Building A Brand Identity: A Guide For Ecommerce Businesses

Branding plays a crucial role in ecommerce, especially when it comes to customer purchasing habits. According to recent research, 59% of consumers are more willing to purchase or try out new products from a brand that they are familiar with. Furthermore, 21% of shoppers are more likely to support new products from a brand they already like.

But how do brands effectively build and create an identity for their online business? To give you a better idea, here’s an overview of the importance of branding, as well as some tips on how to create a brand for your business.

 

The Importance of Branding In Ecommerce

 

Before anything else, it is essential to understand what brand identity truly is and its importance to ecommerce businesses. 

Generally, branding is the image the public associates a particular band with – much like Nike’s swoosh or Just Do It slogan. Products that feature such branding are automatically tied to and related to the Nike brand and business. 

But more than being the image the general public automatically thinks about when hearing about a  brand, branding also involves the values, vision, and mission that you hold as a business and organization. Because of this, branding can also be a powerful tool used to connect with customers by aligning with the same values and leveraging emotional connections to encourage support. 

But what other ways can online businesses utilize their brand identity and image?

 

Building Trust and Credibility

One of the key objectives of brand building is that it can be used to establish a reputation of trustworthiness, reliability, and credibility with customers. When a business successfully builds such an image, it is easier for customers to support anything that is related or associated with the brand. It acts much like a seal of approval that the customers can rely on for future purchases and transactions.

 

Establishing Differences From Competition

The ecommerce market is highly competitive. Thus, it is highly likely for online businesses to be in competition with thousands of other online shops and stores within the same niche or industry. 

This is where branding can help identify and differentiate brands from one another. Effective branding coupled with marketing tactics can help online businesses establish themselves as unique from the competition and encourage support from customers. Branding can also be the differentiating factor that helps build loyal customer bases despite having competitors with closely similar products.

 

Creating Emotional Connections

Branding is not all about increasing online sales. So, another way online businesses can leverage branding is to build strong emotional connections with their target audience by sharing the brand’s values, vision, and mission as a business and organization.

This allows consumers to transcend their connection beyond the products but resonate more with the brand’s message. Such connection will not only encourage support but also create an opportunity for brands to connect with customers in a more humane manner, which is the building block for communities and loyal customer bases. 

 

Increasing Brand Value

Another advantage of building a brand identity for an online business is that it can be an extremely powerful tool used to increase the brand’s value based on consumer attitude and perception.

This is the same concept luxury brands are built on. The branding on their products is worth more than the actual product because the public perceives the brand as something of high-class. Generally, the greater the value the public has of a particular brand, the more willing they are to spend regardless of the actual quality of the product or service.

 

Tips For Building Ecommerce Brand Identity

 

Now that you have a better understanding of the importance of branding and brand identity for ecommerce businesses, let’s move on to the guide on how to build a brand from the ground up.

 

Creating A Brand Logo

One of the primary branding elements businesses need to develop when creating an identity is their brand logo. It serves as the defining feature and stands as the core brand identity for your business, products, and organization.

Considering this, it is essential to consider carefully when creating a brand logo. Some of the factors that you need to look into include the main visual component, the color scheme, and the typography used, if there are any. 

Ideally, the logo should reflect the brand’s personality. But first and foremost, the design should be recognizable and easily tied to your business. Furthermore, brand logos should be straightforward, memorable, versatile, and easily scalable. 

However, the most important part of creating a brand logo is that it should be consistent throughout its use. To do this, create a brand style manual that specifies rules and considerations when using the logo, starting from the colors, the theme, the visual elements, and the typography. The goal is to keep your brand identity consistent and uniform to help establish a cohesive brand identity.

 

Establishing A Brand Voice

Aside from the visual aspect of your brand identity, it is also important to come up with a suitable voice for your brand. The brand voice is the manner in which your brand communicates with its target audience. It should also be able to represent the brand’s values and beliefs through proper messaging, style, tone, and even language. 

However, developing a brand voice can be a lot harder than you think. One of the purposes of the brand voice is to communicate effectively. Therefore, brands need to be more careful in determining the right tone, style, and language they choose to deliver their message. 

To do this, it is essential to do some research on the qualities and characteristics of your target market. You should also look into other external factors, such as current trends and innovations, that can influence the most effective manner of communication. But much like the brand logo, it is critical for brands to have a consistent and uniform voice to establish credibility. 

 

Developing a Brand Marketing Strategy

Brand marketing strategies are focused on putting your brand identity into action in order to build a reputation, establish credibility, nurture connections, and increase market value. It is a powerful marketing tactic that can encourage customer loyalty and ensure profitability.

For your brand marketing strategy, it is essential to identify your target market or audience. While it is possible to have different audience segments, brands should adequately adjust their branding efforts based on their target audience while still staying true to their business’s values.

Once you’ve established a target audience, the next step is to come up with the marketing paraphernalia and assets you can use to reach your target. Run campaigns on multiple platforms and incorporate your brand identity in all efforts to put your brand name and image as out as possible. 

While running marketing campaigns, it is important to interact and engage with your audience to nurture the relationship. Doing this also allows you to show your brand’s personality and values that can resonate with potential customers. 

However, the most important part is to actively gauge your campaign’s performance and keep track of public perception and opinion. Then, adjust your brand marketing strategies depending on the feedback that you receive from your audience.

 

Bottomline

Establishing a brand identity for your online business can feel like a daunting task. However, successfully creating a name in the market can greatly benefit your business. In order to develop an effective brand marketing strategy, it is essential to identify your target audience and align your efforts depending on their characteristics. 

However, it is also important to stay true to your brand’s values and beliefs. Authenticity is a key element to building genuine relationships and connections with your target market. Then, you can work your way to building your reputation as a credible and reliable brand. 

 

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