7 Strong Reasons to Brand Your Products on Amazon and How to Do it

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The Amazon marketplace is more crowded than ever. As all the sectors went into the online mode of working, thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, many brick and mortar stores started using Amazon to pitch products to their target audience. No wonder, the competition is fierce; sellers are constantly fighting for visibility, and looking for that magic formula to remain on top of the online marketplace. Aspiring ecommerce entrepreneurs are also trying to innovate and find that niche category that’ll work for them.

Considering the tight competition and the fast-growing market, it’s very important to build a brand identity on Amazon that’ll make your business stand out from the crowd. So, what gives a brand its unique identity? It’s not just a product, a promise, or a feeling. It is the sum of everything you experience with a company. Simply put, a brand is the mental and emotional perception customers have of a given company, their products, services, customer support, business practices, and overall behavior towards their customers.

Seven Reasons Why Branding Amazon Products is a Must These Days

1. Build Customer Trust

Customers are bombarded with choices on the Amazon marketplace. Think about your own experience as a buyer on Amazon or any other online marketplace. When you’re searching for something, say a black handbag or an earphone, do you stick to one particular product or brand, or quickly scroll through the other options as well? Of course, we scour our options and finally purchase one that fits our bill. Similarly, your customers will have a multitude of products or brands to choose from. Why would they prefer you over others? 

When people look for products on Amazon, price is not the sole factor that appeals to them. It is also their trust and convenience. Although the Amazon Prime program offers perks such as free shipping, value deals, and other services, credibility can only be gained by sellers and vendors through efficiency, competence, and honesty. It’s the positive brand experience that a business gives to its customers that nurtures trust. It is also the key to earning long-term customers, who play a major role in your company’s success.

2. Customer Loyalty

Businesses need to build a loyal customer base in order to thrive and boost their brand’s growth. When you earn your customers’ trust, they continue to support your brand even during difficult times. They may also share their positive experience with others verbally, by writing a customer review on their social media pages, or commenting on different community-based forums. If you offer great value in your products or services, and the brand image remains consistently positive, your business will reap the perks of customer retention.

A simple yet effective way to measure your customers’ loyalty is to know the frequency of repeat purchases, when customers stop purchasing (if they do), and how happy or satisfied they are with each purchase. While different businesses use different metrics to answer these questions, here’s a simple way to measure customer satisfaction level. There are five levels of measurement: 

• Not satisfied: The customer was not at all satisfied with your products or services.
• Slightly satisfied: The customer’s needs were only partially met by your brand; he/she expected something more.
• Satisfied: The customer‘s requirements were more or less met by your products or services.
• Very satisfied: The customer’s expectation was 100% met by your company’s products or services. 
• Extremely satisfied: Your products or services exceeded the customer’s expectations.

Customer satisfaction levels can be gauged from online star ratings and reviews, surveys, and customer interviews. While reviews tend to be more ratings-based, surveys allow you to ask specific answers to your customers, and customer interviews provide more in-depth knowledge about your services or products.

3. Door to Opportunities

When you’re a popular name on the Amazon marketplace, it can lead to greater business prospects. There are thousands of brands out there who started their journey on Amazon and gradually started selling their products on Walmart and other big-box retailers. Amazon provided them with their huge customer base and platform to sell, the owner then built a strong brand strategy, created a positive brand experience, and drove their business above and beyond mediocrity.

4. Brand Registry Exclusive Tools

If you are a trademark owner, there’s a whole new world of opportunities for you at the Amazon marketplace. When your brand is a registered member on Amazon, you can avail some wonderful opportunities like a storefront, an updated detail page, sponsored brand ads, enhanced brand content (EBC), Amazon Posts, Amazon Live, Brand Analytics, new communication platforms, and more. 

In order to ensure a great buying experience for your clients, you need to use the best showcasing platform. A storefront helps you display your products in a more professional, clean, and authentic way. EBC allows you to add more details and descriptions about your products; it saves your valuable time on FAQs and marketing by adding product images and videos (auxiliary images showcasing, Marquee, Product grid, Showcase), which is not possible if you aren’t branded.

5. Related Product Purchases

Once you have a unique identity, you become more credible to your existing and prospective customers. They’d automatically like to buy other related products from you in comparison to other brands. For example, if you initially dealt in handbags and shoes, and later introduced sunglasses, your customers are likely to buy all the three fashion accessories from you because they trust you and are prone to make purchase from your brand. 

This is highly significant because instead of letting the customers buy from other brands, you’re retaining their interest in your products.  Another major benefit is that you’ll have to pay less pick and pack fees to Amazon as multiple products can be shipped in a single Amazon box.  Thus, branding is not just powerful in terms of revenue growth but also business cost reduction.

