13 Types of Branding Strategies and Tips for Entrepreneurs

1. Corporate Branding

Corporate branding is important for businesses that offer a wide array of products or services. It focuses on humanizing your brand with the aim of getting its target audience to relate to it in a better manner. It revolves around a story that moves beyond the products/services you sell and highlights what you do, why you do it, and your values. In such scenarios, you may use your brand’s name and identity to draw attention to all your offerings.

Corporate branding strategies typically involve different components of brand identity like logos, messaging, partnerships, and stances on important issues. The last can be particularly important according to data compiled in a HubSpot post. It indicates that:

• Half of the consumers in the U.S. feel businesses should do more about social issues.
• 41% believe brands need to make their stance on social causes public.
• While 44% of women feel brands should support social issues, the number falls to 38% for men.
• 61% of Black/Asian consumers want brands to take public stances.

Examples of Corporate Branding

Apple is a great example of getting corporate branding right. Its strategy revolves around highlighting the company’s values, creativity, innovation, and imagination; and it is successful in creating emotional connections with its target audience.

Google is another good example, because whether you use a Pixel phone, Gmail, or Google Maps, you know it’s from the house of Google. Not surprisingly the Google brand continues to remain more popular than Alphabet, despite the restructuring of the company way back in 2015.

Nike has also done consistently well in its branding efforts over a period of time. If you pay attention to this brand’s ads, you will notice they are more about the people who represent the brand and the company’s values rather than the products.

Some of the other popular companies that have gotten their corporate branding right include McDonald’s, Tesla, Microsoft, Porsche, and Amazon.

2. Product Branding

Product branding boils down to specific products. Consider this – you’re in a supermarket aisle, not sure what you want, and you see walls lined with colorfully packaged items screaming for your attention. Which ones do you choose? This is where product branding enters the picture, elevating products from being mere goods to desired objects.

Product branding focuses on creating a unique identity for your product, encompassing its name, packaging, design, and messaging. It aims to make products easily recognizable and also plays a role in how your target audience perceives your product/s.

Examples of Product Branding

While Coca-Cola has done extremely well with its corporate branding, it has also managed to hit the right spot with product branding. After all, its famous red cans are hard to miss and it has used this color to good effect in scores of commercials. The company also pays due attention to the shape of its bottles, taking product branding one step further.

Apple plays its product branding cards right as well. While the company offers several products, the Apple Watch has gained significant popularity in recent times. Throughout its evolutionary stages, Apple has highlighted the latest model’s features successfully, drawing more than enough attention from its audience. The iPhone, in itself, has become synonymous with smartphones for many.

3. Personal Branding

Personal branding is not about bragging but belonging, and you may think of it as a marketing strategy that helps you find and connect with your tribe. Unlike corporate or product branding, personal branding has more to do with an individual. For example, if you, as an expert in your realm, wish to promote yourself, personal branding might work well for you.

Personal branding can work well for social media influencers as well as for people who wish to make the most of the digital landscape by relying on their expertise. These include lawyers, realtors, fashion designers, artists, and even job seekers.

Personal branding helps you attract the right people, the ones who resonate with your unique blend of skills, values, and passions. It’s not about asking your audience to look at you but about telling it who you are and asking who wants to join the journey.

When it comes to personal branding, authenticity is crucial. You need to ditch all the filters and forced perfection, and while you should share your wins, you also need to share your quirks and vulnerabilities. After all, people still connect with what’s real, and not robots.

Examples of Personal Branding

Neil Patel is an SEO Wizard, and his personal brand revolves around providing actionable SEO and digital marketing advice. He leverages his extensive knowledge and data-driven approach to build trust and authority, and his consistent content creation across formats ensures his brand remains relevant and valuable to marketers of all levels.

Mark Manson is a best-selling author and internet entrepreneur, and his reach extends to over a million people each month. Mark started by building a strong audience base through his blog, after which he got around to writing and releasing his first book. Having found success, he now offers a subscription service that helps monetize his website. He has also made good use of social media platforms to build his personal brand.

