How to Become an Iconic Brand in 2024
Re-invigorate your brand and create something recognisable, quintessential – something classic. If you’ve got the vision to build your brand into one that will last the ages, you cannot go past these eight pieces of advice. Here is how to become an iconic brand.
Make it versatile
Take your logo, your colours and fonts and make sure they are as effective on screen as they are on paper.
Ensure your imagery translates across platforms and is immediately recognised on Instagram, Tik Tok, Shopify and Magento. You need strong and clear brand guidelines, so nothing is lost in translation.
A versatile brand embraces all its channels and presents consistently across them all. Varying the tone and voice of company messaging can be confusing for consumer. Mis-matched visuals make your brand look disorganised and chaotic. Neither of these things instill trust in your brand.
In 2024 your consumers need to be able to know it’s you, without seeing your logo, wherever you are reaching them.
Make it simple
Is it time for a rebrand? With all the excitement of the possibilities before you, remember to subtract from – rather than add to – what you’ve already got. Iconic brands are simple. Many have logos that are nothing more than a single word or image. Get rid of the fluff and get down to who and what you really are.
Go easy on the colours too. From a promotional products point of view, more colours are more expensive and don’t always look better. One or two signature colours really pop on products. Online, monochrome branding with a simple font is easy to read, recognise and remember.
Simple is timeless.
Make it heartfelt
Hopefully you know your market. You understand their motivations and their pain points. You understand their emotions relating to your market and your product. That is good, because tapping into your consumers’ emotions in your marketing can increase sales by 23%. A 2017 study by Nielsen shows that consumers favoured brands that had higher emotive power in their marketing.
“Consumers who are emotionally connected to a brand are worth two times more to a business than the average highly satisfied customer. They will trust the brand more, make more purchases while exhibiting lower price sensitivity and follow different communication channels more intently.”
Forbes writer, Omar Jenblat, emphasises that a campaign must feature emotions that are aligned with the brand. The inclusion of emotional content has to be a “natural extension of the marketing strategy.”
Make it visual
An iconic brand can be identified by a colour or image alone. Thanks to the internet, humans are now experts at interpreting images both consciously and subconsciously.
For marketing, that means less work for copywriters and more for designers. Hubspot claims that branded images – that is, visual marketing with your brand in it – yield 67% more attention than straight-up advertisements. Not only that, but people retain 65% of the information presented to them if it is paired with a relevant image.
However, be sure to stick to your brand guidelines and keep your brand consistent.
Make it social
You can’t expect your consumers to come to you 100% of the time. You have to go to them. Discover where they like to hang out and go there. An iconic brand will engage with their audience through social media. Once you’re there, try not to throw ads at them, hoping to get their attention. Instead, engage with your audience like you would in person. Be helpful, friendly, have conversations. You can build a community around your brand.
Also, don’t be afraid to reach out and partner with your audience’s shared interests.
That’s how making friends works after all.
Make it authentic
In today’s world perfection is seen as suspicious and disingenuous.
Consumers know when something is too good to be true, it usually is.
Showing the reality of your brand builds trust with your market. Consumers are smart. They know life is messy, complicated and evolving, so your branding missteps and hurdles won’t come as a surprise. Instead, they’ll be a welcome insight into your brand.
Interestingly, since the pandemic trust in businesses has increased – according to the Edelman Trust Barometer. Consumers feel they can trust businesses to do the right thing more than government and media.
Therefore, transparency is the buzz-word for an iconic brand looking to increase trust and strengthen their following. So show your process and be authentic.
Make it sustainable
A brand with a clear stance on local and global issues will win the trust, and business, of passionate customers.
According to that study just mentioned, consumers place a lot of trust in brands to make good choices and be a force for positive change. 86% of consumers expect CEOs to make a stand against societal and environmental issues.
An iconic brand will make good on that trust. Throughout your supply chain, from product to marketing, corporate to warehouse, opt for the most sustainable and globally conscious avenues.
Make it real
An iconic brand is an experience. It will extend past the logo and the product you sell.
While online interactions are necessary and invaluable in our time, you must give your consumers something tangible to experience as well.
Trade shows, store openings, product launches and demos link what customers have seen on their screen with how it can fit into their lives. Positive interactions and physical experiences give your brand value and make your consumers feel valued.
Do you want to make your brand even more powerful and memorable? Coordinate and combine your online and real-world marketing.
Does your organisation have what it takes to become an iconic brand?
Every brand has the potential to become iconic, but not everyone makes it. You need a clear vision of who you are and why you do what you do. Combine this with simple, versatile visuals and powerful consumer engagement on- and offline, and you’ve got something that will last.
For the details that will win your audience over and build your brand into the icon it can be, Impact can help.
Browse our blogs for merchandise ideas, or contact our team today. Or let us find you the right product for your brand and message with our Merch Matcher ™.
