Shopify Brand Building: Tips to Be an Addictive Brand

With the rise in popularity of Shopify, almost anyone can build an e-commerce store about any topic.

Shopify makes it really easy for anyone to have an idea and put together a store in minutes. There is also a wide range of themes and templates you can use to get started, even if you don’t have any design experience.

But the issue with this is it gives rise to many Shopify stores looking the same.

So when you have an increase in people creating their own online store, the best way to stand out is through your branding.

In this post, we’ll look at how you build a brand when you’re using Shopify as your platform of choice.

You’ll learn: 

1. How defining your target customer early on helps you build a brand from the get-go
2. Why you need to think carefully about why you’re running your business
3. How to show the benefits of buying your products leads to better branding
4. Why talking to customers is crucial for brand building
5. How strong Shopify branding allows you to increase your overall prices

Who is your customer?

Before you start selling your products, it’s a good idea to know who you’re selling to. If you don’t know who you’re selling to, even if you build the best brand it won’t resonate with the type of people you’re trying to target. Think about it. The way you’d market a product aimed at people aged 60+ is very different to how you’d market the same product to people aged 14-20.

Look at this example:

Source: https://www.able-labels.co.uk/kids-notebook-and-pencil-pack/

This website allows people to buy a personalized notebook aimed at children. You can clearly see from the branding that they use lots of bright colors and patterns to entice and encourage children to buy it.

Compare that to this site that offers personalized branded notebooks for business owners. It has a very different appearance largely because they’re targeting very different people – despite them selling the same product.

If your Shopify store is mature in the number of sales and time you’ve been running, you should have a clear idea of who your ideal customer is and this should help guide your branding experience.

But even if you’re just starting out, it’s still possible to know who you want your customer to be. One of the greatest things about being an e-commerce owner is you get to decide who your customers should be and then brand your business to suit that.

Questions to ask to understand your ideal customer:

1. How old is the target customer/
2. What changes in their life for them to want to buy a product like yours?
3. Are products like mine, nice-to-haves or necessities?
4. Is your product for any gender, or gender-specific?
5. How should your product make your customers feel?

These aren’t the only questions you could or should be asking. These are a great start to get a clearer idea of the type of people you’re targeting so that you’re able to build a better brand.

If you’re yet to choose your Shopify theme template, think about how you want it to be branded. The great thing about Shopify is the levels of customization you can do. However, if you’re limited in your coding ability, you might want to choose a theme that closely matches your desired brand right out of the box.

The best Shopify apps are out there waiting to be discovered. Benefit from the apps that’ll improve customer experience, based on the survey you’ve conducted.

Why are you running your business?

When you think about why you’re running your business, you’re thinking about why your brand. There will always be competitors. And part of building a Shopify brand for your store involves knowing why you’re building your brand your way.

When you have a clear idea of that, it’s time to make it known to your potential customers. Consumers are much more likely to buy from a brand they think will be here for the long run as opposed to a brand they think are new and likely to shut down in the near future. 

There are many ways you can display for reason for being. Let’s look at some examples. 

If you give a portion of your profits away to charity, for example, it can be useful to highlight this for customers and potential customers to see. 

Source: https://www.rhone.com/pages/about-us

Rhone, for example, has an entire page of their website dedicated to letting their audience know why they exist and why they wanted to create this business in the first place.

Show the benefits of your Shopify store, what makes you different?

We’ve already established that many Shopify stores tend to look similar. With so many theme trends, people often pick the same stylistic aspects for their store. That doesn’t mean you can implement features and functions that sets your site apart from others. 

One of the best ways to do this is by having a consistent brand throughout the entire website. You might have the same theme as someone else. But it doesn’t mean you have to have the exact same website as someone else. 

If you’re going for a playful, fun brand and have chosen a theme to match that, have another look at your product photography and product imagery. Do they reflect the image you’re trying to get across or could you do additional work?

In short, the aim here is to make sure the entire website feels like your brand. 

Proper’s aims to create a brand that helps customers simplify their lives. Because of this, their website is sleek and simple.

Conversations with customers help you improve your product and build a brand

Once your store has been running for a decent amount of time, you’ll start to generate reviews and elicit feedback from your customers. This is a natural process of store maturation and should be welcomed. 

What many people don’t realize, though, store and product feedback helps you build a brand that your customers not only love but resonate with. 

It all comes down to using their own language on your website, product copy, and marketing assets. You might find that customers describe a particular phrase or process in a specific way different to how you do on your website.

They do this simply because this is how they talk about the phrase. If you want an e-commerce company that’s customer-centric. You should do the same.

Not only that but poor reviews can help you build a brand too. The ultimate aim for an e-commerce store is where your brand is strong enough. If customers have a bad experience with a product they can continue being your customer instead of opting for the nearest competitor. But in order for this to happen, you need to show them that your Shopify brand is committed to helping and supporting your customers.

If a specific customer gives you a one-star review. For example, look at why they did this, fix the issues, refund them and offer them a free replacement. This will go a long way to showing that customer (and all future customers), that you care. And nothing screams “brand” more than a Shopify e-commerce store that actually cares.

Source: https://www.quadlockcase.com/collections/shop-moto/products/motorcycle-scooter-mount-kit-all-galaxy-devices

Now, there are only 6 1-star reviews out of over 2300. But the Quad Lock Case could still reach out to these 6 customers to address their concerns and solve their problems. Not only will this help establish them as a brand that supports its customers but it’ll help them increase and improve their customer retention.

Price increase the benefits of building a Shopify e-commerce brand

Brand building isn’t just about changing the color of your logo or picking a new font. It goes much deeper than that. It involves you looking at all aspects of your business to decide what you want it to be and how you want it to feel. But then second to that, it involves taking measures and steps to actually put that into action.

And once you’ve got a stable brand? You’ll benefit from being able to charge a premium for your products even if a customer could buy them elsewhere.

Take HappySocks for example. It’s likely that anyone could buy socks from anywhere much cheaper. So why do people buy Happy Socks?

Well, it’s because they buy into the brand just as much as they buy into the product. When you can get that balance right in your pricing, you win.

Final thoughts: Shopify brand building

In this post, we’ve looked at not only the importance of building a brand. If you’re running an e-commerce store and want it to be successful, some specific tips on how you can achieve this with Shopify is always helpful.

Even if your budget is low, building a brand should be a top priority. It can be easily achieved when you follow the steps outlined in this post.

After all, once you have a solid brand, you’ll benefit from being able to increase your prices. Stay at the forefront of your customers’ minds and increase word of mouth marketing.