It is common knowledge that branding can make or break one’s business. A successful branding strategy can turn a company, service, product, or individual into a global phenomenon and make them recognizable in a matter of seconds through unique visuals, eye-catching color schemes, or superb slogans.
A carefully crafted combo that includes a strong brand name, logo, color palette, and striking design could turn a small business into a noteworthy household name.
Regardless of whether you’re just starting a new business or would like to undergo a massive product transformation, allow yourself to tap into your inner business-wise alchemist and learn more about the 12 major types of branding:
Corporate Branding
Corporate branding, as a whole, is a tool that is used to showcase numerous aspects of a company. This type of branding does not focus on specific products or services; the purpose of this approach is to unify all elements, company-wide: values, products, services, employees, etc., which means that corporate branding aims to provide a clear image of the company’s mission and values in an attempt to get established in their target market among competitors as well as improve overall visibility among potential customers.
Personal Branding
Compared to corporate branding, personal branding focuses on showcasing one individual: putting their skills, appearance, or traits in the spotlight. There has been a surge in personal branding cases with the rise of the influencer phenomenon. Individuals can find a spot in various niche categories—beauty, health, fitness, and many more—and gain a large following and build communities based on something as simple as their physical appearance, personality quirk, or the advice they provide. This has also been reflected in marketing strategies that belong to major leading brands; it’s more common to see the CEO of a company allow the audience to sneak a peek into their private lives. Why? The self-awareness of the newer audience generations wants to see a more humane side within the brand’s faces.
Product Branding
Some companies and business owners expand their businesses by solely focusing on branding a single item or product collection. A lot of time, energy, and resources are devoted to a detail-oriented approach toward packaging, design, and the placement of singular products. Elevated product branding pushes a product as the main focus. The brand's identity, voice, and messaging are intricately woven around this singular product, creating a cohesive narrative that resonates with target audiences and strengthens brand loyalty.
Ingredient Branding
Imagine product branding, but taking it a step further: instead of using your product as your base premise, you can use a single ingredient and revolve all your products around it, ultimately revolving your entire brand identity around it. In this case, one ingredient is continuously highlighted throughout the company’s, and therefore its brand's, existence through various carefully crafted marketing strategies.
Retail Branding
What makes retail branding special? Most retail branding strategies are implemented online and offline while ensuring a personal experience for their customers. Physical stores are carefully curated to provide top-notch customer service through an extraordinary in-person visual experience, an inviting atmosphere, and interesting events while transferring that feeling to their online shopping experience.
Geographic Branding
Geographic branding focuses on creating strategies and campaigns in connection with a specific location or region. This type of branding can indeed allude to the exclusivity of a product or service, but it can also be profitable for tourism and invite audiences to aspire to experience something new. Exclusivity can have a dual impact: it can cater to a specific target group but also intrigue new potential customers. Geographic branding can also foster a sense of community among local consumers, creating a strong emotional bond and loyalty that extends beyond the product or service itself.
Cultural Branding
This type of branding refers to the targeted use of specific values, ideologies, and traditions that identify with a cultural group. The main goal is to create an authentic connection with a target audience by incorporating elements within the marketing strategy to make a specific audience feel heard and understood. This represents an opportunity for building a strong community and lasting customers.
Service Branding
Numerous consumers are visual creatures; hence, it is easier to sell a product that is tangible, putting the main focus mostly on the design. When it comes to selling a service, in this case, things have to be done a little differently. Given the fact that a service is not a tangible approach, it takes a strong marketing strategy to showcase and sell a service. There are two key ingredients for the success of a service branding strategy: showcasing its uniqueness and raising overall awareness about the service itself.
Co-branding
Co-branding implies that two or more brands collaborate on a special marketing strategy in an attempt to showcase a product or a service. This type of branding aims to leverage sales and improve the digital presence of all parties through shared resources and an expanded market. It allows each brand to be exposed to new audiences, allowing cross-expansion. Strategic co-branding strategies can be a limited-time project or a continuous strategy.
Online Branding
With the rise of the impact social media has on sales numbers across whole markets on a global level, online branding is common, and in most cases, it is a must for numerous companies to resort to. It’s nearly impossible to imagine a new company these days that doesn’t try to grow online. Service providers are prone to maximizing their revenue by offering mobile apps that allow them geo-targeting, providing basic information, and many more options, and this works for smaller businesses locally as well as for large corporations to reach their audience globally.
Offline Branding
The term brick-and-mortar refers to retail stores, banks, educational institutions, restaurants and cafes, and specialty shops; in this case, the branding focuses on enhancing customer service through physical elements within the store. Of course, more and more such businesses also strive to create an online presence, but the majority of them focus on traditional marketing. Some of these businesses have built their brand based on a closed circle of customers, as they wish to convey a sense of exclusivity—the modus operandi of many luxury brands.
Activist Branding
Some companies will go down the route of implementing marketing strategies that revolve around different causes, which can vary from political, social, economic, charitable, or environmental causes. The main goal is to market products and/or services that can reach specific target audiences. One could say that the idea behind this is purpose-driven marketing, which sets the tone heavily on fully branding a company based on the cause the company is advocating for. Given the fact that the specified cause is imbued with the company’s core values, this is not a short-term project; it lasts for the company’s entire tenure.
Anti-Branding
Do you believe in anti-brand branding? In a world filled with styles, visuals, and themes that can be super easily copied (unfortunately), what is the best way for some brands to emerge from the oversaturated valley of original and faux identities? Does the answer lie in not doing much at all? Absolutely not. These brands have carefully crafted marketing strategies. Anti-marketing marketing is a strategic approach that challenges all traditional marketing methods as we know them by subverting conventional advertising tactics. Instead of bombarding consumers with over-aggressive sales pitches, it focuses on providing authenticity, transparency, and building genuine connections with the audience.
It is important to understand that branding plays a pivotal role in a business’s success, shaping perceptions and forging connections. Understanding the 13 major branding categories—from corporate and personal to product and activist—unveils diverse avenues for strategic growth and audience engagement. Whether online or offline, traditional or innovative, each approach carries the unique potential to transform businesses into enduring phenomena.
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