How to Use Fresh, Creative Branding to Attract and Keep Attention

Branding

Sep 18

Audiences are flooded with brand messages. Each day, we see hundreds of social media posts, ads, and promotions. To stand out, you need to do something different. You need to use creative branding to attract attention, stay fresh and relevant, and build stronger connections with your ideal audience.

Let’s look at how you can get more creative with your branding to attract and keep the attention of both new and existing customers.

The Differences Between Marketing & Branding

Organizations are usually more focused on marketing than branding. Branding is often seen as a one-time task that doesn’t need consistent consideration. But both are important and must be a part of an ongoing promotional strategy.

Consider the differences between marketing and branding and why you need to focus on both.

Marketing

Is focused on attracting leads, staying top of mind, and driving sales and revenue
Includes the tasks of market research, advertising, supporting sales, and creating promotional campaigns
Is measured by concrete success metrics such as ROI (return on investment), conversion rates, sales figures, and customer acquisition costs
Motivates customers to buy in the short term

Branding

Is focused on developing the overall image and reputation of a company or offering
Includes the tasks of crafting a brand narrative, showcasing values and mission, ensuring brand consistency, expressing brand value, and building emotional connections
It is achieved by building brand recognition and awareness, creating brand affinity, and maintaining strong market positioning, sometimes measured with net promoter score or brand awareness surveys
Motivates customers to buy in the long term and become a referral source

For an organization to succeed in the short and long term, it needs a strong approach to both marketing and branding.

The Value of Creative Branding

It’s easy to get into a marketing routine that overlooks the value of revisiting and revamping your branding. Many organizations get in a branding rut and stick with what they have been doing for years (yes, years). But there is value in finding new and creative ways to approach your branding.

Fresh and creative branding helps you:

Stand out and grab attention
Gain recognition by your customers and industry
Increase the value of brand impression
Reinforce your company values and mission
Stay relevant and keep with changing times
Adapt to market changes
Build long-term customer affinity and loyalty

Branding isn’t a one-and-done marketing task. It is something you should consistently revisit and update with a fresh and creative approach.

How to Craft Fresh and Creative Branding

Now that you know the value of keeping your branding fresh and new, let’s look at some ways to uplift and update your branded assets.

Assess your audience.

One thing that is true for both marketing and branding is that each starts with the customer. To succeed at either, you need to have a deep understanding of who your customers are, how they act, and what they want, need, and value.

As you prepare to update your brand, revisit your buyer personas to refresh your vision of your customers and ensure that your depictions are still accurate. To inspire fresh and creative branding ideas, think about how you can reach your customers in new ways.

What are their new challenges, problems, and pain points?
What are their new wants, needs, and desires?
What are their new interests and influences?
What changes in the market have changed their lives?

When possible, use existing customer and sales data to identify trends and behavior shifts, and look to competitor and complementary brands to see how they are evolving with changing times.

Revisit your value propositions and positioning.

Once you spend time looking at the world from your customer’s perspective, think about how your brand can fit into their viewpoint. Revisit your value propositions and market positioning, and come up with new ways to present your offerings to customers.

What is the problem you solve for customers?
How can you tie your offerings to your customers’ wants, needs, and desires?
What makes your offerings different from your competitors?
How can your brand look and sound different from others in your industry?
How does your company vision and mission influence your business?
How does your company fit into new views of the world?

Craft new stories and messaging.

After identifying new ways to position your brand, craft fresh stories to support your new approach. Consider what new messaging and content would resonate with audiences, and also spend time reviewing your existing content analytics to see what has resonated with audiences in the past.

Update existing content to match your new messaging while crafting new content.

Rewrite copy on your website and landing pages to highlight new unique selling propositions.
Craft new blog posts and ebooks that teach your audience how to overcome new problems or address old problems from a new angle.
Produce social media content with new hooks and taglines, modern imagery, and fresh references to news or pop culture.
Test ad campaigns that use your new positioning and selling points.
Produce fresh videos that update customers on your commitment to your brand mission and vision.

Update branded elements.

Once you have an idea of what you want to say, how you want to say it, and who you want to say it to, revisit your brand components and consider how you can adjust your brand identity.

Does your logo need an update?
Could you incorporate a new color palette?
Do you want to use new fonts and typography?
Can you make adjustments to the tone, voice, and style of your copy and messaging?
Should you update photography, images, or icon styles?

Give Your Branding the Attention It Deserves

Your branding is one of the most important elements of the foundation of your marketing strategy. Give it the attention it deserves. Use these tips to revisit your branding and infuse it with a fresh and creative approach to better tell your story and connect with customers.

If you need help with your brand refresh, let’s talk.

SpotOn uses research, strategy, creative thinking, and design to establish and revamp brands to keep up with changing times and audience expectations. See how we can take a fresh and creative approach to your branding. Contact us today to learn more.

Raubi Perilli