Branding is not a key to overnight success – although it is very true that brand awareness increases sales.
It just takes time.
Brand awareness helps to establish the trust of your customers. When they are familiar with your brand, it helps them to make an informed decision to buy from you as opposed to a competitor.
It’s easy to say ‘start to focus on building your brand today to benefit in the future’ but how exactly does branding help you drive sales?
How does branding make a difference?
Here are several ways that brand awareness increases sales.
Brand awareness is advertising
Once customers know who you are and what you stand for, and what you do, then they already know what they are buying.
Your brand represents your company (or, at least, the public perception of it) and everything that you stand for as a business (ethics, value, quality, morality, and so on).
Your brand advertises these qualities for you.
When they are familiar with your brand, and they like it, then customers have a level of trust already invested in buying from you instead of from someone else that they don’t know.
Brand awareness is word of mouth advertising
Word of mouth advertising is one of the strongest (and cost-effective) types of advertising.
When your brand is ‘out there’ then customers see others using your products and, taken to its logical conclusion, your brand can even enter the language.
People in bars and restaurants order ‘Coke’, whether the establishment sells Coke, Pepsi or a generic brand. Coke is now the name of all Coca-cola type products in the public mind.
Hoover also did this successfully with their range of vacuum cleaners. Smart advertising and a long history of product means that today, people hoover their floors, instead of vacuuming them.
The brand name has become a verb in the English language!
How this makes a difference to sales should be obvious – there is automatically a strong attachment to the brand for customers shopping for a new vacuum cleaner for their home – the name is familiar, trusted and reliable (in their mind, at least).
Regardless of product, branding gives you word of mouth advertising. Most people showing off their new watch to a friend will not say ‘I just bought a watch’ if it is a Rolex – they will say ‘I just bought a Rolex’.
Leverage word of mouth advertising by building your brand – and see your sales increase.
Customers think of you when they think of your product
Once your brand is known (and yes – that does take time) then when customers think about buying a product that you produce, they automatically think of you.
The most successful companies have built on their brand identity over the years and this is where branding comes into its own. If we say ‘luxury cars’ then a few different brands may come to mind – but repeat this with a large group of people and the same brand names will come up repeatedly.
Once your brand is associated – it sticks. Think of a budget supermarket and then think of an upmarket supermarket.
It doesn’t matter what you answered – the point is that you thought of them.
That is the power of branding, and that is how branding increases sales.
Customers think of your product when they think of you
Almost identical to the last point, this is the same action in reverse.
We’ve all seen a poster in the street advertising a drink, a particular burger chain, clothing or anything else and immediately thought ‘I’m thirsty…I’m hungry…etc’.
This is advertising.
If a customer thinks of your brand (through conversation, social media post, personal recommendation, reading a review) then they think of your product.
This is branding.
Having customers think about your product is hugely valuable – the more they have it on their mind, the increased chance of them making a purchase. And with an established brand, a reminder or a mention of that brand then brings the product to mind.
This is why companies spend thousands and even millions sponsoring events, sports teams, etc. You see the name, you buy the product.
Brands can become status symbols
This doesn’t happen to every business of course, but if you build your brand value high enough, then the brand itself can become a status symbol.
You don’t need to have been in business for decades or even longer. Brands that have – such as Rolex or Bentley, for example, have a brand value built on quality and heritage.
But many young businesses do the same and achieve status symbol branding much faster – by creating a fashion or a trend.
You do not have to think too long to come up with brand names that have exploded into the public view in a short space of time and are recognised almost in an instant either nationally or internationally.
This is also down to branding. And it drives their success.
Branding helps customer connection
There are many ways you can increase your brand awareness and increase your sales as a result.
Connect regularly with your customers, offer free apps, web content, e-books or reports (depending on what you do) to maintain and increase contact with them.
Use social media to be ever-present. This can be though games, competitions, storytelling about your brand and origins.
Engage with them and ask for feedback – make them feel involved. Set up a membership-only area on your website that offers exclusive content.
There are hundreds of ways to use social media to engage with your customers and increase your brand awareness – which will increase your sales.
For more ideas on customer engagement (particularly in light of the recent changes due to the Covid pandemic) – be sure to download our free report on this subject.
To get your copy of How to engage with your customers after Covid-19, absolutely free, simply click the button below:
There is an old Chinese proverb:
“The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second-best time is now.”
If you haven’t realised the power of creating a brand before – it’s never too late!
Get started today.
Splento has put together a brand audit package which will assess where you are at now and help you understand where you want to get to.
We will then map out a route for you to follow to help you get there.
For more information on this exciting service, take a look at our exclusive brand audit offer.
If you already have a successful brand image, but feel it could perhaps do with a little freshening up to help propel your business to the next level, then contact Splento today and find out how to take your own first steps to refresh.
Take a look at this page for some amazing examples of companies that have done just that.
For further assistance with this, or any other aspect of branding, contact Splento today.
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