"Branding" is
process by which a company employs marketing strategies to get people to easily remember their business and products over anothers...essentially, it's applied psychology.As a child, I was introduced to a relatively new hamburger chain that had begun in Australia. I still visit that burger chain regularly 25 years later. Not a lot has changed over those years in regards to this particular company and I guess that's one of reasons that I am still a customer. I know each time I walk into that establishment what I am going to have, where everything is and God help them if they ever remove item from menu! Even if they radically changed decor, it would make me nervous. Many millions of people around world would feel same......
One of our countries major supermarkets has a habit of occasionally moving products around in their stores. It works well for them as it increases sales. Customers who usually seek out particular products are exposed to other items as they hunt for their favourites. It is a highly annoying tactic and only works in this situation because supermarket is very competitive in pricing and range of products. People are not so patient on web sites and continiously moving items around on your site will see you losing traffic....nothing surer.
After having worked in management of another major fast food chain outlet, I learned that once a company has established a presence and become successful, any changes to operation must be carried out extremely carefully. Our patrons became very attuned to company, they were essentially a part of it. Their perceptions and opinions needed to be taken into account every step of way, and not just in regards to products.
Why?
We have succumbed to branding experience..... it makes us feel "safe"
Branding isn't just about logos, it's entire "feel" associated with a company. In these days of bleeding edge technology and rapid change, people still enjoy going to places that follow a pattern of operation. This very much applies to our websites. Your logo should appear on every page, your domain name and one line blurb contained in every email, your theme consistent throughout your site. Granted, quality content is king, but it's important that visitors remember where content came from. Branding establishes recall abilities of your site.
