When we talk about brands and branding, we almost never remember to mention that having full control over your own brand is impossible. Brands exist in people’s minds, and a brand that was meant to be fresh and young may look childish to a lot of people.
When it comes to the brands of online stores, the situation is even more complicated. The brand is built not only by the actions of the store owner, but the actions of other companies, too. For instance, if the company in charge of product deliveries is often behind schedule, it will quickly start negatively affecting the store’s brand, even though it has nothing to do with the actions of the store’s owner.
A store’s brand is like a person’s character
One way to look at how a brand is built is comparing it to a person’s character. It feels one way on the inside and looks different on the outside. Everyone has a slightly different opinion about what kind of person someone is.
What you do and how you act affect how other people see you. Is what you say in line with what you do? You may consider yourself a trustworthy person. Yet, if you fail even once to keep an important promise, other people may see you as unreliable.
That is why building a brand takes both time and effort, and being consistent is important. Never mislead your consumers or create conflicting messages by saying one thing and doing something else. The only way to building a trustworthy brand is being able to keep your promise again and again.
Choose your store’s partners carefully
The following things, for instance, shape your store’s brand in their own way:
the quality and durability of the products the speed and reliability of shipments and deliveries marketing efforts such as advertisements and social media marketing If you have trusted someone else with deliveries or marketing or you get your products from a supplier, their actions, too, count towards your store’s brand. Their actions have an effect on how people perceive the store and its usefulness.
As an online store owner, you need to choose your partner companies carefully and be prepared to make changes when necessary. If for instance you often receive complaints from customers about broken products or late deliveries, you may need to look for new partners to do business with.
You build a brand without trying
Even as the store owner you cannot control everything that affects the brand. You can only do your best and expect your partners to do the same.
However, there is a bright side, too: building a brand does not need specific plans. You don’t necessarily have to take your brand into consideration in your everyday actions.
If the products are of high quality, the problems with deliveries are few and far between, and the customers are always happy with the service they get, the store will in time have a strong, positive brand in customers’ minds. That is how some store owners are able to build their brands without any extra effort.