Making your brand more memorable

When setting out to create a company your brand identity can say a lot. Your brand is what the customer perceives as your persona. What your company represents, its core values and beliefs. A brand is your chance to connect with your customer on a personal level and leave a lasting impression.

When looking into branding or re-branding your business you must ask yourself what is a brand? The Intellectual Property Office (IPO) states that “A brand can be a trade name, a sign, symbol, slogan or anything that is used to identify and distinguish a specific product, service or business.” So essentially a brand is what you perceive of that company. The IPO go on to say that a brand can also be “a promise of an experience”. The “experience” it is referring to is the customer experience, the feeling a customer gets when purchasing your brand this can often be an emotive response.

How to stand out

So now that we have determined what a brand is, what will help you make yours stand out? Every company has some form of branding and with competition on the rise in most business areas, getting yours to stand out from the rest can be a challenge to say the least. Here are some ideas to make your brand the most memorable.

Know your USP – Understand your unique selling point, what makes you different to any other company out there? Maybe it’s a product only you have or a service only you offer. This is your chance to define your individuality in the customer’s eye.

Mission statement – Why have you started your company? What do you hope to achieve? These are questions that should be answered in your mission statement. Your mission statement is where you talk about the factors that you consider to be important within your business such as quality design/ service, a new customer experience etc.

Target your market – When you have a key demographic in mind for your business the next challenge is to relate to your market. Your branding should be centered on what is relevant to your consumer. For example Innocent smoothies focus on how there smoothies are 100% natural appealing to the health conscious.

Distinct design – Your packaging and logo count for a lot be sure to make them stand out. Having an eye catching design can help you stand out on the shelf and visually appeal to your demographic. By being distinct in your logo you will become more memorable and not easily forgotten. Other companies that have adopted this strategy include McDonalds, Apple and Google.

Testimonials – A great way to market your business is to get your customers to do it for you. By getting a customer to shout about your business for you, you’re more likely to receive new business. The testimonial is great way for others to “try before they buy” and it also helps to take the risk out of purchasing something for the first time.