If you feel it’s okay to put minimum effort into developing your brand, think again. A business succeeds on a lot more than a product and a name. Your brand is the little extra that can make your business extraordinary.
Prominence
A well-developed brand adds credibility and familiarity to your business. Effective branding is the reason you can substitute ‘Starbucks’ for the word ‘coffee’ in a sentence – without losing any meaning. Good branding is the reason you know that a checkmark means Nike and three stripes stand for Adidas. With effective branding, you can take your business from just being another company to a one-in-a-million venture.
Trust
People do not relate to products as much as they relate to brands. Because brands appeal to human logic and emotion, they unite people in ways that products can’t. Take a look at Apple. The Apple brand has one of the most faithful and passionate followings in the world. It is seen as simple, yet sophisticated. Just carrying an iPhone makes you appear on the upper end economically, despite the truth behind that image. Pair it with some AirPods and your visual net worth inflates at least two times more. The people who use the brand know what it stands for and knows what the brand adds to them. They trust the company because the brand has been used to effectively connect with them.
Long-Term Profitability
The prominence your brand gives to your business will help spread the word to your audience. As your prominence grows, so will your audience market. People will flock to see what the buzz is about. When they come for the buzz, they will stay for the product. The more they use your product, the more their trust in it (and your brand) grows. Especially when you take their feedback and use it to improve. Increased trust will build your brand’s credibility, which creates opportunities for your business to grow through investments, expansion, etc. All of this, in the long run, will increase the profit you earn from your business.
Whether you’re aspiring to make your business the next Apple Inc. or you just want to run a local brick and mortar store, a well-developed brand will help keep your business afloat and will ensure that you can reach your goals – be it local or global.