4. Service Branding

In a similar vein to product branding, service branding helps draw attention to a specific service, and its goal is to highlight the benefits that consumers might expect. A key difference between the two is that service branding requires presenting a clear picture of the experience consumers may expect if they choose to use your services.

Various industries rely on this form of branding to draw attention to their services, some of which include airlines, banks, insurance companies, sports agencies, and law firms.

Examples of Service Branding

The next time you make a reservation through Airbnb or book an Uber, you might want to pay attention to how well they play the service branding card. For example, Airbnb has become a strong community-driven brand and it continues to put its customers at the forefront by ensuring as much transparency as possible. No matter which property listing you look at, you get a good indication of what to expect.

Another good example comes from Geico, a leading auto insurance company. It uses service branding to emphasize its promise that “15 minutes or less can save you 15% or more on car insurance.” The company introduced its unusual and now popular gecko mascot in 1999, and it has worked well for them ever since.

Several Geico commercials have featured their quirky mascot humorously portraying scenarios where people overpay for things other than car insurance, implying the company’s competitiveness in pricing. For long, its service branding has focused on two key aspects – affordability and ease.

5. Retail Branding

Retail branding, as the name implies, is for retail establishments. Since retailers function out of brick-and-mortar structures, this type of branding strategy focuses on shaping consumer perception by using physical elements such as posters, displays, signage, flooring, lights, music, and décor. Some common types of businesses that rely on this form of branding include supermarkets, specialty stores, discount stores, department stores, apparel brands, and local boutiques.

Examples of Retail Branding

Apple is a master of brand storytelling, and you can see its brand identity pour out in its stores too. Designed to offer immersive experiences, Apple uses its stores to market its products as tools for creativity and self-expression.

Sephora, a personal care and beauty products retailer, has revolutionized the beauty industry by creating a more experiential shopping environment. Its stores are interactive and engaging, to say the least, and it has trained its employees to provide personalized recommendations.

6. Co-Branding

Co-branding, also known as brand partnering, is a powerful marketing strategy where two or more brands join forces to create a synergistic partnership. To benefit from this form of branding, you ideally need to build a level of authority in your realm, as this highlights you have something to offer. Co-branding might involve:

• Jointly developed products
• Combined marketing campaigns
• Ingredient branding
• Co-branded sponsorships

Examples of Co-Branding

An unlikely pairing between Kanye West and Adidas created a high-demand business. It came in the form of the now-defunct Yeezy line, a powerhouse collaboration that blended Kanye’s cultural influence with Adidas’ athletic expertise.

The “A Day Without a Whopper” campaign saw Burger King encourage customers to buy Big Macs, raising funds for children’s cancer charities. This unexpected partnership showcased social responsibility and industry unity.

GoPro and Red Bull, brands that cater to adventurous individuals, have co-branded campaigns that feature extreme sports and challenges, resonating with their shared target audience.

The Other Seven

The use of branding strategies in marketing is widespread, to say the least, and you probably know by now that there’s no effective one-size-fits-all approach. Depending on your offerings, the audience you cater to, and your specific goals, you might benefit by employing one or more of these strategies too.

