This Branding Checklist for 2022 offers business owners a comprehensive way to make sure their branding efforts are up-to-speed.
The start of a new year is a great time to do this. Now that your 2021 numbers in place, you know if you did well or if sales were off. If sales were down, maybe it’s time to tweak or even rethink your brand, your story and your unique selling proposition.
Brand Name
- Is it easy to pronounce and remember? Does it sound current with the times?
Brand Equity
- Brand equity, by definition, is the real value of a brand name for an organization’s products or services. Establishing brand equity is essential because brands are known to be strong influencers of critical business outcomes. Does your brand convey value? How long has your brand been around? Does your brand work well with your URL?
Tagline
- Do you have two or three words, a catchphrase or a slogan that helps clarify your brand name? If you don’t have a tagline, you should create one. Sometimes, just refreshing your tagline will be enough to breathe new life into your brand.
Logo
- Is it modern? Are you using colors that bring out the desired emotion of your customer? By the way, there are many studies about the psychology of color. Yellow is the brightest color exuding excitement and happiness; blue conveys loyalty, dependability and trust. Click HERE to can read more about color and how people respond to different colors. Choosing the right color palette is important.
One Word
- What is the one word that describes the essence of your product or brand? It’s hard to distill everything you do into just one word, but doing this exercise with your staff can be a great team builder and give you great feedback.
Brand Emotion
- Does your brand reflect what you are known for, or would like to be known for? Great brands appeal to your customer’s emotional state, needs and aspirations. Aim for their hearts. Responding to an emotional need is key to building customer loyalty.
Unique Selling Proposition
- What makes you different – better – than your competition? Is it product, service, knowledge, years in business? Are you sharing this on your tagline, adding this to you signature?
Your Story
- Stories differentiate you from your competitors in today’s culture now more than ever. Think about how you can take your Unique Selling Proposition and turn it into your story. This is where you start to consider how you want to create your branded content. Your goal is to entertain and engage your audience, make them familiar with your brand, and keep them connected so they eventually become customers. Think about captivating your readers by engrossing them in a story that offers a clear sense of progress and contrast from the “before” state to the “after” state. This is where your feature your organization’s role in this transformation—after all, you are selling your organization’s ability to make a difference.
Visual Impact
- Remember the old saying “a picture is worth a thousand worlds”? In 2022, there is a huge emphasis on visual. Some websites feature impactful “hero” photos on their landing pages. We see space-saving icons to convey used to convey ideas more quickly than words and businesses continue to use photos to compel attention and interpret their message.
- Postcard marketing gives businesses the ability to convey their brand visually and inexpensively.
- In 2022, videos rule
Core Message
- Your story — your position — should weave throughout your messaging. What are the two or three words (or a brief concept) that you can continually use to bring your customer back to your Unique Selling Proposition /your story / the content you provide to create connections.
Positioning Alignment
- Is your positioning aligned with the personality — the persona — of your customer? A persona goes beyond demographic and behavior information. It gets to the intuition and core thinking of the fears, hopes, dreams, and values of an individual.
Omni-Channel Consistency
- Is your branding consistent over multiple marketing channels? 2022 is all about omni-channel marketing.
Inspire Trust
- Does your brand and stories inspire trust? In marketing, trust is everything. If they don’t trust you, they won’t buy from you. Think about it – every new customer represents a person whose trust has been earned. Every return customer represents a person whose trust continues to be held.
Thank you to marketing strategist Gary Hennerberg for some of the material in this post.