Creating a strong identity for your company is a vital part of reaching new customers and keeping the ones you already have. Branding shows the personality of your company and should be easy to recognize across all platforms.

The goal of branding is to establish this identity with consumers.

In a world where people are inundated on a daily basis with advertising, it can take anywhere from five to seven impressions before a consumer remembers your brand. Getting branding right from the very beginning makes a difference in the growth of your company.

Here are seven essential tips to help with your branding efforts

1. Know Your Target Audience

You’ve likely heard this before, but it bears repeating — you must know your target audience so you know how to brand to those people. If your audience is people who’ve recently lost a spouse, then your tone isn’t going to be fun and humorous. On the other hand, if your audience is mostly 20-somethings looking for activities, your tone won’t be somber and serious.

Of course, there are many more degrees of personality and emotion you can inject into your branding. You can learn about your audience through analytics, internal data and polling. You should also study general information on the generation you wish to reach.

Rue 21 is a clothing store that aims its branding at a younger crowd. Note the bright, fun colors and even typography that looks fun and celebratory.

Because many in Generation-Z are on a budget, it puts its discounts front and center.

2. Stay Consistent

Make sure you offer consistent branding across every platform where you advertise. Your website, social media presence and even brick-and-mortar store should all be recognizable as the same brand.

In fact, 90 percent of people expect experiences with a brand to be the same across all platforms.

The better you can make transitions among all platforms, the smoother the experience will appear to the user.

3. Show Your Work

Use images to highlight your product or service and show what your brand is capable of.

Creating the most beautiful logo in the world won’t do much for you if the consumer has no idea what it is you actually do. You must use images to define your company and what you can do for other businesses or consumers.

Note how Nolan Painting utilizes images to show how its work enhances a space. Anyone who visits the website will see these photos and relate the images to the work of the brand. Including images reflects your overall branding efforts and the quality of your work.

4. Interaction

It’s important that you interact with your customers. Don’t just create a tagline and logo and expect people to know what you stand for.

Instead, take the time to truly interact in a way that highlights who you are and what you do. This can include answering questions on social media or highlighting customer testimonials on your website.

5. Be Unique

While you do want to be consistent in your branding, you also need a unique voice that helps you stand out from the competition.

There are millions of businesses in the United States alone. In a global economy, you may also compete with businesses around the world at any given time. This means you need to figure out how to grab the attention of consumers.

Showing personality is a smart branding strategy.

Duluth Trading has taken the approach of using a dry, somewhat risqué sense of humor in its marketing. The brand makes clothes that are outdoorsy and solve some common clothing issues for those who are active, such as its no-tug tank. It has the same signage and fun atmosphere in its brick-and-mortar stores and through material it sends out.

6. Add Emotion

Do your customers connect with your brand on an emotional level? How can you take your overriding message and add an emotional element to it? If you sell caskets, then you’ll want to add in comforting messages that will help a person dealing with the pain of loss, for example.

If you are a party planner, then you want to evoke the emotion of joy and show you know how to have fun.

You can add emotions through images and messaging. You also can share uplifting stories from your customers or come right out and list the emotion you want the consumer to feel by stating something like “our parties create joyful memories.”

7. Speak the Language

Since the first tip in this list was knowing your target audience, you should already have a pretty good idea if you are targeting baby boomers or millennials. However, you also have to understand the ins and outs of the generation you’re targeting.

What is the language of that generation? What slang words might they relate best to?

Also, some people tend to be more formal than others. If you are reaching out to college professors, you might use different language than if you’re reaching out to blue-collar workers. Academia tends to appreciate complicated words, while some people just want the information given to them straight and to the point.

Make sure the language in your branding is appropriate for your audience.

More Tips for Branding

These seven tips are a great place to start with creating an overall branding plan. However, there are many finer elements that go into creating an image for your brand. Be aware of how your company is seen by consumers. You should pay attention to everything from customer service to company history.

While your website plays a big role in your branding efforts, everything that reflects on your company in any way has additional impact. If you place an ad in a local newspaper, make sure the ad matches your branding strategy. If you send out an email, does the signature line reflect your message?

Pay attention to the small details and your business’s brand image will become clearer and more recognized by consumers.

And if you need help, check out our Branding Services, here!