Building a Strong Brand for Your E-Commerce Business

What is your brand?

We’re not talking about your logo or your company name. Branding is something stronger. It’s what people think of and feel when they hear that name or see that logo.

And having a strong brand is important, whether you’re a billion-dollar corporation advertising during the Super Bowl or a small e-commerce business trying to stand out from the competition on Shopify or Magento. It’s how you’ll win over customers and get noticed.

Here are a few e-commerce branding tips to help your business stand out.

1. Find your ideal customer

E-commerce branding becomes much easier when you understand your customers. One of the ways to do this is by figuring out your ideal customer.

Your ideal customer doesn’t exist. You create them, using market research and information gleaned from interviewing existing customers.

When you identify their beliefs, values, needs and desires, you can create messaging that resonates with the things that are important to them.

2. The buyer’s journey

Once you’ve identified your ideal customer, it’s time to put yourself in their shoes and think about the journey they’d on their way to your product.

The buyer’s journey is a three-step process prospective customers use to research their purchases.

1. Awareness – The buyer may not know what you make/do, but they do know – they’re AWARE – that they have a need to be met.
2. Consideration – The buyer is considering different options.
3. Decision – The buyer has identified their problem and know what they need to solve it and is going to choose someone to get them the solution they need.

Your job here is to try to figure out what kind of content will get their attention at each stage of the journey. Content you create for someone in stage one probably won’t be as relevant to someone in stage two and vice versa.

3. Tell your story

What makes you unique? If your answer is something like “We make the best [whatever it is you make],” you’re not really on the right track. Your competitors will likely say the same thing.

But other companies in your field don’t have your story.

Your potential customers want to know who you are. Use your website to tell that story: why you went into business, how you came up with your product/business idea, what’s important to you in this world and why it’s important.

Put this information on your website’s “About Us” page to help position your company as different from the competition.

4. Be honest about who you are

You’re not Amazon. Or at least, you’re not the mammoth, trillion-dollar Amazon of 2019. But maybe you’re more like the Amazon of the mid-1990s, a growing company selling one kind of thing.

And you’re good at what you do, but you don’t have superpowers. That’s OK. Just don’t overpromise when it comes to your shipping and return policies. Be honest and open about your capabilities and your customers will appreciate and respect you.

Build your brand with custom printed tape

E-commerce branding doesn’t end once your customers hit “purchase.” There are still steps you can take to ensure they remember your product. Sometimes it comes down to how you choose to send that product out into the world.

The right custom printed tape can let you share your logo and messaging while also making sure your product arrives safely and securely. It shows customers you care about how your packaging looks and how their products arrive. With custom printed tapes ranging from PVC and polypropylene to custom paper tape there are options for every budget and brand.

If you think custom printed tape is right for your brand, contact Phoenix Tape. We’ve spent more than 30 years helping companies like yours increase their brand awareness.