If asked the question, would you say that your manufacturing company has a strong brand identity? Or would you say, “What’s a brand identity?” If you’re in the camp of manufacturing companies that are doing just fine and bringing in business without a brand strategy or fully fleshed out brand identity, you’re not the only company operating that way. Many B2B companies in markets like manufacturing and industrial would wonder why the question of brand identity and brand strategy development was even brought up if asked.
It’s just not something manufacturing companies often pay much mind to—and it makes sense. At the end of the day, manufacturing companies are going to be most focused on meeting the needs of their customers and keeping their staff safe. But now’s the time to reevaluate your stance on branding. Why? Because the benefits that can be gained from developing a strong B2B brand strategy and identity in 2023 far outweigh the time of this investment.
Keep reading, and the following tips will help you understand why now is the time to start developing manufacturer branding and how you can get started.
The Benefits of Brand Strategy Development for Manufacturers
Not having a brand strategy in place with formalized messaging can result in inconsistent marketing communications that deter prospects. Mixed messaging is confusing—and your customers and prospects don’t want to be confused when it comes to what you offer or why they should choose your company over a competitor.
Creating a manufacturer brand strategy with consistent and compelling messaging and visuals tailored to your audience makes it easy to:
- Establish a connection with your audience
- Build trust and credibility
- Improve customer retention
- Differentiate your company from the competition
- Maintain consistency throughout all marketing communications
- Boost distribution channel opportunities
With the benefits of developing a strong brand made clear, let’s take a closer look at a few of the core components of a brand strategy.
Emphasize What Makes Your Company Unique
At the heart of any successful brand development strategy are your unique differentiators. When you’re ready to dive into the manufacturing brand strategy process, start by thinking about what makes your company truly unique. Is your facility world-class or do you have specialized machinery or equipment that makes you different and better than competitors? Once you know what sets your company apart, you can more effectively position your company within the market.
Evaluate your product and service line against your competitors’, and you’re likely to discover there are a few core competencies you have that no one else does. Be sure to highlight these as part of your brand strategy, as they should inform the remaining components, including who you target with your messaging.
Craft Creative Buyer Personas
If you haven’t heard this term before, a buyer persona is a semi-fictional representation of your ideal customer. Presented as if it’s a real person, your buyer persona(s) is based on customer data, interviews, and even some educated guesses (based on research, of course).
To craft these personas, you need to get specific. Questions you may want to ask include:
- Who are your customers? Maybe construction management companies, engineering firms, and/or original equipment manufacturers?
- What are their needs or pain points? Managing deadlines and budgets, evaluating components, determining prequalification’s of vendors?
- What are they responsible for within their company? Ensuring build components meet codes, implementing designs, managing supplier performance?
Buyer personas are an essential piece of the manufacturing brand strategy puzzle because they enable you to better understand your target audience and create content that truly engages them. As you develop buyer personas and begin creating messaging and content, you’ll learn and get valuable insight into what truly works.
Develop a Strong Visual Identity
Visual identity is another core component of any strong manufacturing brand. Think about other big names in your industry. Are there any that are recognizable just by their logo, typeface, or color palette? There’s probably at least one.
Logos, fonts, and color palettes all help to solidify your brand in the minds of customers. And, if you expose your target audience to these elements enough, you’ll start to gradually increase brand awareness and recognition within your industry.
But to do each of these elements right is a process—and one that takes time. If you don’t have a graphic designer or a creative director on staff, you may want to consider partnering with an agency to ensure that each component has a cohesive look and feel, especially when paired together.
Now, if you already have a logo, standard typeface, and color palette, but have a sense that they no longer accurately reflect your company, it might be time to consider rebranding.
Captivate Key Decision Makers with Your Manufacturing Brand Strategy
If you’re looking to captivate key decision makers, developing a manufacturing brand strategy is one of the best ways you can accomplish this goal. And if you’re looking for guidance and expertise in brand strategy development, look no further than the Sagefrog team.
At Sagefrog, we specialize in developing brand strategies for manufacturing and industrial companies. Our proven process ensures that your company will always stand out from the competition with a unique tagline, messaging, personality and tone, visual identity, and more.
Whether you want to develop a brand identity for the first time, or are looking to rebrand, we can help. Want to see an example of a rebrand? Check out this industrial company’s rebrand featuring a new name, logo, tagline, and more.
Ready to get started on your own? Let’s talk!
