How to choose the right brand for your e-commerce business
By: Kendra Madsen
Tags: Branding, Brand Experience, Brand Strategy, Brand Stories, E Commerce Business

Story contributed by Raj Jana

Today, online shoppers have more choice & power than ever. Customer acquisition depends on you having a strong brand that resonates with your target audience. To get there, you need to be consistent, authentic, and fully aware of who you’re talking to.

Getting this messaging right is a big challenge, but it’s not impossible. By researching your audience and your niche, you can discover which kind of brand is right for you. Consider the following advice as you strive to make the right branding choices for your e-commerce business.

Know your customers’ values

Learning your customers’ values means building a relationship with them that goes deeper than just producer/consumer. When people recognize and trust your brand, it’s because they see their own values reflected in it.

One of the easiest ways to learn about your customers’ values is simply to ask them. You could do some informal research on social media (or your blog) by covering certain topics and testing the engagement. Or, you could be even more scientific by conducting surveys and focus groups to learn more about the audience you’re pursuing.

After you’ve done this research, look back at your company. What do you already do that’s aligned with the values of your customers? These are the messages that will ring out the loudest.

When you can back up what you say with what you do, people will trust you and be drawn to your brand. [Click to tweet]

Begin by looking for the values you already share with your target audience, then find ways to embody the others.

Know yourself

The competition out there is endless, and the best way for you to stay afloat is to give customers something different to latch on to. This can be the products you sell, but if you combine this with a strong brand, you strengthen the connection you’ve already made with the customer.

How do you uncover these strengths and differences? Start by developing your brand identity and brand personality, because these determine how you’ll communicate with your target audience.

These two dimensions exist to humanize your company. As social beings, people want to feel like they’re buying from real people, especially when buying from an e-commerce business. It’s a risk to purchase online, and they want to feel like they can trust you to do the right thing.

By giving your brand an identity and personality, you’re helping to create the image of a person inside the minds of shoppers. When they have a person in mind, they’ll be more receptive to your brand messages.

Beyond that, brand identity and personality serve different functions. A brand identity explains who and what your company is. It’s your name, logo, colors, slogans… all the elements that identify your brand. As an e-commerce business, your identity will likely resemble a salesperson — you sell products people want or need.

Your personality is more than that. It’s how you sell. How do you present yourself? How do you talk? Do you care about certain issues? What do you believe? What do you not believe? These are things people connect to, and they’ll develop stronger feelings about your brand when they know what these are.

To choose the right brand for your company, you need a clear idea of who you are as a company. Consider writing down a mission statement, a vision, and a list of core values. This will crystallize the things your brand stands for, and as a result, your brand messaging will be more authentic and resonate better with your target audience.

Know your story

For as much as things have changed in the world, people still love a good story. Whether it’s the story of a hero, an underdog, or simply the shared challenges and pleasures of the human experience, a good story moves people’s hearts and minds.

Every brand out there has a story — every one. The challenge is to share that story in a way that’s authentic and relatable. It might take some time to discover the best way to communicate your story to your target audience.

Start by zeroing in on your company’s purpose, or more specifically, the problem you solve. Let’s consider an example.

Say you manage an e-commerce brand that sells eco-friendly furniture and clothing. What’s your story? In short, you provide people with comfort and security in an environmentally friendly way.

But there’s something larger going on: climate change and the movement to address it. Your role in this global story is to meet people’s basic needs at a significantly lower cost to the environment. Your brand creates better harmony between humans and the earth, and people who care about the planet will want to help your cause.

In this example, your story represents and exemplifies your brand’s values. Positioning your brand as an environmental activist, or as a lover and defender of nature, will help you connect with your target audience. This powerful brand image comes from digging into the story, bringing to light what it really is.

L.L. Bean is a good real-life example of this. It started with a man designing his own pair of boots to make it easier and more enjoyable to walk around outside. But the larger story is about humanity’s love of nature. Through this narrative lens, you can easily recognize L.L. Bean’s brand. This is no coincidence.

Of course, your history might not be as deep as L.L. Bean’s, but it’s still meaningful. Take some time to find the best way to communicate your story, and it will clarify and reinforce your brand in the eyes of your customers.

Key takeaway

For your e-commerce brand to stay successful, it needs to be authentic. When you’re laying out your brand strategy, choose values and messaging that you and your customers truly believe in. By staying true to yourself and focusing on what you share with your audience, the right brand will emerge on its own. It might be challenging, but it shouldn’t feel forced, and the results will definitely be worth it.

About Raj Jana

Raj Jana is the founder of JavaPresse, a specialty coffee company. Choosing and implementing the right brand strategy has been one of the biggest challenges in building his business, but he’s learned a lot along the way.