As a business owner, you might think that focusing on the quantitative stuff is more important—you need search engine optimization to get you up the ranks, a fully-functioning website that gets customers from shopping cart to check-out, pay-per-clicks, and AdWords to get your name out there, etc. The truth, however, is that the qualitative side is equally important—your brand could have the best specs in the market but could still be overlooked by more interesting brands.

This is why branding is so important; it makes you stand out from your competitors. Anybody can do SEO or have web design skills or use advertising techniques. But branding and building an image that reminds people of you? That’s something only you can do.

Here’s a more detailed look at why branding is so important:

It’s Familiar

Think about branding as differentiating between strangers and loved ones—customers naturally gravitate towards people and brands that they can trust and are familiar with. So, find a way to inject some personality into your brand whether it be through your business goals, marketing strategies, content, and more. This will make it easier for people to connect with your brand.

Also, remember to step up to the plate! If you want to have a professional image, for example, and yet your website is filled with lots of glitches and typos, then your “image” is just a scam.

It’s Memorable

Branding makes you memorable. It makes people remember you in an instant. In fact, being memorable starts with one of the most basic things about your brand—your name.

Imagine this scenario: Lucy was scrolling through Facebook and saw an ad for your catering business. The next day, Lucy’s mom tells her she needs to plan a birthday party for her dad and to find a good caterer.

If Lucy remembers the name of your catering business, she can easily pop it on Google’s search engines and find your website. Then, if she likes what she sees, she books you for the day and you get a new customer!

However, if Lucy doesn’t remember the name of your business, Google’s search engines will show her a bunch of different catering options, and you can pretty much consider that prospect lost.

The bottom line is that you need to think of ways to be memorable even in the early stages of your business. This will help develop an image and build a brand eventually.

It Makes You Feel a Certain Way

Branding makes people feel certain ways.

For example, colors may seem like a mundane thing, but they actually have a huge impact on your business! Certain colors invoke feelings in the customer and help them associate your business with joy, security, serenity, mischief, and more. Picking out the right colors for your business goes a long way to establishing the image you want. Yellow, for example, is the color of sunshine. Whenever people look at it, they tend to feel happiness, hope, playfulness, excitement, and more.

Customer service is also a part of branding. If you treat your customers poorly, they’re eventually going to start associating your brand with feelings of anger, disgust, or anxiety, even if you do everything else perfectly!

Accept your customers are people with feelings and emotions and behave accordingly.

It’s Consistent

The right branding on your webpage, social media profiles, and other types of content makes it easier to target your demographic. A common mistake a lot of marketers make is not having a brand and trying to include all types of people in their marketing agenda. This can backfire massively as then you’ll look really weird and wonky.

Take these sample logos for example. You’ve got the same name and tagline and yet they give off different vibes. What are your customers supposed to think of you if you’ve got two images and personalities? Do you do bouquets or centerpieces? Are these for women buying flowers for themselves or men buying flowers for their female loved ones?

Conclusion

In short, branding makes you unique and interesting. It’s a powerful tool that brings out positive or negative feelings about your business just by thinking about it. It takes your business to the next level, and the best part is that it doesn’t take much skill or experience at all—just winning personality!

Need a branding strategy for your Los Angeles or Orange County business? Drive Traffic Media is a digital marketing agency in Orange County that can help you out. Contact us at info@drivetrafficmedia.com or at (310)341-3939.