IYKYK: The Secrets to Brand Building

For modern brands, building a unique image is key to attracting consumer attention, recruiting customers, and growing a successful business. In today's advertising-saturated world, companies must work harder than ever to cultivate a brand identity that stands out from the competition.

The good news is impactful brand building isn't rocket science, nor is it magic. Following a few tried-and-true methods, you can create a cohesive, memorable brand image that resonates with your target audience and helps you reach your goals. 

#1. Know Your Brand

Building a brand means creating and maintaining a recognizable brand image or identity. It makes sense that one of the most powerful secrets of branding success is knowing exactly what that identity is.

Think of brand identity as your brand's personality. It's the image you project to your target audience. It includes the products or services you offer, the customer experiences you curate, and the range of branding elements that set you apart from the other brands in your niche. These include:

• Visual Branding: The components that visually represent your brand to consumers include everything from your logo, wordmark, and typography to the colors, images, and other graphics you use in your branded content. For modern companies, it also includes factors like website and mobile app design. Your brand's first impression will be visual more than half the time.
• Communication Style: How does your brand communicate with consumers? Consider the tone or style characterizing your promotional material and customer interactions, the specific language used, and the sentiments these elements convey. It also includes how your brand is represented in digital spaces, such as social media and your website. 
• Brand Ethos: Your brand's guiding values and mission are huge aspects of your identity. Is your focus on manufacturing the highest quality products, or is convenience and broader accessibility more important? Is your company as committed to social causes and ethical operations as it is to turning a profit? These all factor into your brand ethos. 

These elements inform your overall brand identity, so cohesion is paramount. For example, your logo design should match your communication style. If your brand voice is down-to-earth and relatable, your logo should reflect that. 

You can also use promotional branded merchandise with your company's branding to reiterate your company's visual signifiers to consumers. When every aspect of your brand identity sends the same message, you stand a better chance of presenting the exact image you want to your audience.

#2. Know Your Customer

Successful brand building begins with pinpointing a specific consumer segment and constructing a brand that caters to their lifestyle, preferences, and pain points. When your customers learn they can rely on you to meet their needs in a way that aligns with how they live, it's easier to turn them into returning customers.

The first step in identifying your audience is to consider demographics. Analyzing consumer characteristics like age, gender, location, profession, educational background, religious views, and purchasing behaviors enables you to determine your ideal customer. Follow these tips to glean a more complete understanding of who you are selling to: 

• Conduct market research: Leverage all the available tools to gain insight into your target consumer. Popular methods include conducting surveys, hosting focus groups, creating buyer personas, and using automation and AI to analyze online behaviors. 
• Scope out the competition: Your biggest brand competitors are a great place to find your target consumers. Don't be afraid to crib from the competition to determine the marketing techniques most effective with your audience.
• Analyze your efforts: Analyze your marketing campaigns to judge how they perform. Lean into successful strategies. Don't hesitate to adjust or abandon ones that fail.

#3. Focus On the Customer Experience

The customer experiences you foster should be integral to your brand strategy. It only takes one bad experience online or in-store to lose a customer forever, and they won't be tight-lipped about it. Around 67% of consumers admit to sharing their customer service horror stories with others. 

Creating impactful, immersive customer experiences can lead to: 

• Increased customer loyalty
• Positive brand perception
• Stronger connections with your customers
• Boosted revenue

Ensuring your customer experiences are positive begins with knowing your target audience. Harnessing customer data to better understand their expectations and how to meet them can help you create messaging that's more personalized, value-based, and driven by quality. 

The rise of "If You Know You Know" brands are transforming how value is communicated to consumers. IYKYK brands are moving away from traditional marketing tactics to reach contemporary audiences who prefer personal recommendations from authentic voices over flashy ads and paid-for celebrity endorsements. These audiences gravitate toward the brands, products, and services they hear about from their friends, families, and online influencers they trust. Reaching them means delivering experiences that feel genuine.

#4. Strive for Consistency 

From your brand identity to your customer experiences and messaging, deliver a consistent brand story wherever you interact with your customers. Brand consistency helps you build a distinct identity, establishes your brand as trustworthy and credible, and helps foster customer loyalty. It can also improve your marketing performance and help your company grow by as much as 33%.

Here are a few tips for managing brand consistency: 

• Use a brand style guide: A style guide details all of the visual elements that represent your brand, from the fonts you use on your logo and marketing materials to your brand colors and voice. It helps ensure everyone in your company communicates the same message.
• Implement across channels: Be consistent across every channel you use, from your physical store to your website, social media accounts, and anywhere else your customers encounter your brand.
• Perform consistency checks: Regularly assess the various aspects of your business, especially your marketing materials and customer experiences, to ensure you consistently apply your guidelines. 

#5. Tell Your Story 

Brand storytelling refers to the narrative strategies used to forge connections with consumers. Storytelling goes beyond traditional marketing techniques to emotionally engage audiences and communicate your brand's values. It's more than the business bio on your website — it's about showing customers what your brand stands for and the unique benefits you offer. Purpose-driven branding helps you attract new consumers, retain current customers, and build a cohesive brand. 

Build Your Brand With Boundless

Let Boundless help you realize your brand's full potential. Our team connects you with the tools, techniques, and expertise to help you stand out, from crafting effective product marketing campaigns to delivering brand love moments with products that keep your name at the front of your customers' minds. Get in touch today and take your brand to the next level.