The importance of branding in an online world
Branding has been going on since companies exist. Branding simply means: creating a strong brand. You used to put a large billboard along the public road and you put a nice, full-page advertisement in the newspaper. TV and radio commercials were added later. But since a few decades, we have been living in an online world, in which classic forms of branding are unquestionably losing their power. Yet branding remains invaluable, especially in an online world.
A strong brand?
Branding is different from simply advertising. With branding, and certainly with corporate branding, it is not about selling your latest promotion or your most beautiful product, but about putting your brand into its power. That power can be anything: the lowest price guarantee, a quality stamp, or the real understanding of your customers. It is ultimately about giving consumers a sense of your brand and feel connected to it. That they know what your brand stands for and feel appreciation for it. But does such a connection still exist in an online world, where comparison sites are sprouting like mushrooms and the bulk of all web shops seem interchangeable?
Branding more important than ever
The answer may surprise you: in the current online market, branding appears to play an important role than ever before. This has various causes.
One of the main causes is the increase in competition in the online world. Whereas in the past you were only confronted with competitors in the same shopping area, you are now fighting the Amazons of this world. The importance of having a strong, distinctive brand has only increased as a result.
A second cause is the ease with which consumers can now do comparative commodity research themselves. Strolling fifteen stores in search of the lowest price used to cost you half a weekend. Nowadays it means fifteen minutes of surfing. It is therefore more difficult to build customer loyalty; if the neighbor turns out to be cheaper, your customer will find out much faster. It is therefore less obvious that your customers will ultimately become regular customers. Unless they recognize your brand and have developed a preference for it.
"Image says everything"
“Branding goes much further than one have your logo designed or have a website made ”, says Alex Green, creative director of Green Creatives. “It's about finding your corporate identity. Creating a brand experience that fits your company and your goals. you and your goals. For example, if you want to put your company back on the market, you also have to start from the sector in which you operate, "explains Green. “From that identity you then determine the branding, the image with which you give the right first impression. Because image, certainly today, says everything. "
Benefits of good branding
For those who approach it in the right way, good branding can also come from Priceless to be. Branding initially means a major marketing investment, but it ultimately pays itself back and forth.
Firstly, a strong brand ensures more customer satisfaction. After all, your products and services - if you do well - perfectly match what your brand promises. This helps branding enormously in building customer loyalty. With you a customer knows that he gets what he pays for. Ultimately, good branding ensures that customers prefer your brand, and therefore convenience. Customers no longer go looking for alternatives forever, because they know they have come to the right place. You take away the stress of choice that the online world can bring to customers, and that is appreciated. They trust you and do blind business with you, which of course pays off in the form of more sales.
That is the importance of branding in an online world.
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