1. Geographical branding. You may think of geographical branding as weaving a story about a particular region into a brand. Think rolling Scottish hills for a whiskey brand, sun-drenched California beaches for a surf wear company, or the bustling energy of Tokyo for a tech startup. These associations evoke emotions, build trust, and make your brand stand out.
2. Ingredient branding. Ingredient branding involves drawing attention to one or more ingredients in a product, typically to distinguish it from its competition. Ingredient branding can work well for different types of businesses. For example, while “Intel Inside” instantly conveys performance and reliability, a craft brewery that highlights it grows its own hops can create a unique local identity.
3. Conscious branding. Conscious branding requires looking beyond profit margins and aligning your brand with a deeper purpose. It involves focusing on transparency, authenticity, and action. It’s also about asking yourself what values you stand for, how you can contribute to a better world, and what impact you want to have on the community at large. This type of branding is ideal for businesses that want to reach out to socially-conscious audiences.
4. Debranding. At its core, debranding is the intentional removal of branding elements. For example, logos become minimalistic, packaging gets plain, and marketing campaigns vanish. While this might sound risky, it can work in several scenarios. For example, it can be part of a strategic move to shed negative associations and appeal to a new audience. In addition, it can shed a corporate facade and showcase the raw product or story behind it, and a clean aesthetic can resonate with a generation that seeks simplicity and sustainability.
5. Rebranding. Rebranding might be the order of the day if you feel your brand is stuck in a rut, your brand image does not reflect your current values and offerings accurately, you’ve been hit by bad press or a controversy, or you’ve merged with another entity. If you decide to rebrand, make sure you remain transparent and consistent and don’t alienate your loyal customers.
6. Online branding. Online branding involves creating a strong digital presence by using different channels like your website, social media platforms, search engines, and emails. A good digital marketing agency can also help you with reputation management if required. Online branding can increase your digital footprint as well as help you reach out to a larger audience and stand out from the competition. It can also build credibility and trust.
7. Offline branding. Offline branding involves promoting your brand without using digital channels and relying on traditional real-world methods instead. These may come in the form of billboards, print ads, radio commercials, TV spots, brochures, flyers, posters, packaging, vents, pop-up shops, product demonstrations, sponsorships, community engagement initiatives, storefront design, signage, employee uniforms, trade shows, conferences, and networking events. Offline branding still holds value because it helps you cut through the noise, build deeper connections, and showcase authenticity.

Branding Strategies in Entrepreneurship

Even if you have an entrepreneurial spirit, a killer idea, and the drive to succeed, simply offering a great product or service isn’t enough. You need to stand out, carve your niche, and become a brand that resonates with your target audience. Bear in mind that your brand is the emotional connection you forge with your customers, and if you’re unsure of how to go about the process, consider partnering with a digital agency that does.

Know Yourself and Your Audience

You need to get introspective before crafting your brand narrative, which requires defining your core values, mission, and unique value proposition (UVP). Ask yourself who you will help and how you will make their lives better. Once you understand your essence, take time to research your target audience. Identify who they are as well as their needs, desires, and pain points. Then, align your brand with their aspirations.

Remain Authentic

Trying to copy everything and everyone will serve little to no purpose. Instead, you need to embrace your individuality and let your brand personality shine through. Whether you are playful and innovative, bold and disruptive, or reliable and trustworthy, you should own your vibe and express it across all touchpoints consistently.

Craft Your Story

If you look at the top branding strategies examples, you’ll notice that most revolve around storytelling. This is because people connect with stories. As a result, focus on crafting a compelling narrative that weaves your brand values, mission, and UVP into an engaging story. Use high-quality visuals, impactful messaging, and even a touch of humor to make your brand story memorable. Remember, it pays to show, and not tell.

In addition:

• Ensure consistency in your visual identity.
• Use social media platforms to connect, listen, and respond to your customers.
• Promote your brand through targeted advertising, strategic partnerships, and influencer collaborations.
• Get feedback from customers and industry experts, and adapt your branding strategy based on new insights.

Conclusion

The use of branding strategies in marketing is not new, although they have evolved significantly over the last couple of decades. Sure, some of the old methods still work. However, the opportunity that the digital landscape offers to create a positive brand experience requires one to sit up, take notice of, and embrace the new. Whether you wish to promote your business, draw attention to a particular product, or establish your position as an industry expert, effective branding can help deliver desired results.

If you’re unsure about which types of branding strategies may work well for you or if you need assistance in implementing them, getting in touch with a professional branding agency might be in your best interest. This is because, with experts at the helm, you may expect optimum results.