No business can downplay the success of modern iconic brands—Apple, Netflix, Google, Amazon, Coca-Cola, etc. These brands and many others have successfully engraved a strong identity into our consciousness.
Consequently, it doesn’t take much for someone to identify these brands today. For example, Netflix’s “Ta-dum” sound is all it takes to know who’s on your screen. Apple’s simple “bitten apple” logo, on the other hand, is simply memorable to the extent that it is said to be familiar to 100 percent of millennials worldwide. These brands consequently enjoy brand loyalists who go to the extent of buying the brand, not the product.
What Makes These Brands So Memorable?
Now, building a memorable brand is not a mere lucky break affair. Through years of consistency, quality services, and emotional connection with their users, iconic brands have managed to etch themselves into our minds. Here is an 8-step guide you can use to make your brand iconic.
1. Competitive Analysis
Analyze your competitors’ playbook. Find out any approaches that have led to their success or failure in making their brands memorable. By doing this, you can improve on their strategies and outplay them. For example, look at their dull Instagram account and make yours colorful and active. Generally, look at the quality of service they offer and improve on that.
Evaluate their strengths and weaknesses and find a way to steal their thunder by tweaking their strategies to make your brand memorable. In some predatory scenarios, businesses buy out their competitors to enjoy a monopoly.
2. Niche Targeting
What is your target market? Even more specifically, who is your core audience? Who are you seeking to make a long-lasting impression on? Ensure you are familiar with the needs of these people and what you want to solve for them. This makes it easier to develop strategies that will make your brand more memorable to them.
Most importantly, it is easier to enjoy a monopoly or more publicity when focusing on a niche rather than the mass market. For example, Zamboni is an ice resurfacing brand that embraced niche targeting, and today, just like their slogan, nothing is even close.
3. Brand Identity
If you study iconic brands, there’s the element of a strong, unique brand identity. Nike’s “swoosh” logo is an easy example of how brand identity can make your brand memorable.
Just by looking at the swoosh logo, a pair of Nikes are easy to pick from the store even though they are not conspicuously branded with the name Nike. Spotting a McDonald’s store is equally very simple, thanks to the iconic M logo.
Apart from the logo and slogan, other factors, like color, packaging, and typography, are very important in creating a unique brand identity for a memorable brand.
If you’re looking for professional work, engage a brand identity specialist. You can find them on social media, through referrals, or by using Leadar to find their contact details to reach them directly.
4. Come Up With a Name
It goes without saying that to be a household name you must have a befitting and unique name. For perspective, consider the modern iconic brands. For example, there’s only one Toyota. A unique name will captivate its consumers.
You can use your real name, acronyms, abbreviations, exotic terms, or even a mixture of names. However, remember to use non-offensive, simple, and relatable names.
5. Foundational Elements
What does your brand stand for? Outline your core values, mission, and vision. These elements provide purpose, direction, and cause. These elements should resonate with your target audience for your brand to be memorable.
In modern times, brands are highly under pressure to use their power to take a stance on social and political issues. Consequently, brands have gotten involved and supported movements like Black Lives Matter and cause such as climate change awareness and sustainability.
While brand activism can be tricky and controversial, it is important to be pragmatic and ensure it is consistent with your foundational elements.
6. Brand Equity and Positioning
What is your brand’s value to the consumers? Why should they opt for your goods over your competitor’s? Develop a unique selling proposition elaborating how you solve your customer’s needs using your product or service.
Leverage product differentiation by introducing unique features and benefits to your product or service to make them more appealing to customers. This can include low prices, quality, and great customer service.
7. Create a Story
Ian Rowden once said that the best brands are built on good stories. Storytelling has been a huge hit for brands who have figured out how to make the most out of it.
Storytelling is a marketing strategy where brands use authentic narratives to evoke empathy and emotions and form a connection with their consumers. It should also be consistent with the brand’s values, mission, and commitment.
You could use your brand’s history, for example, the founders’ challenges and how they solved them. Finally, the takeaway of the story should be something that will resonate with the audience. For example, Burt’s Bees’ story of a rural beekeeper is soul-stirring and influential.
8. Consistency
All of the above elements must be consistent to enjoy success. Message reinforcement throughout social media, broadcast, and written media evokes trust and helps consumers to recall the products and services easily. For example, most iconic brands have stuck with their core values, slogans, logos, tone, and names.
Conclusion
Top businesses are reaping big from their easily memorable brands. They enjoy cultic customer loyalty and an overflow of sales for their products and services. The above 8-step guide can help you develop an equally competitive brand that connects with customers.
But making your brand memorable takes time, strategic planning, and consistency. While building a memorable brand name, remember to take a customer-centric approach by providing quality products and services and offering great customer service.
As a side note, having a memorable brand can ironically be a bit of a curse in the case of genericide. This is a phenomenon where a brand loses its identity due to the widespread use of the brand name to refer to a product. For example, Aspirin was made by Bayer AG but fell to its success after users started referring to other painkillers as Aspirin.