Talk to any marketer and they will give you an endless amount of spiel about why branding is the most significant thing you can do for your company. And they’re right, but the way they approach their point isn’t always the best.

They’ll argue things like “standing out from the crowd” or “allowing customers to identify”, but there’s actually a much more scientific reason that you should be focusing on your branding – Edward Thorndike’s concept ‘The Halo Effect’.

The Halo Effect

While the actual psychological concept that Thorndike put forward is extremely complex, it all boils down to this:

There is a cognitive bias where an observer will have an overall impression that’s based entirely on the character or properties of the thing which they are observing.

In layman’s terms that means that people can love, hate or feel indifferent towards your company based solely on their initial impressions from your branding. That’s an extremely powerful tool when used to your advantage, although it can be hazardous if it goes against you.

You need to make sure that your branding, website and entire company image is something that sits positively with your audience. As this is science, however, there is no need to guess at what your customers want to see – there are studies that prove certain colours work best, you’ll find facts about which fonts people pay most attention to and what type of imagery works best in your industry.

Consistency

In addition to being appealing to your customers visually, there is a lot of research to show that being consistent with your branding across all platforms is key. By maintaining the same branding across all your resources – both online and offline – your customers will be able to recognise you much faster and will, hopefully, start to show loyalty to your brand.

It is vital that you marry consistency with an attractive design in order to fully reap the benefits. The more visually appealing, the more attention your branding will attract and therefore the more potential customers you’re likely to receive.

Showing Quality

Have you ever noticed that when you’re shopping you automatically pick out certain items while glazing over others? A lot of this is due to familiarity – see consistency above – but the remaining percentage is a result of the packaging / branding quality. By carefully taking your time to ensure that your branding is aimed at the target audience, you increase your chances that they will stop and take notice of your products.

While there’s no direct science behind the price you should pay for the best branding design, generally speaking it pays to invest in high quality branding. By taking the time do carefully plan everything from your typography to your colour scheme and layout, you can ensure that your brand’s ‘Halo Effect’ is a good one.

The initial cost may be slightly more, but if you see a 1% increase of interest from potential customers as a result of this then that’s a win! In the long term, making sure that you’ve taken the time to carefully and thoroughly plan your branding is worth far more to your business than the petty cash you’d save otherwise.

 

By Rhys John, Digital Marketing Executive at Thomas Design.

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