. Thanks to artificial intelligence (AI), we know a lot more about our customers. Utilizing customer data for predictive analytics improves your customer’s journey and anticipates their next move. We expect to know what customers want and need. Because of this, they expect us to provide them with relevant content across the channels they use every day. The best way to introduce your brand to those who don’t know it is to provide content they’ll be interested in.

A logo and a clever tagline are not the only components of branding. A powerful brand is one that delivers on its promises, across all of the different mediums your target audience uses on a daily basis. In order to deepen the experience, you should ensure that your messaging closely aligns not only with their interests but also with the medium in which it is delivered.

The tactical elements of digital marketing campaigns, such as social media, search engine optimization, email, behavioral targeting, and programmatic, can become disjointed and fragmented if the brand isn’t solid. When your brand promise doesn’t work- whether it’s through image choices, content targeting, or whatever the medium is- customers will engage with another company.

A strong brand will always provide you with a competitive edge in the market. If your brand holds its weight in the market, enhanced credibility, ease of conversion, and earned media will naturally occur along with a smaller cost-per-conversion.

Entrepreneur and investor Jeff Bezos is the founder and CEO of Amazon, owner of The Washington Post, and founder of space venture Blue Origin once said; “A brand for a company is like a reputation for a person. You earn a reputation by trying to do hard things well.” In conclusion, branding is a slow process that builds trust among people. Some brands could achieve it in short term, but some might take a longer interval of time. Whatever the time period, this is an inevitable step in building your business. Without branding, all the money poured into digital marketing can be vain.