Building Brand Awareness - Dynamic Resources

Think of what it’s like to travel in a new country. You’re feeling a bit overwhelmed with making decisions about where to eat and drink. And then you walk around the corner and see a familiar logo from home.

You breathe a sigh of relief, walk through the doors and take comfort in being able to get your latte exactly the way you want. This small dose of familiarity is just what you need to help you reset and enjoy your travel experience.

This is the power of your retail brand.

Your retail brand needs to deliver confidence, trust, and value.

Your retail brand needs to be memorable, engaging, and relatable.

Your retail brand needs to give you a competitive advantage.

This is a lot to ask from your brand. But in today’s global retail industry where you’re competing for customer attention and loyalty across multiple channels – your retail brand needs to perform.

Companies who succeed at brand differentiation and recognition are using branding and graphic installations to connect and engage with their customers.

Window displays that people want to share on social media. Digital displays that spike curiosity and engagement. In-store branding that communicates your brand mission. Graphic rollouts and installations that help customers find and remember you.

Are you confident your branding and graphic installations do this?

What Does Brand Mean for Retail?

Retail branding is the use of logos, colors, packaging, visual merchandising, graphics installation, design elements, and language to differentiate your products and services from those of your competitors.

Retail branding is a relationship tool, allowing you to connect, engage, and resonate with potential and loyal customers.

People buy brands. People become devoted to brands. People look to brands during times of stress and uncertainty. People choose brands because they aspire to what the brand represents.

It’s likely your favorite brands subtly evoke these emotions, qualities, and values:

Confidence and trust: people return to brands who they know are dependable and reliable.
Ease: there is a lot of choice in every product category, people don’t want to struggle with their purchasing decisions – the easier it is to make a purchasing decision, the better.
Comfort: people need to feel good about how they spend their money and choose brands that have given them a positive experience in the past.
Safety: people want to limit risk and disappointment so we tend to choose brands we recognize and understand.
Identity: people self-identify with brands, choosing brands based on messaging, mission statements, or their positions on topics. People want to see themselves in the brand and align with brands that represent their personality and opinions.
Value: a recognized brand can quietly communicate value even when a lesser known brand provides the same quality at a lower price.

Every retail brand has a personality. Take a look around your store and your website. What is your retail brand personality?

If you can’t answer this quickly – there is a problem. Because if you don’t know – the people walking by your store will keep on walking.

How Graphics Installations and Window Displays Communicate Your Retail Brand

In-store branding including graphic rollouts, window displays, visual installations, and digital displays tell people who you are and why you can give them what they need.

Trust. Comfort. Peace of mind. Values. Ethics. Safety. Ease. Security.

These are communicated with in-store branding and graphic installations, including:

Window displays
Your window displays need a call to action. You need to give people a reason to stop walking by and to walk into your store.
Signage
In-store signage guides, educates, entertains, and engages people with your brand and products. Signage is about more than communicating price or product category. Use signage to remind people why they walked in and what they can get from your brand.
Digital displays
This can include touchscreens, immersive experiences, in-store digital shopping, personalization stations, and more. It is important not to use digital displays just because you can – remember your target market and what they want from your brand and shopping experience.
Graphic installations
Wallpapers, murals, 3D lettering, floor graphics, backlit displays, banners, films, and cut letters are all examples of graphics installations you can use to strategically communicate and reinforce your retail brand.
Seasonal displays
Seasonal displays allow you to communicate to people that you are following trends and moods and are up-to-date with the ebb and flow of the year. From highlighting the shopping season to expressing opinions and ethics – seasonal displays are creative tools that can be used to play on emotions, communicate brand mission, to roll-out new products, to create social buzz, and more.

People buy brands. We think we’re buying products. But we’re really buying brands.

We choose a car because we trust the brand. We choose a coffee shop because we know what to expect. We choose a hotel because we had a positive experience with the brand.

Do your graphic installations build trust, instill confidence, and highlight value?

Graphics, Window, and Branding Trends

Remember that people identify with the brands they choose.

Teenagers may choose a brand because it’s trendy and hip. Parents may choose a brand because it is reliable and safe. Older adults may choose a brand because it reflects memories or emotions.

Consider why people choose your retail brand and how these graphics, windows, and branding trends fit with your retail brand personality:

Creating social buzz is a hot marketing strategy, but it only works if your customers are on social media or want to hear and see you in their social media feeds. Make sure you understand how your customers are using social media. More than one brand has suffered from chasing social trends.

Pop-ups and store-in-store installations can be an effective way to showcase how your brand fits with customers of another brand. These installations can help build relationships with hard-to-reach customers and communicate your brand value to people who are curious about your brand or niche.

Storytelling is a must for every retail brand and customer demographic. Use brand storytelling to tell people why your brand exists, the challenges you solve for them, and how you add value to their lives. How you manage this brand storytelling depends on your niche and your customers – you may choose to do this with immersive in-store experiential displays or with window displays that clearly communicate your brand’s point of view on topics such as sustainability or human rights.

Using technology for the sake of using technology does not help your retail brand image. Will your customers be turned off or excited by a robot greeter? Are you customers early adopters of technology? Know your customers and know what they want from your brand when they walk into your store.

Shopping and supporting local is a global trend that every brand is trying to capitalize on. For some global brands this means designing unique stores that fit with the community and the vibe of the neighborhood for each location. And for other retail brands this means hosting in-store pop-ups showcasing local creatives, artists, or products.

There is not one single approach to retail branding. How you use graphic installations, in-store branding, and window displays depends on your brand and your customers.

Ask yourself these key questions:

Who are we?
Why do we exist?
How do we solve problems for our customers?
What do we stand for?
Who are we selling to?

The answers to these questions should be reflected in your graphics, displays, and in-store branding.

You want to be the retail brand people seek out – at home and away from home.

At Dynamic Resources, our unique combination of IN-HOUSE offerings makes us your single source provider for all your graphic, window, and branding installation. We know how important it is to have brand consistency from site to site, market to market, and from one global region to another.