In this digital era, how can you nail your branding strategy to stand out amongst your competitors?
The internet and internet-based technologies are altering how businesses establish and maintain brands. Branding in the digital era, also known as Digital Branding, is a brand communication strategy that uses the internet and digital marketing to improve a brand's qualities, create its presence, and promote itself.
With the increasing prevalence of digital marketing and social media, it has become much easier for customers to alter their perceptions on brands. These perceptions can be altered both positively and negatively, based on what consumers see on the internet. As such, there can't be any discrepancy when it comes to branding, and brands should strive to be consistent across all channels. Having consistent and strong digital branding will boost brand legitimacy and attractiveness, and ultimately customer loyalty.
📌 Why Is Branding Growing Increasingly Important?
Due to various trends underpinning Asia’s booming digital economy, having strong branding in the digital age is as crucial as ever. Having a strong digital branding strategy will allow companies to increase their impact, interaction, and customer awareness of their products and services.
Several relevant trends are as follows:
1️⃣ Consumers are spending an increasing amount of time on their mobile devices
There were 4.66 billion active internet users globally as of 2021, accounting for 59.5% of the global population. 92.6% (4.32 billion) of this total used mobile devices to access the internet.
With the introduction of 5G internet, there is even more reason for consumers to spend time on their smartphones. Consumers are now spending more time connecting with their mobile devices than they do watching television.
2️⃣ Rise of the empowered customer
Along with the rise of digital devices, consumers and decision-makers have grown to become increasingly empowered. Throughout the purchase process, they are now able to examine different brands and research proactively, looking for insights and opinions from other digital customers.
Moreover, in the digital environment, consumers are seeking increased engagement in value co-creation. Co-creating value with consumers benefits the product, the customer, the company, and, ultimately, the bottom line. As a result, customer empowerment and engagement has become critical for businesses to manage.
3️⃣ Increasing transparency between businesses and consumers
In business, transparency is the foundation for trust between a company's investors, customers, partners, and workers. When engaging with stakeholders about business matters, being transparent involves being honest and open.
According to polls, at least two-thirds of customers would be prepared to spend more money on a company that is transparent. When companies are transparent, customers become more inclined to spread the word about the company, tell their friends about positive experiences, and give positive reviews. As a result, brand impression improves, allowing for even more brand development and success.
📌 What Does This Mean for Brands?
Customers now have far greater expectations of businesses, therefore businesses must constantly seek out and engage them. There is an increasing need for businesses to prioritise transparency and the customer experience.
Moreover, due to the accessibility and convenience of the internet, consumers are now able to choose between a multitude of brands when purchasing a product or service. With a wealth of information being uploaded on a daily basis to digital platforms, consumers frequently find themselves spoilt for choice. Brand loyalty is eroding, with 36% of customers having recently sampled a different product brand. In order to overcome this, companies must be able to brand themselves in a way that makes their brand stand out when compared to competitors.
Ultimately, companies who fail to keep up their branding and digital strategies with today's shrinking customer attention spans and fast-paced digital platforms will fall behind.
📌 Grasping Branding Opportunities in the Digital Age
With all of the above in mind, how should businesses go about their digital branding?
Today, customers congregate in more than one digital channel, and each channel provides a different touchpoint. Successful companies will be the ones who learn how their consumers behave across their most-used channels, and brand themselves in a way that appeals to their target consumers most. Brands that segment their clients and develop distinct target groups will also have a better chance of converting these target groups into paying customers and even brand advocates.
Clarifying and sticking to your brand's key values and mission can help you stay consistent in your communication processes. Consumers will feel more connected to your brand when it has a clear goal and fundamental values, especially if the values are similar to their own. The digital world has transformed the way consumers think and behave, as well as how brands approach them. Regardless of the brand's products or services, having a digital presence and strong branding has become a key factor in a business’s success.
📌 Ready to Begin Your Branding Journey?
Look no further!
VKT offers a full-fledged 360° Digital Marketing Programme focused at accelerating your company's growth. Expect not only solutions in Branding, but also a variety of other services ranging from Influencer Marketing to Social Media Management.
With our experienced EDG Certified Consultant, VKT boasts a proven track record in achieving a high EDG application success rate that grants your business up to 70% funding for SMEs and 50% for non-SMEs. So wait no longer, and contact us for a virtual coffee chat to discover more about how you may start your brading journey and leverage our expertise!
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