No matter if you are just starting out in e-commerce or if you have already sold a few things online, branding is an important part of your plan for success. It’s more than just a logo or name; it includes your products, your website, what your customers expect, your mission, and more.
Even though first impressions can be changed, you should try to get it right from the start if you have the chance. Here are some things to think about if you want to develop a good online branding strategy for your e-commerce business.
The customer is the key
To find the right way to brand your business, you’ll need to look a little deeper and think about who your products are made for. Your past analytics data can tell you a lot about how your customers have interacted with your products and brand in the past. Information like the most popular products and the number of abandoned shopping carts can give you a good idea of what they think in general.
But to really customize their experience and give them what they want, you need to find out more about how they act and what they want. For example, knowing which customers stay in your store the longest can tell you things like when the most money is spent. Also, you can find out about your customers’ jobs, gender, or age, all of which are important parts of how they buy. Once you’ve looked at all the details, it’s time to look at the bigger picture and figure out why people buy your products and who your ideal customer is.
Make someone feel connected
Even though people like to know facts, it takes more than just facts to build a relationship with your customers. Storytelling is a powerful way to do this because it combines the feelings your brand makes people feel with facts. This gives your brand a more human side. In this digital age, this is a rare and valuable thing, and customers know how to value it.
Considering the competition you have now and will have in the future, your biggest strength is that you can make your brand seem unique and memorable by telling the story of how it came to be. Some of the questions you should ask yourself are how you want to be remembered and what emotions you want to make people feel. This will help you find your brand voice and come up with messages that are not only informative but also make people feel something.
Use the ideas you have
It’s amazing to see how much retail has changed and how many things you can find online now that you couldn’t find before. For example, businesses can now easily find different spare parts and tools online, like high-quality oilfield equipment, which helps them grow and makes them more money. Why not let people know about them if your offer and motivation are unique and certain ideas are at the heart of your business?
For example, if you’re raising money for a good cause and giving some of the money from each item sold to help people who don’t have access to education, make sure people know about it. You can also tell them how they can donate to that cause even if they don’t use your business. If you want to encourage them to be generous, you can put a goal tracker on your website so they can see that the good goal they are helping to reach is growing.
Strive for honesty
People hate false promises, and business promises are even worse. To be honest with your customers, you need to be honest with yourself first and know exactly what your business can offer. You might not be able to deliver products as quickly as some big names in the business who have the resources and experience to do so, but it’s better to be honest about this because honesty is the best policy.
The most important things for you to be honest about are the quality of your products and your return and shipping policies. If you start making promises you can’t keep, it could hurt your reputation. So, it’s better to put these rules on the website in a clear way so that people know what to expect.
Be consistent across different channels
Even though nothing is set in stone, your brand identity needs to be the same across all of your platforms. For example, if you sell products to professionals, having a completely different tone on different social media channels can leave your customers confused and less likely to buy from a business that doesn’t know who it is.
Once you know what your core values are, you need to think about what you want to say and how you want to say it. When you know if your goal is to make people think or to make them laugh, for example, you should make sure that your website, blog posts, and every social media profile you have reflect that goal in the same way. Consistency is important if you want your customers to trust you.
Conclusion
Building a brand takes time, effort, and strategic thinking, but if you do it right, you’ll build a loyal customer base that will only grow. To make an emotional connection, you’d have to tell the story of your brand and get to know your customers better. You’d also have to do this in an honest way, or you might lose their trust or never get it in the first place. Once you’ve found your own voice, all you have to do is let people hear it.