Variety is the spice of life. And just the same way customers are very particular about the taste of their favourite chocolate and vanilla flavored ice creams, customers pay special attention to the flavor a brand communicates.

Branding is the heartbeat of every business. But for it to be heard in this over-saturated market of today, it needs to be unique and consistent. It must have a special and unchanging flavor.

According to Simon Sinek; People don’t buy what you do, but why you do them. And what’s surprising is that very few businesses understand why they do what they do. And these select few that understand why end up achieving outstanding success.

Great Branding + Consistency = Success

Now, understand that your brand is the first thing that enters the minds and hearts of customers, employees, investors, and even the public whenever they interact with your business, or its products.

For a long time, Facebook’s user privacy has been a genuine topic of public concern, but Facebook’s failure in consistently maintaining WhatsApp’s unique flavor of privacy was what finally poisoned the brand’s image, and drew intense attention to Facebook’s privacy policy.

Understand that everything—including R&D, production, marketing and supply, administration, and stock performance—that goes into making your company a successful business, all rely on what your brand communicates and how it does it.

Some of the most successful companies in the world like Apple, Nike, Tesla, and Alibaba, all dominate their respective industry with the strength of their brand reputation.

The Path to Success

Branding is a hot topic to new entrepreneurs in our current post-pandemic market, and that might be because of the upsurge in the number of businesses that succeeded and those that failed during the pandemic.

Sadly, most budding entrepreneurs are in such a hurry to set up their brand just for the sole purpose of having one that they miss a key. And the key is this: don’t rush into branding, instead take the time to join the few businesses that study the market and get their branding right.

Learn from Facebook’s mishap with WhatsApp and take the time to understand, and avoid, anything that might cost your brand its credibility in the future. And one of the best ways you can do this is to consistently maintain your brand’s flavor.

But What’s a Brand’s Flavor?

Simply put, the flavor of your brand is what makes it different from the next brand in your industry. flavors are the extra techniques you employ to improve your brand’s uniqueness. Why? Because unflavored brands are generic and boring. Not to mention that they suffer from low sales.

And the same way no one would sacrifice a delicious chocolate ice cream for something with no flavor. Customers want to taste and feel something when they use your brand.

Why Brand Flavor Matters

The goal of adding an exciting flavor to your brand is to sweeten the experience customers have with your brand. As an entrepreneur, there are moments when your brand’s flavor would play an important role in helping your business scale certain hurdles. 

And some of those moments are:

• Getting a great brand name for your product, or startup
• Rebranding your business
• Taking a new name due to trademark disputes
• Adapting a new name after a merger
• Responding to negative publicity

Here’s the deal, except you want your brand to be ignored by potential customers, then you need to add flavor to your brand. And remember, moments of crisis aren’t the best time to add flavor to your brand. It’d appear inauthentic, and customers might resent you for it. 

So it’s important you add flavor long before your business demands them. 

How to Add Flavors to Your Brand

Believe it or not, customers want to enjoy every experience with your brand. Nobody spends their hard earned money to buy something they don’t like and use. So make your customer’s time and money worth it because if you don’t, they’d always go to a brand that can.

Know your Unique Branding Elements

The most important step to adding a great flavor to your brand is building a great brand first. You can only do that effectively if you know your brand elements, and use that to spot what makes your business different from your competitors.

A lot of entrepreneurs haven’t quite figured out their branding elements. And if that’s you, then here’s a scoop of the basic essential elements your brand needs:

• A great brand story
• An appealing message
• A memorable logo
• A value proposition
• A voice
• Great typography
• An interesting color palette
• Brilliant imagery   

Knowing your brand’s element would help you communicate your brand’s purpose to your audience. Also, make sure you understand:

• Why your business exists
• What big problems your brand is solving
• And what makes your brand unique

Identify your Brand’s Strengths and Weakness

It’s a common business practice that you maximize gains, and minimize losses, so go the extra mile and learn how your branding elements, campaigns, and audience interaction are performing. Gather information, track their progress, and analyze the cause for varying results.

