How branding can help you build community – and where to start

Have you ever loved a band or artist so much that you’ve bought the t-shirt or turned on your Spotify notifications so you know the second they release new music; or bonded with someone else over your mutual love for them? If yes, then knowingly or otherwise, you’ve been part of a brand community, writes Caitlin Collins, Head of Communications and Brand Marketing at 99designs by Vista.

And nurturing these kinds of shared connections is precisely what lies at the heart of building a community for any brand, no matter how big or small your business is.

It’s one thing for a customer to buy your product or service. It’s another for them to then post a video on social media raving about how much they love it, proactively talk about you with their friends and family, and actively provide feedback that helps you evolve and grow your business.

This is what a community will do for you – and why building a community of brand advocates and customer heroes has become almost synonymous with online marketing success in recent years.

Building your brand community

Establishing these relationships takes effort and hard work, and it isn’t typically a short journey. But some simple design tactics can help make the journey easier for small business brands looking to rally their biggest fans and most loyal supporters around a common purpose, shared values and identity.

Present your brand authentically

As much as we’d like to believe that people don’t judge a book by its cover, they absolutely do, whether they realise it or not. Psychological associations with colours, fonts and shapes affect how people feel and react to your brand.

That said, your inherent purpose and the beliefs that drive your company (i.e. your mission, vision and values) will matter most to your customers and is where that emotional connection is founded.

It follows that every design choice you make (for everything from your website and packaging to your social post templates and email layouts) should consistently reflect your core brand identity and personality. After all, if your audience can recognise what they care about in every visual touchpoint and interaction with your brand, it will help build trust – and any dissonance can be an inadvertent red flag to your community that you’re not whom they think you are.

Invest in well-designed merch

If you’ve ever felt connected to a stranger because they’re wearing a shirt from your favourite sandwich shop, you’ve experienced the value of branded merch. These products, from t-shirts to hats, are a walking advertisement for your brand. It’s a passive but efficient approach to building brand awareness for product-and service-based businesses – and one of the most authentic because it’s an expression of true advocacy.

People who wear your merch are most likely customers who have had positive experiences with you: your brand fans! Wearing it not only presents the opportunity for them to connect with other people who feel the same way, but to naturally prompt word-of-mouth of recommendations – like a living, breathing billboard.

Given the power of merch as a promotional tool, it’s worth investing the same creative thought and effort you would in any other form of advertising. Higher quality aesthetics equal greater interest.

And you don’t necessarily need to have merch year-round. Limited edition print runs or special event memorabilia can capture a moment that makes the merch even more special to those who have it.

Pro tip! While your merch can create a solid revenue stream, you can also give it away. Consider offering it as an incentive to share content or to provide in-depth feedback. Remember that a community relationship is a two-way street; merch can be an excellent way to give back and thank your most loyal supporters.

Encourage and amplify user-generated content

Nothing makes people feel more included in your brand community than having their photos or videos featured on your channels. And people often want to share. Whether through inserts in packaging or follow-up emails, you have to make sure you ask them to!

To boost engagement, make sure you promote a branded hashtag for your followers to use on social media, which will help people discover your brand. Ask questions, request feedback and join conversations to prompt ideas for content to create.

If you’re a product-based business, the packaging is critical, especially with the popularity of ‘unboxing’ style content – the more beautiful your packaging, the more likely people will want to show it off. If you’re doing a push or promotion around a particular occasion, limited-edition packaging is a great way to push the creative boundaries and try something new.

The best part about this kind of authentic user-generated content is that it personalises and humanises your community and their unique perspective. It promotes your brand to others outside your current community, and because of your consistent solid branding, chances are this user-generated content will be on brand too.

Suppose you’re worried that the content your customers are producing isn’t quite up to your brand standards or matching your overall channel aesthetic? In that case, you can always add accents of your brand colours or place photos on a branded background template to create a more cohesive look.

Building a community around your brand can be pretty intimidating when you’re first starting. And the truth is it doesn’t happen overnight. But by being intentional with how you present yourself and creating space for your customers to belong, contribute and share their experiences, you’ll have a thriving community of grassroots brand ambassadors before you know it.

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