No matter the superiority of your product or the knowledge base and experience that surrounds your service, to run a viable business, you must maintain and grow a customer or client base.

Of course, a great product or consumer service represents the first thing you need to get a company off the ground. But, presenting your business to potential clients through marketing and advertising also stands as an essential component to success. You need customers to pay the bills and generate revenue, hopefully with the result of turning a profit.

Why marketing and advertising revolve around branding:

Without a defined brand, your marketing and advertising dollars won’t perform at their best. It takes more than a clever name and a recognizable logo to constitute a brand.

Branding entails a consistent physical presence but also an intangible attitude that presents itself through all the senses. Smart marketers will know their typical customer profiles and design the brand accordingly.

Environmental branding and pursuing the client:

Environmental branding involves carrying out the brand throughout the physical storefront and the online presence or web page of the company. From the restroom in the restaurant to the testimonial page online, no opportunity should go unnoticed to promote the brand through physical design and décor, packaging, and choices involving scent and background music.

Research done by Kumar and Kunz in 2014 concluded that clients respond cognitively and emotionally to a well-constructed brand presentation.

Some of the ways to use environmental branding to secure and maintain customers include the following:

• Clearly define your brand and carry it out through the building interior, graphic design, and landscaping. Involving all the senses with a consistent theme keeps the customer involved and encourages loyalty.
• In a retail situation such as a store or restaurant, environmental branding includes employee uniforms and well thought out design from the art on the wall to dishes brought to the table. Staying on brand ensures confidence in the customer.
• Whether a phone room, restaurant, or physical retail space makes up the work environment, the employees engrained in environmental branding conduct more meaningful interactions with the customer. The clients respond to genuine employee passion and competence favorably. Not only do customers appreciate excellent service, but they also enjoy patronizing businesses with a satisfied workforce.
• Customers react positively to a sincere mission statement and supporting stories. Brochures, signage, and website content should continue the brand presence through design and tone when it comes to sharing information about the company.

How environmentally branding positively affects customers:

1. Well-constructed environmental branding appeals to clients cognitively. If a company knows how to run and present a business, many will take note to repurchase the product or continue the service.
2. It generates an emotional response. Comfort food, a favorite song, or even a stimulating color, may contribute to positive emotions surfacing.
3. Environmental branding encourages confidence in the company.
4. Customers who react positively to emotional branding will most likely refer other customers through word-of-mouth, the best and cheapest advertising available.
5. Consistent branding encourages loyalty.

Consistency in environmental branding may very well represent the essential component when it comes to retaining loyal customers and encouraging new customers to try a business. As comfortable as the consistency makes the customer feel, failing that expectation could lead to lost business.

Imagine if they started playing rap and heavy metal rather than opera and Frank Sinatra in your favorite Italian restaurant. You’d probably start looking for a new place for pasta.

At times, customers complain about aspects of the business not living up to its brand. Whether reflected in the product or atmosphere, it behooves the company to try and remedy the situation. Minimally an apology should follow, with a guarantee of product replacement or a way to make up for a disappointing experience.

For more information on maintaining and growing a customer or client base with environmental branding, please contact us here.