Why Is Branding Important For Your Website?

A strong brand will help your business stand out in a competitive market.  A branding strategy will enable a potential customer to see your logo or your tagline and immediately recognise not only your product or service but your business values.

Products or services may be broadly the same but the branding will be unique. A good example would be Pepsi and Coca-Cola. Despite the product being very similar, people tend to be loyal to either Pepsi or Coca-Cola.

A strong brand will attract customers, and make them loyal fans.  A strong brand will evoke an emotional response and make potential customers want to be associated with it.

This can be complex, but if you can tick off these six elements you have an excellent basis for building a website with a strong brand image.

• Name
• Logo
• Colour
• Slogan
• Image
• Graphics
• Typography

BUT the most important part is to be consistent. Don’t call your company “Popcorn” on one page, “Popcorn Design” on another, and “Popcorn Media” on yet another. Don’t use square bullets in one area, and circular bullets in another. Don’t resize your logo and make it look squishy, or change the colours.

Set up a branding document that tells every part of your team what the name, logo, colours, slogan, images, graphics and type font is for your brand. It is non-negotiable and is not to be fiddled with or adapted! The more consistent approach, the stronger the brand.

Position – are you aiming to be the CostCo or the Waitrose of your sector? What do you offer that your competitors don’t? What is your USP? This will be related to your price, your target customers, and your product/service.  It is great practice to document this in different ways such as a short paragraph summary, and a one-page explanation.

• Promise – what are you going to deliver, each and every time for your customer?
• Values – what is important to you, and your company? What do you want to be known for?

Your website needs to reflect your brand image and brand message. This is where you can start building trust and enforcing your brand.

If your colour theme is green (obviously would need to be more specific than that!), your values include being carbon neutral and having a fantastic recycling policy, and your ideal customer is a 50-year-old man, you would not want a website designed with a shocking pink banner across the top, a photo of a family eating takeaway in a park out of plastic tubs, and a flashing icon advertising a special partnership with a nail bar. Extreme we know, but you get the idea.

You want your potential customer to find your website and immediately recognise your message and ethos, as well as your image. You want your social accounts to continue with that visual message. You want your words on your website to be in a consistent tone of voice which matches your brand.

A branded website will improve credibility, improve user experience, and set you aside from competitors.