The branding process consists of six stages that create and refine a company’s identity, ensuring it stands out from the competition and engages its target audience. It may take several weeks to months, but you will reap the benefits in many years to come.
What are the stages of the branding process? Our experts outline each step in this comprehensive guide.
Table of Contents
What Is Branding?
Business branding consists of various elements, such as a logo, tagline, color palette, tone of voice, and specific guidelines that marketers need to follow. It is determined by the effectiveness of its customer support, the quality of its products, and even its prices and will shape how consumers perceive your business.
The brand process creates a unique identity that resonates with a company’s consumers and target audience. It aims to strengthen and promote a business to ensure its long-term success. This process can also be applied to existing brands, in which case, it is called rebranding.
Branding Process Importance
The importance of branding and a systematic branding process cannot be overstated. They lead to the following benefits:
1. Develops Loyalty and Trust
“People don’t buy products; they buy brands.” This adage remains true, as the most effective branding strategies boil down to trust and loyalty. People buy from brands they know well, as shown in a survey stating that 87% of consumers are willing to pay more to buy from brands they trust.
When your branding elements are compelling and engaging, they elicit a positive response from your target audience and put you on the map in your niche. It helps you build recognition and connection among your target audience. Eventually, this will create trust, where customers are confident in the quality of your products and services.
2. Highlights the Value Proposition
Your company’s value proposition is a summation of your unique selling points and benefits that customers get when they buy from you or subscribe to your service. It’s what you want your company to be known for. For example, Amazon is known for having a vast selection of products, excellent customer support, and same-day delivery.
Establishing and communicating a compelling value proposition is crucial, with statistics showing that 76% of brands experienced immense growth over a decade.
There are many ways to showcase your company’s value proposition, such as creating unique and memorable logos, taglines, and demos.
3. Stand Out from the Competition
Aside from highlighting your company’s value proposition, the branding process determines what sets you apart from your competitors. For example, when it comes to airlines, effective branding campaigns have informed people that Ryanair provides low-cost flights while Emirates offers luxury options.
Each stage of the branding process will help you identify your market position, making it easier for potential customers to differentiate your company from the competition.
4. Attract and Retain the Right Employees
A successful branding strategy not only attracts customers but also helps you keep top talent in your company. When a company is transparent about what it stands for, it attracts skilled employees who share the same values. Moreover, these employees tend to stick around because their sense of purpose is fulfilled.
Branding Process Stages
Branding process steps consist of six distinct stages and each one is crucial to creating an engaging and coherent brand. However, some companies may need to pay extra attention to certain steps.
For example, a business specializing in design may spend most of its resources on establishing the visual aspects of its brand, including the logo and marketing materials. In contrast, a retail company that depends on sales may prioritize brand building to increase awareness and reach a broader audience.
1. Brand Research
The first step in the branding process is gathering and analyzing information about your company, industry, competitors, and target audience. This step of the branding process also entails internal interviews and discovery meetings to set company goals and market strategies. It is best to listen to varying perspectives and be open-minded about different ideas for where to take your brand.
If you are outsourcing your branding process, doing ample research beforehand can help you come up with an appropriate branding RFP so you can find the right service provider.
2. Brand Strategy
After gathering information, you can focus on determining your company’s mission, vision, and values. You must also identify what differentiates you from the competition; these are your brand differentiators.
Each differentiator should be true, with tangible proof, and relevant to your target audience. For example, the differentiators for the French brand Hermès are its exclusivity and craftsmanship. The lack of mass production for its products ensures that customers purchase one-of-a-kind items.
After you’ve identified your differentiators, write an honest and compelling positioning statement to highlight the benefits your business provides to your audience. Your positioning statement is very important because it will serve as a reference when creating other materials for branding development.
3. Brand Identity
Your brand identity is your chance to put a face, voice, and personality on the soul of your business. Essentially, it involves creating something tangible that represents your brand: your logo, name, tagline, color scheme, images, designs, tone of voice, and more.
It’s also your chance to establish a visual differentiation for your brand. To ensure these elements are consistent and remain aligned in the long term, you need to develop a brand book or guidelines that define your brand’s visual standards.
4. Brand Tools
In addition to your overall strategy, your brand tools will help put your business on the map. According to recent statistics, 98% of small businesses have websites, proving that it is now a basic requirement in the digital age. You can build one from scratch or revamp your current one to make it more visually modern and engaging.
Your website should reflect your brand positioning and convey appropriate messages to your target audience. It should also reflect your brand identity: include your logo and tagline and apply your brand’s color scheme.
Other branding tools are newsletters, industry conferences, research projects, videos, and blogs. Videos are particularly effective, as 86% of marketers say that video has helped them generate leads.
5. Brand Implementation
The success of brand implementation dictates the overall success of the branding strategy. This stage entails carefully planning the launch of your brand on various channels. Actions can vary from handing out business cards and launching a new website to releasing a series of new product videos. This phase can also happen instantly or be rolled out over several weeks or months.
Before introducing your new brand to the world with an external launch, you should ensure your employees understand its elements. During your internal launch, explain the rationale behind your branding strategy to avoid confusion and ensure everyone is on the same page.
6. Brand Building
The last step in the branding process is strengthening what you have built and improving its visibility in the market. Maintaining a long-term and effective brand building strategy requires sustained effort and consistency, regular interactions with customers, and continuous efforts to increase brand awareness.
Measure your strategy’s performance against your business goals and adjust your branding accordingly. Effective brand building promises long-term success and continued growth for your company.
How Long Does the Branding Process Take?
The timeline of completing a branding process depends on whether you’re building one from scratch or simply refreshing. It may take several weeks, while some companies need months to build and launch their new branding strategy.
For example, the research process can take a few days to a week, while creating the elements of your brand identity might take a month. Moreover, building a website can take about two to eight months, depending on its complexity.
Hiring a branding agency can help expedite the process, as these are expert professionals who will determine exactly what you need.
For your branding strategy to succeed, you should be prepared to nurture it and invest a lot of time and resources in its success. There is no rushing an effective and efficient branding process.
Branding Process Takeaways
The success of any branding or rebranding strategy depends on each stage of the process. The process we’ve laid out in this article is proven and tested; when mastered, you’ll get an immense return on investment.
If you want to reduce costs, expedite the process, and get a fresh perspective, you can hire a branding agency to help deliver your business needs.