How to generate brand awareness from an underdog position

Branding is one of the most important aspects of any business, yet it is often misunderstood and misused. In its most simple form, branding is the process of creating a unique identity for your brand, product, service and/or organization. It’s the process of finding ways to stand out from your competitors with the goal of making a lasting impression on your customers and target audience. The essence of successful branding is always trying to be top of mind when consumers think about a certain product or service.

Most brands need to start from an underdog position. By definition, an underdog is a competitor that is not expected to win. Don’t be discouraged just yet – some of the most successful brands started out as underdogs. Let’s take Nike for example. When they first started out, they were up against established companies like Adidas and Reebok. Because of exquisite branding, strategic marketing and innovative product design, Nike was able to fortify their position in the market and become one of the most recognizable brands in the world.

So if you’re feeling like developing your brand is on a difficult threshold, remember that there’s always opportunity for growth – even from an underdog position. With the right creativity and determination, you can always find ways to make your brand shine. We at STRAREX strongly believe in a company’s capabilities to grow. Keep reading and learn more about the different ways we tackle our client’s branding.

What is branding exactly?

Branding is the process of creating an image and identity for a product, service, person, company or even a city in order to promote it in the marketplace. It centers around the use of brand elements, for example the utilization of a recognizable logo, colors, style and tone of voice that are associated with a particular brand. Branding also encompasses a consistent messaging strategy across multiple platforms including print, digital, streaming services, TV and more. A successful brand builds awareness on the path to loyalty among customers. This helps differentiate an organization from its competition.

Connection creates loyalty

Companies that find themselves in an underdog position actually have an advantage: they have the unique opportunity to fully invent themselves in the way they envision in order to gain brand recognition through creative advertising campaigns, strategic partnerships and focused message positioning. The ultimate goal is to create an emotional connection that resonates with target audiences, which in turn will eventually lead them down the ideal path to becoming loyal customers.

Want us to discuss the available possibilities for your company and discover what our branding service can mean for your brand? Contact us or give us a shout-out, we’re looking forward to meeting you!

The components of a successful brand

Having a successful brand requires several essential components. First and foremost, a clear-cut strategy for branding is crucial for your success.

Logo

Think about having a unique and identifiable logo, emblem, or graphics to create a memorable visual representation of your company.

Brand Mantra

It’s crucial for any brand to have strong messaging and a distinctive identity, so that customers can accurately understand the values and mission statements of the company. Many brands also have a brand essence or ‘brand mantra’: a short statement that expresses associations to inspire an emotional connection with the customer. This usually consists of just two to three words and describes the brand. The company Nike, for example, uses the statement “Authentic athletic performance”.

Channels

Another decisive factor is alignment of your tools and channels, like your own company website. Having an attractive website that uses high-quality visuals and interactive features can also help generate brand awareness. Visiting a company’s website is often considered to be the first contact between a business and its clients.

Making a strong first impression sure helps in the conversion process of an interested web visitor to a loyal client. But that’s not all. Consistently connecting with customers via social media channels and digital marketing tools will create more opportunities for engagement with potential customers as well. This will ultimately bring your leads down through the marketing funnel and turns basically strangers into loyal customers.

If your brand is new on the market or hasn’t been established thoroughly yet, there’s a lot of effort to be put in. An underdog company may need to take additional measures such as attending conferences and/or events, partnering with influencers, using eye-catching visuals in advertising materials, and offering promotions or discounts in order to differentiate its product from competitors.

Ultimately, when all the stars align, having all of these components fall into place can help propel an underdog company into brand success. If you’re in a position where you aspire to growth, but don’t know how or where to start: give us a call, and let’s meet!

Generating brand awareness from an underdog position

Generating brand awareness from an underdog position can seem daunting, but it is definitely possible by utilizing the right approach. This is where one of STRAREX’s core strengths comes in: strategy. Branding is a multi-layered process that involves actively defining and then communicating your company’s core values, mission statement, and aesthetic through various on- and offline channels. This should include creating content that resonates with target customers in order to build customer loyalty and trust.

Additionally, there are lots of ways to help speed up the matter. Although the 3 pointers below certainly don’t cover all fields of creating a successful branding strategy, they are a great start for any company that’s willing to invest in fine-tuning their branding.

• Look for opportunities to partner with other brands and influencers who have audiences you want to reach.
• Consider leveraging social media to create a buzz or offering early access, exclusive discounts, offers or promotions through email marketing campaigns.
• Grab every opportunity to be innovative and creative. In everything that you do, always ask yourself: is this the way I want my company to be perceived from a customer perspective, and does it fit the market needs and wants?

After already having contributed to the branding success of many companies, we can offer full assistance and result-driven guidance in upping your branding game.

Have a look at the case of our client Pharmabox and read here how we tackled their rebranding!

Creating a strong brand identity

Creating a strong brand identity is one of the most important steps a company can take toward success. A unique and memorable logo, an unforgettable slogan, and a well-structured marketing plan are all essential elements to making your brand stand out in an increasingly competitive marketplace. It’s also key to maintain consistency across all customer touchpoints in order to build familiarity and loyalty among customers.

How can you start doing this, you might ask? Utilizing digital storytelling and interactive content will help engage potential customers with your brand experience and create lasting relationships with them. Building up trust among your target audience significantly increases your chances of getting where you want to be.

User-generated content (UGC)

One example of paving the way to branding success is user-generated content (UGC). The strength of UGC lies in individual people creating content – whether it’s testimonials, videos, images, or text. Rather than the brand or web-famous influencers creating content, these are real-life users that want to share their experience about a certain product, organization or service and share this with their network on social media or other channels.

This can happen organically, for example, when the customer decides to share their opinion and mention the brand in their content. But it can also be generated by creators who are paid by a brand, possibly to showcase a business or product.

Customers are more selective nowadays, and the online competition for attention is fierce. UGC is so important because it takes authenticity to the next level! This approach can influence engagement and increase your conversions by showing relatable content and creating trust with your audience.

The essence of it all is that you find different approaches of marketing that work together and build a solid foundation for your brand.

Consistent branding across all channels

Building a successful brand is all about creating and maintaining a clear identity that customers can recognize and trust. That’s why you need to be consistent across your channels, from your website and social media platforms to your customer support. Consistent branding makes it easier for customers to connect with a company, and it also helps to build brand equity over time.

There are some tools that will help you with creating this uniform approach and sticking to it. It’s a must to have your own company brand guide and to define your tone of voice. A brand guide will bundle the instructions on how your brand should be communicated, both internally and externally. Think of your logos, brand colors, fonts, slogans, brand mantra, layout for certain documents… This guide will help you to streamline your communication and to share this with your company and your partners.

All in all, branding is a huge part of your marketing strategy. It’s an often overlooked way to boost your credibility and visibility. A strong brand identity makes it easier to attract customers, as they will have an immediate view of who you are and what you represent. Effective branding isn’t just about picking a brand color or how something simply looks, but it’s about bringing your brand to life by showing the human side of the business.

The key to success is understanding the different branding elements and taking the time to create an unforgettable message that resonates with customers. With dedication, innovative ideas, and aggressive yet unified messaging across all channels, companies can go from being underdogs to top-of-the-line industry leaders.

As the strategic marketing agency, STRAREX’s main goal is to find the perfect way for your brand or company to create connections, relationships, and growth. We’re constantly searching for approaches to bring brands to life and offer top-notch service.
Want to know how we can help bring your brand to life? Contact us!