Great brands are created by the love and affection of the people. When you care for your customers, it is reflected in your products and services. The most memorable and iconic brands are emotionally connected with their customers. Today, the internet is probably the biggest influence on how brands are built in the digital age.

Here are 10 things you can do to build a great brand in today’s digital world:

1. Stellar designs

The best brands are expressed by the most fluid designs. Attractive consistent designs are important to woo and catch the attention of the users. Design is one of the most important facets of building a brand. It expresses your brand & influences the way consumers think about your company. It is also an effective way to stand out from the competition. Successful brands like Apple, Rolex, & Louis Vuitton, use designs to create a feeling of pride and exclusivity for their customers.

2. Delightful user experience for products & services

What makes top companies like Apple, Harley Davidson, & Rolex sell their products at top premium? It is a great user experience. When products and services are built with users in mind, it creates a delightful experience for users. It puts your brand on a higher pedestal, improves adoption, and commands user respect. The cost of delighting a customer is negligible compared with the price you pay when you disappoint them.

3. Communicate your higher purpose

The internet has made it easier for brands to communicate with the world. However, the ease of communication has also led to lot of noise. Great brands are able to tell stories that connect with people. They stand out from the crowd. They articulate who they are, what makes them different, their aspirations, why they exist and what they do for your customers. For brands like Nike, it was about honouring the athletes. Apple sparked great curiosity with the ‘Think different’ campaign.

“Success is the sum of small efforts, repeated day in and day out.” – Robert Collier

4. Customer service anytime anywhere

Customer Interactions and feedback are invaluable for shaping products and services. Today, the companies that use digital tools for improving customer service are surging ahead of their competitors. The idea is to provide interactive, fast and ubiquitous service across channels for customers. The customers expect a seamless transition between platforms and devices. The ideal solution of it is to integrate WhatsApp API into your website. WhatsApp is the most popular communication channel used all over the world. Integrating the API allows you many benefits like personalized experience, better customer engagement etc.

5. Be Social & build your tribe

Social media and the web have created a level playing field for companies around the world. The brands that are creating valuable content are growing their followers and reach. Content that is created to genuinely help the customers resonates with the users.

The best brands are not only building social communities, but also engaging with people in real world. The face to face communication strengthens the bonding and builds a loyal community that endorses products/services to others. How brands combine the digital and physical space is now shaping their fortunes. People want to be part of a meaningful community and the top brands are building them.

6. Personalized interactions with customers

Digitization is a great boon when it comes to customer interactions. Every interaction with your customer can be tracked and personalised. The ease with which the customers can interact with your company and get things done matters a lot. These seamless interactions are important across all customer touch points. Every interaction with the customer is a chance to build a relationship and a loyal army for the brand.

7. The right talent and teams

To build innovative products & services, it is important to attract and retain talent. It is important to build great teams. When teams are aligned to a long term vision of the company, the results are visible in the quality of the offerings. Your talent pool and teams represent their quality and commitment defines your identity. When teams are aligned to a common goal and purpose, they give their best and create amazing stuff that makes companies iconic.

“To live a creative life, we must lose our fear of being wrong.” – Joseph Chilton Pearce

8. Digitized solutions & services

Reimagine the consumer experience when dealing with your brand. Digitization of services makes things easier for customers. For example, leading banks around the world have introduced digitised systems for getting customer feedback. Airports around the globe are using digital solutions to reduce customer’s time to clear immigrations and procedures. Several industries are now looking at digitization to make things easier for their consumers.

9. Improved outreach with digital media

With the rise of digitisation, it is easier for brands to reach out to their target users. The demographics of their target users like age, location, income levels, interests, can be specified to reach them. The campaigns can be designed to improve the outreach and have meaningful engagement with the prospects. How creatively a brand can spread its message to the target users can distinguish it from its competition. With digital media, brands can get global exposure and sales.

10. Thrive on value economy

In a crowded marketplace, it is easier to build credibility with value. The successful brands have deep rooted understanding of their customers pain points and goals. They offer solutions to these problems that are critical to their customers. For example, brands like Amazon have been so successful, because they have been able to provide incredible value to their customers by offering great discounts and seamless delivery of the goods.

Conclusion

Brands need to constantly ask themselves how their business will change and adapt quickly to serve their customers proactively. The consumer needs are changing fast. Brand loyalty is a thing of the past. Businesses need to evolve constantly to meet the needs of their customers. Brands are now leveraging digitization to take an integrated view of things, evaluate and take necessary actions for driving the changes to meet the consumer needs.

What are some other ways to build a brand online? Comment below!

Image courtesy of Twenty20.com

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