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Branding is important for all businesses in order to be recognized by a target market.

While branding does include your logo, it is also your overall graphic design, colors, name, slogan, and most importantly, it is the experience that you create between your prospects/customers and your company.

Branding covers the overall feel of doing business with you, and includes any images you use, the message you are trying to deliver via your website, proposals and all of your sales material.  It even is included in the way that your employees interact with your customers and the customer’s opinion of the company compared to how they feel about your competition.

So while the logo and slogan are one of the first items to catch your customer’s attention, branding is really all about your USP or Unique Selling Proposition.

What is it that makes dealing with you better than dealing with a competitor?

Your answer to this question is your USP.

All of your sales materials and the message that you want conveyed by your employees should reflect this USP and become part of your brand.  It is your take on the product or service that you provide and the direct reason that people should pay attention to you instead of someone else.

Branding, and coming up with your own USP, makes you really think about what your company offers that is really valuable.  You need to look at this from the perspective of your customer and understand what it is they are looking for so that you can reach out to them, engage them, and close the sale by showing them the value of doing business with you.  This will help to create your “brand equity,” which is the amount of money that customers are willing to pay just because it is your unique brand.

When you define your brand strategy and are consistent about using it in every interaction with your market, you are really strengthening your message and relationships.

One of the really great things about using social media and other online methods for your business is the opportunity you have to ask (poll) your customers about their impression of your business.

Is your strategy consistent with their impression of your business? If it isn’t, then you have a chance to identify the elements that need some tweaking.

If you are having some trouble in identifying your particular brand, you can try this exercise:

Write down the features and benefits of your product or service.

Remember that a feature is an attribute of the product or service – a color or option; a benefit is what that features does for the customer.

Okay, now that you have your list, you can decide which are the most important and then select which benefits have an emotional tie.

When looking at these benefits, ask yourself what one thing you would like your customers to think of when they think of you.  That is what your brand needs to represent.