Although this might take months, and even years, before they yield fruits, the results you get would be unique to your business, and it’d go a long way to help you identify the strengths and weaknesses of your brand.

Know How Your Industry Works

Don’t just sit back and remain unaware of the changing trends in your industry, mostly in terms of branding. Keep an eye on industry leaders, and very motivated startups for new ideas. Sometimes it isn’t just what they’re doing that’d give you a brilliant idea, but why they’re doing it.

So, improve your brand by keeping an eye on competitors, and also on those outside your industry. Learn from their success and try to harmonize them with your brand. Always be willing to learn and apply what works.

Get a Great Brand Name

A company’s brand name embodies everything about its business. It can either boost your sales or kill them. And although brand names perform lots of services for their respective businesses, the primary function of a brand name is that it bears the flavor of your business.

Customers can catch the flavor of your business just by hearing its brand name. So it’s necessary learn how to come up with a business name that’ll not just catch their attention but instantly connect with them emotionally. The best way to get a great brand name is by either brainstorming, or using tools such as a powerful business name generator.

Strengthen your Feedback Loop

Another way you can add flavor is by building a strong feedback loop that communicates great commitment to your customers.

A strong feedback loop is crucial to the steady supply of relevant information to a business. So don’t just concentrate on getting your products out there, be intentional about building a strong brand-customer relationship.

A strong feedback loop is always a win-win for you, your customers, and everyone directly or indirectly involved with your business. Customers love brands that actively engage with them to identify and solve pressing issues that’ll make the product better.

Automobile businesses have a very strong feedback system with their customers that they work hard to maintain and enhance. That’s why it’s very easy for car owners to become attached to their car company.

Integrate Your Brand in Every Aspect of Your Business

Most brands fail because they lack consistency. And consistency is the only thing that can cement your brand’s flavor in the minds of customers. So ensure your brand identity finds its way into every product, service, message, and interaction you’ll ever have with your audience.

Also, avoid sending mixed messages. Nothing would be more confusing to customers than when you try to be everything at once. Focus only on your strengths, and don’t get swept away by trends. 

Like all successful brands, add an exciting flavor to your business by giving it a consistent voice that your audience can easily connect with.  

Plan your Brand’s Evolution

Just so you know, brand evolution isn’t the same as a rebrand. While rebranding is an extreme measure, brand evolution is far more subtle and involves a periodic update of each of your brand’s elements in a way that matches the current market climate.

Businesses didn’t need to rebrand themselves to respond to the Covid-pandemic, their brands only had to evolve to respond to the virus. The idea of adding flavor is to help your brand adapt to current market realities and what appeals to your target audience.

The key in brand evolution is timing. A perfectly timed evolution can have a superb impact on your business. Remember Apple’s ‘Think Different,’ and Coca-Cola’s ‘Share a Coke’? These were wonderfully timed concepts that shot these brands to success.

Although an obvious brand evolution is in the logo change, understand that it’s just a part of the whole brand evolution journey. Brands like Shell, Levi’s, Apple, Canon, Starbucks, and Microsoft, have all had various logo evolutions that only symbolized a bigger shift in the overall branding of their respective companies.

Be Your Brand’s Biggest Advocate

Amazon and Microsoft wouldn’t be where they are today if Bezos and Gates hadn’t believed in themselves and their company.

Be your own cheerleader. Customers would never love your brand if you don’t love it too. Consider Elon Musk. The billionaire completely believes in all his companies and their potential to radically change the world. His intense confidence has positively infected his brand image and customers.

But for the longest time, Tesla battled hard with short-sellers until it defeated them. In all those times, Elon never doubted his business and its potential. And today, the results are obvious.

So borrow a leaf from Elon, and believe in everything your brand has to offer because it’ll put your business in front of customers who’re in desperate need of your amazing services.

Your belief in your business adds a distinctive flavor that customers never miss. The greatest secret to adding flavor to your brand is pursuing your business goals relentlessly until you make them a reality.

Your customers and the world are counting on you.