Branding is central to the successful selling of any product. It is the key reason that products become more than just entities of practical necessity, or luxury must have items. Through brands products develop a story, a personality and they create that intangible personal link between an inanimate object and its owner. A strong brand gives your product a soul, a character and a backstory. Through the attributes that are created and then attached to your brand, consumers begin to judge for themselves as to whether or not your product fits into their lives and alongside their self image. Consumers will ask themselves, before making their purchasing decisions: “Does this product’s brand allow me to become my ideal-self and achieve the lifestyle that I aspire to?” You need to consider whether you can offer this. A fast way of cementing a brand image is through celebrity endorsements. Think about it, yes having a respectable household name attached to a product will give your brand more leverage and encourage consumers to trust it, but it will also help them build a mental picture of what your brand represents, based on the public image of the celeb. A brand lets your customers know what they can expect from you.
Creating a strong brand for your eCommerce business, is crucial to your site receiving more traffic and increasing its sales. When you create it, think about who you are as a business, what it is that distinguishes you in terms of personality from others in the industry and also consider how you want others to perceive you. Come up with an answer to these questions and start to piece together the attributes that make up this public image that you want to project. Styles of writing, imagery, colour schemes and layout should all combine to exude the personality that you want your customers to detect from your brand.
Often in the case of small eCommerce businesses, there is a close link between the brand and the owner’s personality. Consider who you are as a person, what defines your individuality and then think is there a particular product or line of products that I could sell that is most emblematic of me as an individual. No one is more unique than you and if you really bootle your individuality and sell it in product form, you will no doubt set your self apart from other competitors in the industry of your choice.
Take for example an commerce site called BeardBrand, which sells products like oils and combs for beards. It appeals to the 20-40 year old urban hipster, sucked into the beard craze and dedicated to meterosexual self grooming. Its founder is a man who is every bit as stylish and beard obsessed as his cliental. He began by writing articles and making videos about his experiences as a bearded gent and soon attracted similar individuals, struggling to find suitable products to help them grow their beards. A site soon followed where kitsch and funky products were sold. Some reports say that Beardbrand may have more than $450,000 in monthly sales, and the company’s brand and the owners personal brand, if you will, are almost identical.
It is important that you know and understand who you are selling to and that you make sure that your brand directly appeals to these individuals. If you know fully who your customers are and can piece together a profile of their likes, dislikes, spending habits and general demographics, you can begin to understand what sort of products appeal to them and why more importantly what sort of brand resonates with their tastes. Remember aspiration is so important. What do your customers want to be like and how does your brand reflect that desired persona?
Consider very carefully what characteristics you want to spring to mind as soon as consumers think of your brand. Remember that you want to make a positive and effective first impression.
To round off the brand making process, put together your business’s story, your customers’ characteristics and an understanding of how you want to be thought of in the market place. Then with the use of the right imagery, wording and style, you should have a clear brand that will set you apart form your competitors, resonate with your consumers and yield high numbers of sales.
