Many people still confuse branding with marketing. They believe that their marketing is already part of their branding strategies. They fail to realise that these are two very different things that can help mould a company’s identity.
In a nutshell, branding is your business’ identity and character. On the other hand, marketing is building awareness for your brand. Before you can market your business, you must establish your brand. Your branding should be the very core of your marketing strategy. You need to understand who your brand is so you can effectively market it to the right people.
In this article, we’ll talk about the importance of branding and the different strategies you can use to stand out in Singapore. Plus, we’ll be discussing the different AI tools that are shaping the future of branding and how you can use these tools now.
What is Branding?
Image Credit: HubSpot
There’s more to branding than just identifying what your logo should look like and what colours to include in your banner. Your product is not your brand.
For example, water is a freely available resource to anyone to live and survive. But when companies decided to start selling it for commercial purposes, it became a product. Whether it’s placed in a plastic or glass bottle, however, it still isn’t a brand. These products are still the same water. The moment you put a name on it and convince people to purchase your product compared to a competitor, it becomes a brand.
The American Marketing Association has identified a brand as “a name, term, design, symbol, or any other feature that identifies one seller’s good or service as distinct from those of other sellers.”
Your brand is what people think about when they think of a specific product, service, or activity. In this sense, your brand is more than just the product you are selling but also embodies what your customers feel towards it. And these things can be triggered once someone takes a look at your logo, name, or even the colours that stand out.
Why Do You Need to Establish a Brand?
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If you are putting up a new business, the first thing you need to consider is putting up a brand to establish yourself. Here are some reasons why you need branding:
- Builds trust: 71% of people are likely to purchase from a brand they trust and they will recommend that to their friends and family members. Having a brand lets potential customers see you as honest, authentic, and trustworthy.
- Increases customer loyalty: Branding also helps increase loyalty among customers, especially if they have a good experience with you.
- Sets you apart from your competition: Branding allows you to present your unique brand attributes to potential customers. For example, there are plenty of SEO and digital marketing brands in the world, but MediaOne sets itself apart as a Singaporean brand that caters to local brands.
Now that you know the importance of branding, the next thing to talk about is how to implement a strategy.
Why You Need A Branding Strategy
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Think about a branding strategy as an actionable plan that provides a guide on how you will present your brand to customers. This is where you’ll need to establish your mission, vision, values, and unique value proposition to convince consumers.
A well-executed strategy can help make your company stand out, drive business growth, and build brand loyalty. Here are some important statistics on the importance of a branding strategy:
- 81% of consumers want brands to know them and know when to market to them
- 77% of people choose, recommend, and pay more for brands that give a personalised experience
- Brand consistency can increase revenue between 10-20%
These prove that having a solid branding strategy is key to achieving success for your business.
How Can AI Help Branding Strategies Become Successful
Artificial intelligence is taking the world by storm these days as it revolutionises the way we do things. In the digital marketing field, AI is spearheading change as practitioners start to adapt advanced algorithms that help predict trends, automate the content creation process, and analyse consumer behaviours.
As a result, marketers have access to personalised and timely branding messages, which allow them to improve the customer experience. So how can AI help practitioners in the branding field? Here are a few ways this is possible:
Creating a Personalised Branding Experience
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These days, consumers are making intelligent purchasing decisions. According to a study, 77% of consumers would go for a brand that provides them with a personalised experience. This means that when they interact with your business, they hope to get a customised experience, which caters to their needs.
But with thousands of people who could be your potential customers, how do you personalise the experience of each one? In the first place, how do you know what they are looking for? This is exactly where AI steps into the picture.
How AI Helps Improve Customer Personalisation
AI can help improve the customer personalisation experience by taking a look at hidden patterns and trends. AI is capable of understanding what your customer needs without asking for it. This data allows you to craft a custom message that resonates with your potential customer.
Here’s how personalisation can help boost your conversion rates:
- 78% of users say personalisation increases purchase intent
- 15% of businesses increase revenue after matching products to consumer behaviour
Understands Customers on a Deeper Level
AI makes use of customer analytics to deeply understand your audience, their demographics, preferences, and behaviours. As a result, it can provide a better insight into what your customers need.
The technology used for this include:
Predictive Analytics
This AI tech takes a look at historical data of customers and creates predictions on future outcomes, trends, and behaviours. With this information, you can personalise your customer experience, improve brand loyalty, and boost customer engagement.
A popular example of AI predictive analytics is Netflix’s algorithms and deep learning models, which suggest the next shows and movies you might find interest in.
Customer Segmentation
Your potential customers are different from one another, which means you cannot follow a one-size-fits-all marketing approach. Thanks to AI tools like Google BigQuery ML and Adobe Sensei, you can analyse customer data and segment it on certain characteristics.
One example here is Spotify’s ability to make personalised playlists and song recommendations through the use of clustering and collaborative filtering algorithms. Based on the data they collected, they can make segments based on their user’s genre preferences and listening habits.
Customer Sentiment Analysis
This AI tech helps understand the feelings of your customers. AI has access to real-time analytics, which gives businesses a chance to fine-tune their connection with customers as they quickly respond to feedback.
This technology is already evident through IBM Watson’s customer sentiment analysis. Brands, like Coca-Cola, have access to online commentary on social networking sites, which they use to monitor, record, and analyse consumer issues.
