The psychology of branding
In the age of digital marketing and vapid e-commerce takeover of retail, the importance of brand continues to dominate the consumer market. In the startup-centric world of e-commerce, companies need to work twice as hard to establish brand recognition and to create trust between brand and consumer. E-commerce companies need to compete with older, more established companies that historically had its products in departments stores like Macy’s and Sears. Consumers could come in and tactilely feel the products they were purchasing. Today’s brands now must flag their audiences attention in a flood of Facebook and Instagram ads and rely on good messaging and quality consumer reviews to drive conversion for their products. The psychology of trustworthy and established branding is now more important than ever.
How to evoke emotion in branding
One of the most profound case studies for this new trend of digital branding is MeUndies. Based in Los Angeles, the small company grew from a startup catered on shaking up the foundation of the underwear market. Focused on crafting a high quality product, the company’s marketing and brand grew forth from these initial goals. The MeUndies tagline is “The World’s Most Comfortable UNderwear” and MeUndies expresses this idea in every aspect of its brand. Undergarments are socially a coy topic and MeUndies tackles the idea not sensitively but (adjective). Their ads show beautiful models doing everyday activities in their ‘comfortable’ underwear. Their logo is a smooth cursive font expressing a young and casual mindset. Their brand colors our a sophisticated black and white, showcasing a true professionalism that also allows the use of the whole color spectrum freely (as is displayed in their underwear designs. Every facet of the MeUndies brand is to evoke the emotion that underwear should be comfortable and fun. MeUNdies success can be directly correlated to their relationship of product and brand.
How design can lead to conversion
Every aspect of branding traces back to the fundamental roots of design. The core building concepts of a brand are its logo and color palette. There is an entire school of thought for designing logos and picking colors but the importance here for brand is sticking to the final design. Constant changes, especially for a young company, can confuse consumers and hurt credibility. Beyond these fundamental building blocks is another, oft overlooked, block – a website. According to a Stanford study, 46.1% of consumers stated that the design of a website impacts their opinion on the credibility of a company. If you have an ugly, ill-designed website than almost 50% of potential consumers will immediately bounce. That is a huge statistic showcasing the importance of clear design. That same Stanford study conclude ten fundamental rules for web design:
- Verify accuracy of information with 3rd party links and references.
- Have a physical address to prove authenticity.
- Highlight expertise and services.
- Showcase the real people behind your company with pictures and bios.
- Make it easy and clear how to contact you.
- Utilize a simple to use interface and sitemap.
- Make your site professional looking and matching of your brand.
- Update your content often.
- Have control over promotional content (restrained or fewer ads and no popups).
- Avoid all errors.
Implementing these rules with solid design and the concepts of your brand will establish a beautiful website full of clarity and, ideally, high conversion rates.
How branding can influence customers perception
In many cases, a brand sells a product more than the product. The brain responds stronger to known brands. Customers prefer to go toward more established brands for a variety of reasons: trust, social status, knowledge of product, service, etc. The key concept to take away from these reasons is that they are all rooted in desire. Brands need to establish a desirable relationship with the consumer. As with MeUndies developing the relationship of comfort and sustainable between their product and consumer, an other brand like Victoria’s Secret weaves a very different, yet still effective, message. Victoria Secret markets their products as ‘sexy,’ ‘empowering,’ and femininity. Both Victoria Secret and MeUndies fundamentally sell the same product, but their brand and messaging alter the consumer’s perception as to which one they need for a certain circumstance. This dichotomy is best represented in their ads.
Victoria’s Secret sells sexy while MeUndies sells casual. The consumer is being directly targeted to have their perception about underwear changed for each brand.
The role of colors in marketing`
Key to consumer perception is color. Color impacts everything. A brand’s colors can tell a consumer what that brand encapsulates before it’s logo, name, or tagline. Much of color marketing has been studied and detailed. Designers and marketers alike must utilize an entire history of mytho associated with each color. Blue is trustworthy, professional, and akin to business and finance. Yellow is positive, optimistic, and youthful. Green is wealthy or natural. A brand can be much more successful utilizing the known quantifiers of color than trying to revolutionize them. Red and yellow have been shown to lead to hunger, hence almost every fast food place from In N Out to McDonald’s utilizing that color scheme. If you want a head start on establishing your brand, choose the colors that best exemplify you.
