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Branding strategies for crypto startup

Branding strategies for crypto startup

“Any direct or indirect interaction that consumers have with a brand can influence brand personality, and in turn contribute to the relational foundation between the brand and the consumer” Journal of Customer Behaviour. 

Like in any other business, branding efforts in cryptocurrencies are only successful if the venture’s attributes and uniqueness are perceived as tangible, real, and personable in the eyes of the prospect. 

From a business perspective, brands with a personality tend to receive higher consumer preference than those with enhanced brand performance. In most cases, the consumer will have an even greater preference for branding that conjures a personality that is congruent to their own.

Historically, experts have distinguished several personality dimensions when categorizing brands. Excitement for instance may carry traits such as spirited, imaginative, or daring, sincerity for honesty, transparency, and down-to-earth, competence for reliability, and intelligence, sophistication for upper class, glamorous and charming, or ruggedness which describes tough, outdoorsy, or masculinity. 

These are only examples but the goal of every brand should be identifying with a personality that fully resonates with its ideal customers. At all times, branding must strive to be memorable and unique. Bitmedia has been crafting marketing and advertising strategies for blockchain products since 2014, and in that track record, the biggest challenge facing cryptocurrency businesses is achieving a polished brand image. The goal of this article is to help you get branding right. 

Here are the key points:

  1. Influence of Brand Personality: Direct or indirect interactions with a brand shape its personality, which in turn, strengthens the relationship between the brand and the consumer. A brand’s personality makes it tangible, real, and personable to prospects.
  2. Consumer Preference for Brand Personality: Brands that exhibit a strong personality often receive higher consumer preference over those focusing solely on performance. Consumers tend to favor brands whose personalities align with their own.
  3. Dimensions of Brand Personality: Brands can be categorized into personality dimensions such as excitement (spirited, imaginative), sincerity (honest, transparent), competence (reliable, intelligent), sophistication (glamorous, charming), and ruggedness (tough, outdoorsy).
  4. Importance of Branding: Effective branding enhances recognition, creates emotional connections, establishes trustworthiness, and differentiates the brand from competitors. Emotional connections significantly increase the likelihood of recommendations and purchase actions.
  5. Understanding the Target Audience: Knowing the audience is crucial for positioning the brand, improving marketing, and messaging. Attributes such as race, gender, age, location, and occupation help define the target audience.
  6. Defining Brand Identity: Brand identity encompasses the voice, visuals, and typography representing a business. It should be unique, memorable, and embody the brand’s personality and values.
  7. Social Media and Influencer Marketing: Leveraging social media and influencers can drive brand growth. Collaborating with influencers whose audience aligns with the brand’s values is essential.
  8. Transparency and Trustworthiness: In the crypto and Web3 sectors, trust and transparency are paramount. A failure in these areas can significantly harm the business.
  9. Long-term Brand Building Strategies: Building a lasting brand requires a clear identity, adaptability to market trends, responsiveness to feedback, and consistency across multiple touchpoints. These elements foster credibility, recognition, and trust.

The Importance of Branding

Recognition is one of the primary advantages of branding. Customers can easily pick you up among many competitors whenever your branding is identifiable and recognizable.

The other importance of branding is creating an emotional connection between the business and its customers. The rate of recommending brands among customers is 71% among customers who have an emotional connection, according to statistics on Embryo.COM, the same stats continue to say 70% of ad viewers who perform a buy action are often triggered emotionally by the advertisement.

Trustworthiness is the next advantage of branding. A distinct, well-thought, and unique brand identity will always increase awareness and legitimacy. When prospects are more aware of a crypto brand and trust it more, they are more likely to take action.

Differentiation is another advantage and attribute of branding crypto startups. A well-designed brand will always be unique, and distinguishable from its competitors. This allows the business to fully showcase its true attributes and resonate with its intended audience.

Read also: Effective Public Relations Strategies in 2024  

Understanding the Target Audience

One cannot grow a genius brand identity without first understanding the target audience. Knowing who the audience is makes it easier to position the brand accordingly, which ultimately leads to improved marketing and overall messaging. When you understand the audience, it is easier to build credibility and achieve conversion.  

Some of the attributes that define your target audience include race, gender, age, location, or occupation. There are many others and sometimes it’s vital to engage the expertise of marketing specialists to create a better buyer persona. Bitmedia provides targeting technology to blockchain startups who want to reach the right audience when conducting marketing campaigns.

Source: Forbes Insights

Defining Brand Identity

The brand identity is the voice, visuals, and typography that represent a business. It is also a combination of different elements, including colors, shapes, and logos. Many experts say brand identity is the DNA of a brand, it makes it unique, memorable, and recognizable. But we don’t create an identity just for the looks. As mentioned previously, branding must also embody personality and values. 

One of the crypto brands that has well-crafted its brand values is Dogecoin, as you can see from the screenshot below of its official manifesto:

Implementing Social Media and Influencer Marketing

Brands can witness exponential growth when they leverage social media and the popularity of influencers. However, businesses must collaborate with influencers who align with their values. To avoid misalignment, the influencers must also have an audience that resonates with your brand. Leveraging influencer marketing in crypto allows your brand to benefit from the trust and loyalty that the influencer has already cultivated with their followers. 

Transparency and Trustworthiness

Crypto and Web3 are all about trust and transparency. If your brand fails in any of these, trust us, your business will also fail. Therefore, a brand must stick to its identity and values to make it easy for customers to trust it. If the customers get angry, research shows they will give anti-referrals to approximately 15 people. Therefore, it has become imperative for businesses to consistently deliver on their promises without breaking the trust with their customers.

Branding Strategies for Long-term Brand Building

Long-term Brand building should achieve a face, transparency, trust, and a mission that resonates with what it has to offer prospects. When these prospects convert to customers, they need to feel a sense of belonging so that they return or become better advocates. The following steps will help you create a long-term brand identity that wins in the crypto market.

Adapting to Market Trends

It is impossible to build a long-lasting brand hastily, especially in the volatile cryptocurrency sector where things tend to move very first. However, brands must also learn to balance focus and flexibility when growing an adaptive cryptocurrency business. The best way you can remain adaptive is being thorough with market research. Experts recommend utilizing SWOT analysis tools to identify gaps that your business can fill without stepping away from its roadmap.

Responding to Feedback

As we talk, 60% of customers feel like companies are not properly addressing their concerns. Hence, brands that listen to their customers’ complaints and respond to the pain points have a – one-in-a-million – opportunity to stand out. By listening to them, and acting on the feedback, customers will feel their complaints are not falling on deaf ears and that your business is striving to improve its services for the better.

Maintaining Consistency Across Multiple Touch Points

Crafting a brand is not all about being memorable and appealing to your intended customers. It is also a means to steer your business to success and make it a leader in the industry. For this to work, brands must strive to maintain a consistent face across various touchpoints. Consistency entails sustaining a unified and cohesive identity throughout the existence of the business. When thought out well, consistency fosters credibility, recognition, and trust. 

Conclusion

Throughout the life of your cryptocurrency brand, ensure your customers can easily recognize your business personality and the values you stand up for. Don’t be just a business but a brand people will always remember and relate with. Talk to Bitmedia.IO any day, and you will get help polishing your brand.