Improves Your Brand Storytelling
AI can tell your brand’s story in the form of AI-generated content complete with visuals or written formats. You can then use this content on your website copy, advertising campaigns, blog articles, social media posts, and many more.
This is done through the use of machine learning algorithms to analyse massive amounts of data to create content that mimics how a human would write or create art. The output can be modified to fit a specific tone of voice and style.
When using AI-generated content for your branding strategies, get to know the ethical considerations that come with it:
- Transparency: Brands need to disclose when they are using AI-generated content
- Bias: AI only uses data that it was trained on, so see to it that the tool you use is representative of all groups
- Accountability: Brands need to take responsibility if there are any negative implications from the AI-generated content they use
- Ownership: Brands need to make sure that the AI they use was not trained with copyrighted material
Although AI tools can generate results at a faster pace than humans do, it’s best that you include someone to review and approve content. This can help give guidance to the AI you used to improve its processes in the future.
How to Use AI for Your Branding Strategies
If you’re all geared up and ready to use AI in your branding strategy, here’s a short guide on how you can start. We’ve also included a few suggestions for the appropriate AI tools to use in every stage of your strategy.
1. Define Your Goals
Before you start with your strategy, you need to establish what your goals are. Typically, this includes knowing your brand’s core values and identifying your unique selling propositions. But it’s also good to know what your brand’s weaknesses are so you can make necessary adjustments to your strategy.
Recommended Tools:
- Google Analytics
- Crimson Hexagon
- Brandwatch
2. Know Your Target Audience
Creating a customer persona is a must for anyone working on a branding strategy. This allows you to fine-tune your messaging to the right audience that you will be targeting with your marketing strategy.
Recommended Tools:
- Clearbit
- HubSpot
3. Decide on the Aesthetics for Your Brand
This is where the fun starts to happen. Choose the right colours, logos, and themes that resonate with your brand. It’s also a good idea to read up on colour psychology and how it can affect consumers’ buying decisions.
Recommended Tools:
- Looka
- Colormind
4. Create a Content Strategy
Your brand strategy needs to gain traction among your target audience. The best way you can achieve this is by having a content strategy so you can build awareness for your brand.
Recommended Tools:
- BuzzSumo
- Hootsuite Insights
5. Monitor Performance and Make Changes
It’s also important that you continually monitor your strategy’s performance and make changes as needed. This will allow you to target the right people who are looking for your product and services at the right time.
Recommended Tools:
- Mention
- Sprout Social
6. Personalise Customer Experience
Earlier, we talked about the importance of personalisation in your branding strategy. You can implement this by sending out newsletters and promotions to your customer list, based on the historical data that you have.
Recommended Tools:
- Optimizely
- Dynamic Yield
7. Evaluate Brand Health
It’s also important that you evaluate your brand’s health to make necessary changes. Before AI, people would do this manually by conducting surveys and gathering feedback. But now that AI is available, you can get a comprehensive report in real-time.
Recommended Tools:
- Brand24
- YouScan
Again, these are recommended AI tools that you can use in your branding strategies. It would be better if you explored your options so you might discover more tools that would work for your business.
Examples of Brands that Used AI in Their Branding Strategies
There are only a handful of companies that were able to successfully integrate AI tools with their branding strategies. These brands include:
Coca-Cola
Image Credit: TheBrandHopper
Coca-Cola’s “Share a Coke” campaign made use of AI to analyse consumer data. They gathered this data to personalise their bottles with the popular names in the local markets they serve.
As a result, the brand was able to forge a personal connection with its customers. It also allowed them to enhance their brand identity after these customers shared their experiences online.
Amazon
Image Credit: Amazon
One of the things that made the eCommerce giant successful is that it uses AI tools to analyse customer browsing and purchase history. As a result, it can offer personalised product suggestions, which have helped boost its customer’s shopping experience.
Singapore Airlines
Image Credit: SingaporeAir
In the local market, Singapore Airlines has been at the forefront of its use of AI tools in customer service. With this, they are able to assist travellers with their bookings and inquiries using chatbots.
Which AI Tools Will You Use in Your Branding Strategies?
As more AI tools continue to be developed, the options become endless. There is always a tool ready for you to use and make your job a lot easier.
In the branding and marketing field, these tools are revolutionising the way professionals work. But as you get to know more of these tools, you can easily discover which ones suit your needs to run successful branding strategies.
If you need to work with a professional with your branding, you can give us a call today to speak to an expert.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the four types of branding strategies?
The four types of branding strategies are corporate branding, personal branding, product branding, and service branding. Corporate branding focuses on the entire organization, personal branding revolves around individuals, product branding distinguishes products from competitors, and service branding emphasizes the quality of a service provided.
How do you determine brand strategy?
Determining a brand strategy involves analyzing your target audience, defining your brand’s mission and values, assessing competitors, and aligning your messaging and visuals to communicate a cohesive identity. Understanding market trends and consumer needs plays a vital role in shaping an effective strategy.
What should a brand strategy do?
A brand strategy should differentiate the brand from competitors, communicate the brand’s value proposition, and build an emotional connection with the target audience. It should also foster loyalty and guide marketing efforts across various channels.
What are the essentials of brand strategy?
The essentials of brand strategy include a clear understanding of the brand’s purpose, a defined target audience, consistent brand messaging, and a visual identity that reflects the brand’s values. Consistency across all touchpoints, both online and offline, is critical to building a strong brand.
