There’s a reason they regard entrepreneurship as a rather daring and challenging choice. There’s not one but several diversions at every other step to confuse an individual. And we know, only the right decisions could lead us to the success-road.
Branding strategies are also amongst the many questionnaires that an entrepreneur deals with. In actuality, we would say it is one of the most essential and fundamental questions for every business. Why so and how so, let’s explore it in depth ourselves.
What is Branding?
Contextually, branding refers to the marketing practice using which the company makes itself distinguishable. It is an advertising technique that helps boost your brand via names, symbols, designs, and strategies.
In branding, a company will promote its name, services, and products to increase the audience. It strives to reach a wider audience and increase revenue.
Often companies who value the role of branding in growth and prosperity find success much more easily and quickly. Meanwhile, brands that prioritize product creation and efforts over branding might find themselves in much loss and hardship.
Remember, business is a critical field that includes investments. And, not all can survive the path without branding. So, without further ado, let’s evaluate the types!
Types of Branding
As mentioned earlier, there are several diversities in branding itself, or we can say, sub-branches of branding. Amongst these, the following seven are the most prominently known types:
1. Personal Branding
Personal branding refers to a branding strategy that emphasizes increasing the social influence of an individual. It might be for work purposes, developing a character, building a personality, or as a supporting asset for career or business growth.
Since it aims to promote a single person, unique attributes, skills, and experience form the building blocks of personal branding. Usually, celebrities, thought leaders, motivational speakers, athletes, etc. It assists them in standing out from the rest. And it does so by showcasing their respective passion and strengths, grabbing the attention of potential clients and collaborators. And eventually, contributing to growth.
A famous example of personal branding is Richard Branson, he established many companies by his personal branding.
2. Service Branding
If your company has a diversity of unique services to offer to the clients, then the service branding might be the idealistic option. This particular type promotes your company’s high-end services that are value-for-money.
One example of service branding includes Chick-Fil-A that advertises its outstanding customer service in all campaigns.
3. Product Branding
Perhaps, it’d be quite right to say: product branding has been around since the birth of the terms branding and marketing. In this strategy, a product, i.e., a virtual or physical object for sale, is given a particular identity that promotes its sales.
Coca-Cola is an excellent example of product branding. This beverage is globally known for its red label, specific logo, and color. If you name it in places where the company supplies the beverage, anyone could tell what you are talking about. And this massive recognition represents successful product branding. Note that the branding should positively promote the product to generate sales.
4. Corporate Branding
As the name says for itself, corporate branding is the fundamental strategy of corporations and firms. These companies revolve their strategies around brand reputation. They would do everything to maintain an elevated and flawless reputation in the market.
Consequently, the brand reputation affects the product quality, target audience reach, and even pricing. If a corporate build a good reputation, the trends of every single aspect will rise without it getting considered unjust.
A great example of this is badge engineering. It is a practice in which two identical cars get produced but have different names and badges. The Aston Martin Cygnet and Toyota Scion IQ are a result of badge engineering.
Both cars have identical functionality, structure, and features. However, Cygnet has a price of over £35,000. Meanwhile, the Scion comes at only £10,000.
The reason behind this is simple. Aston Martin is a luxury and much more reputable brand than Toyota that holds a reputation for being affordable.
5. Retail Branding
Over time, retail branding has evolved substantially. Initially, it referred to the company outlets or retail stores that offered a company’s entire product range. The entire look of the shop and its publicity in the surrounding region gain attention. Thus, earning a positive reputation. For example, we can consider the example of Apple Stores. They exist, and you’d know the perfection they offer! With time, retail branding also got termed as a store launching its line of goods.
For example, if a supermarket that offers biscuits from all companies introduces its biscuits, we can count that as retail branding.
Generally, retail branding is not exactly a strategy to generate sales but to promote a brand or a product. In either case, it exhibits the business personality or the feel or class of your product. Thus, inviting the relevant audience to visit the store and make a purchase.
6. Cultural Branding
It may sound unbelievable at first, but you can even use the cultural influence to boost your company. This particular type of branding that utilizes the connection with a specific culture to grow its business gets called cultural branding.
For example, some companies proudly announce their origin to be in New York. As a fast-paced yet advanced place, the link attracts customers seeking up to date or trendy products.
Similarly, a brand can advertise the positive practice of its origin to promote. For example, the Gieves and Hawkes advertised its presence in the Savile Row to increase revenue in mainland China. (Savile Row is a street where the richest of British shop. Thus, reflecting the premium quality and fineness of products.)
7. Brandless Branding
Brandless does not refer to no branding. Instead, it is an innovative advertising technique that overflows in minimalism. After seeing Apple’s minimalistic design success, several companies have gained inspiration to incorporate minimalism in every aspect of their business.
These companies keep themselves in the shadow while letting their products speak for themselves. The packaging, website layout, logos, and every aspect holds a modishly minimalistic approach.
Hence, reflecting the importance of honesty and simplicity for the company. As a result, it gains the reliance of consumers looking forward to a transparent purchasing experience.
One great example of brandless branding is the M/F Company that keeps everything neutral and plain. The minimalistic website and fast internet connections make shopping quite convenient. The company’s minimal strategies give the customer space to think open-mindedly and make a wiser purchase.
Choosing the Right Type
Now, all the top seven types of branding. But how do you choose one? How will you determine which of these will best serve your needs?
Well, to get to it, you need to figure a few answers regarding the mission and vision of your business, brand, or product. Firstly, you must figure which industry do you most rightly belong to? You can determine that by conducting a competitive analysis with the competitors. So, you have a clear idea of your position in the marketplace. Plus, you ought to determine who your target audience is. You will also need to sort objectives, i.e., specific goals for your brand. These can range from enormous goals, such as generating a thousand sales, and minimalistic goals, such as getting a certain number of reviews on the website within the first month of launch.
Guest article by Shawn Mack
Shawn Mack is a content writer who offers ghostwriting, copywriting, and blogging services. His educational background in the business and technical field has given him a broad base from which to approach many topics. He is also fond of writing engaging articles on technology & digital marketing-related topics.