Whether you own a large or small business, branded content is one of the best and fastest-growing digital advertising methods. Branding is the way customers perceive you from start to finish. It's their perception of what you stand for and what you represent.

So, when we speak of branding practices and branded content, it involves putting in measures and having a content strategy that ensures consumers see you in the same light as you see yourself. As an advertiser or business owner, you must ensure that your business is properly branded by providing your audience with exactly what they need to understand what you have to offer. Without further ado, here are five best practices for your branding content project.

 

1. Understand your target audience.

In the world of content marketing, understanding your target audience is key. This goes beyond creating a niche for yourself. It means identifying your customers and knowing their needs, pain points, and what type of social issues affect them. You also need to know what kind of solutions they want and how they want them delivered.

When you know your customers, it's easy to create personalized content that makes them feel validated and special, like the company is working for them. Personalization helps you grab your target audience's attention, so they can visit your site, podcast, or blog because they know they'll get exactly what they need.

 

2. Have an attractive and consistent brand design.

Your design is one of the most crucial parts of creating branded content. It typically involves your business's name, logo, symbolic elements, writing format, and colors. This branding practice holds so much value because it aids product differentiation and gives you a distinctive identity compared to competing brands.

A quintessential brand design must complement and align with the company's brand objectives, values, ethos, and fundamentals. Once you have a brand design, the next step is to ensure that every piece of content you put out on your social media channel or company blog adheres strictly to this design.

 

3. Engage with your audience.

Regardless of your business size, customer interaction is a branding best practice you don't want to skip. Therefore, you should create time to ask your customers questions after each sale. Also, listen to their feedback, and make corrections where needed. You can carry this out by creating pop-up surveys after each purchase.

People love when brands engage with them on social media platforms. To some, getting a response or repost from a brand they respect is like winning the lottery. It communicates to the person that your business appreciates and recognizes them. Get creative with the type of content you post by ensuring that they're informational, engaging, and sometimes, funny. Everyone loves a good laugh.

 

4. Provide value to customers.

Gone are the days of traditional advertising where newspaper publications, radio jingles, and TV shows did most of the work. These days, people are getting creative with their content marketing strategies like the use of subliminal advertisements. Subliminal advertising uses visual or auditory stimuli (that the conscious mind doesn't recognize) to influence a customer's purchasing decision.

A close example is the viral Dove video that was branded with a small logo at the top that didn't distract viewers from the message. The company could exchange value with their customers by promoting relatable content that people can easily share and creating brand awareness around an issue many women face—which is self-love. When you provide value, your customers will feel like you genuinely care about them and will always put their interests first above all else.

 

5. Be consistent with your delivery.

That's right; consistency is a crucial branding best practice. To stand out in a competitive market, you must be consistent in your content. You can do this via email newsletters and Instagram posts. Create branded graphics to help you with the heavy lifting, as they're easier to create than a blog post. Remember that if you don't post often, you'll be making it easy for customers to forget you and move on to your competitors.