Your brand design might not be the first thing you consider when you’re launching a new social media campaign, but it matters a lot. Why? Because your branding is what sets your company apart from all your competition. It needs to inform every part of your marketing efforts – including your digital marketing and social media.

What is a brand?

Branding is more than slapping a logo on some products. It involves creating a relationship between your company and your customers. It’s the gut feeling a consumer gets when they click on your banner ad or like your social media post. If you get your brand design right, you can create a loyal customer base who constantly interacts and talks about your brand online.

Take a look at Gymshark, for example. The company has a strong social media presence, powered largely by influencer marketing and aspiring fitness influencers talking about it online. It was founded in 2012 out of a teenager’s garage and has grown to a brand that boasts over 5 million social media followers. A lot of that success is down to branding.

Emotion in brand design

Gymshark highlights two key components of good branding: emotion and community-building. People now aspire to wear Gymshark clothing and to become a Gymshark brand ambassador. Take a look at its website and social media channels and you can see the kind of brand it portrays. It uses aspirational imagery of fitness influencers to sell a lifestyle – not just a clothing line. Any good brand will make its customers feel something.

Community builds brands

A community is a big part of your brand design as well. Unite people with one goal, under the umbrella of your brand, and you’ll create loyal customers for life. One drinks achieves this well. It has created a brand based on giving back to others. For every drink purchased, some of the sale goes towards water projects for areas in need. Its brand purpose is set out clearly on its website and social media. The communities that it supports are placed front and centre. The results from its charity efforts are displayed proudly across its Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook channels. By buying a One drink, customers become part of a movement to provide water to people in need.

You need to know your audience

For great brand design, you need to start with your audience. Identify your ideal customer and what makes them tick. What stuff do they enjoy doing and what do they desire? From there, you can begin to design a brand that resonates with them.

Think about what makes your business unique and what you’re trying to achieve. Then consider the best way to communicate this with your target audience. Would they respond best to email marketing, or on Twitter?

Brand your entire customer journey

The next step is to ensure every step of the customer journey speaks about your brand. Again, your brand is more than just a colour scheme or logo. It’s your customer service, every post about your business online, your reviews, your website, and much more. If you have an offline presence, it involves that as well. Map out every stage where a potential customer will interact with your brand. Make sure all of those steps communicate your brand identity.

You need a unified digital presence

Your banner ads, email newsletters and Instagram posts need to be recognisable. People need to see your marketing and know instantly that it’s come from your company – even if your name and logo aren’t displayed. The McDonalds arches is more recognisable than the Christian cross. People see the arches and instantly think McDonalds and everything that brand encompasses.

Your digital marketing needs to be great

It also means that your digital presence needs to be in top shape. You must offer a good customer experience across all your channels. Your website needs to be fast, your social media posting must be regular, you need to be quick to respond to online complaints and feedback. If any aspect of your online presence isn’t up to scratch, it’ll negatively impact your brand.

Brand design is a must-have

A brand can make a small business a global corporation. Every business wants to be recognisable to its customers – a brand will achieve this. Now, with every customer online, it’s more important than ever to have a unified digital presence. You can only do this with a clear brand design. Branding will tie all the different streams of your digital marketing together. It’ll make your website, your social media, your emails, and your digital ads all noticeably ‘yours’. Don’t try to do digital marketing without brand design. It won’t succeed in the long term.

Keeping your social media up-to-date and planning good digital marketing campaigns is crucial to building a strong brand. If you need help with managing your online presence, then let us know.