Great brands leave a lasting and distinctive impression in the mind of the customer. It can be said that a brand is a thought in the mind of the customer. Branding moves products from the factory floor to supermarket shelves and embeds these products into the minds of the customer. For branding to be successful, your brand’s message must create awareness, positive perception, and brand loyalty.
5 TOP TIPS FOR AN EFFECTIVE BRAND MESSAGE
GET INTO THE SKIN OF THE BRAND
Be it a new brand that a brand manager is launching or an existing one that to which he is giving a spur of growth; brand interpretation lays the basis of branding. Create an image, or personality traits of your brand; ideally, there should be at least 3 to 6 personality traits. Your brand should have features that can distinguish it in the mind of the customer.
For instance, the brand personality of Nike clearly reflects it is sporty, edgy and competitive.
SPEAK TO YOUR CUSTOMER
Understand who is your target customer and what value does your brand add to the mind of the target customer. For a high-end credit card, the look and feel of the communication must be sophisticated. The bundled offering should appeal to the customer you are addressing.
MAINTAIN BRAND COHESION
To get a brand embedded in the customer’s mind, all the cues that you send out to the customer from TVCs, to print ads, to social media, to store design, should reinforce the strength of the brand message. It is equally necessary to get your sales team on board with a unified brand message. Research shows that brand recall is higher when highly consistent messages are used.
To continue Nike’s example, it has used top athletes to send across its brand message. The swoosh logo is the recognisable face of Nike as is the tagline “Just do it”. The theme of the brand is echoed in its ads, stores, sponsorships, etc.
INVEST IN YOUR BRAND
Brand communication needs to be seen as an investment and not just as a short term expense. It takes a seasoned marketing professional to view branding as a long term investment towards building a long term asset for the corporation: a strong brand.
ENGAGE YOUR CUSTOMER
Brand communication is no more about how you can reach your customers but also how your customers can reach you. Create feedback and communication channels. Handled rightly, social media feedback – even negative feedback – can contribute greatly to strengthening your brand.