6. Create a Positive Brand Experience

Unlike non-branded items, branded products give the buyers more satisfaction and better value for their money. What’s more, non-branded products give the perception that they’re low in quality without any after-sales support. Although this might not be the case for all non-branded items, this is a stigma that comes along with them. For a majority of the Amazon customers, positive brand experience counts over price.

7. Charge a Premium

A strong brand identity design gives a feeling of safety and quality, and quality often comes at a premium price. As mentioned above, price is not the sole deciding factor when shopping at the Amazon marketplace. As a matter of fact, convenience, authenticity, and quality are more important than anything else. Believe it or not, most customers would prefer paying a premium for quality product rather than paying less for a low-quality product. We often see identical products selling at Amazon marketplace at shockingly different price points – some branded and the rest non-branded. Typically, the branded items with a higher selling price have more demand than the non-branded items.

How to Brand Your Products for Amazon

Now that you know the key benefits of establishing a private retail brand, let’s take a quick look at how to create a strong brand identity. This’ll require extensive planning and effort, as the competition is tough and branding is the only tool that’ll separate you from the crowd. Here’s a step-by-step guide to creating a brand identity for your Amazon products:

Step 1: Identify your target audience

This is one of the most basic and important steps to developing your Amazon branding strategy. Once you know whom to pitch for your products or services, you’ll be in a better position to proceed. Since a teenager’s needs and preferences will be completely different from an aged person’s, it’s important to find out your target audience’s demand and then decide your brand’s personality that they can identify with it.

Here are a few simple and effective ways to determine your target audience:

• Conduct regular surveys and interviews
• Analyze competitors’ social media platforms
• Look for trends in online customer feedback
• Set Up Conversion Tracking in Google Analytics

Step 2: Choose a suitable name for your brand 

When naming your brand (and your Amazon Store), simplicity is the way to go. If the name is too lengthy or complicated, your customers may feel confused. If you choose a short and simple name that’s easy to remember, it’s easier to have repeat customers who are also likely to tell their friends about you. Also choose something that’s relevant to your brand. For those who want to create the same brand for all your products, use the same name for your Amazon store. For instance, Frametory is an Amazon brand that exclusively deals in picture frames.

On the contrary, if you’re selling multiple product lines under different brand names, opt for a more general store name like Modern Dealers.

Step 3: Design a professional brand identity

When a consumer comes across a brand for the first time, the first thing they’re likely to notice is their logo. Unless you’re blindly encountering a product from a friend or colleague who is already using it – it’s nearly impossible to ignore the logo of the manufacturing company. For most branded companies, their logo is a credible face for everything they stand for. You can also interpret a lot of information about a brand from their logo alone. For example, Serif fonts transmit the feeling of class and are typically associated with high-end brands. Script fonts are the ideal choice for a more professional logo design and tend to look fancier and more casual than their serif counterparts.

Step 4: Register a trademark

Trademarked products can be identified by either a ® or ™ symbol. The ® mark signifies that an item has been listed with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). The ™ is a common, proprietary law symbol that indicates that you were the first to use the trademark and that infringing on this trademark could prevent the customers from identifying the product’s source. If you’re waiting for your brand’s registered trademark status from the USPTO, make sure you use a ™ in the meantime.

Although you’re not required to be a trademarked seller on the Amazon marketplace, there are many benefits of doing so. 

• You can enlist multiple products on Amazon’s Brand Registry
• Your brand will be better protected from counterfeiters 
• You’ll have access to Amazon’s A+ content feature, which allows you to add visual content to your product descriptions

Step 5: Use custom packaging

Now that your business logo, slogan, and legal aspects are in place, consider focusing on your Amazon product packaging. Although this is a very crucial step in establishing a personal label brand, it’s usually overlooked by Amazon sellers. When you use a custom packaging that contains your own logo, it boosts your brand’s recognition by giving it a professional touch. First of all, ensure that you meet all the necessary packaging requirements, or else you might experience delays in importing commodities and storing them at an Amazon’s warehouse. 

Here’s how you can do so:

• Use the internet for searching packaging requirements in your country
• Make sure that your supplier makes use of standardized packaging
• Keep a tab on how your competitors are packaging their products

Here’s a list of what you must include on your product packaging to cover Amazon’s requirements:

• Your product or brand name
• Your product’s country of origin
• A Fulfillment Network Stock Keeping Unit (FNSKU) identifier
• Your Global Trade Identification Number (GTIN)
• Any relevant legal warnings and certifications

You can also personalize your packaging to contain design elements that represent your brand’s personality. Try being inventive and create something totally different from your competitors. For example, if a competitive brand is using floral motifs in their packaging, you can use some other nature inspired designs like leaves, snowflakes, peacocks, etc. Another idea is to use contrasting colors in stripes or checks. Study the packaging designs of brands dealing in similar products and design something that’s absolutely different, yet relevant and striking. Your best bet would be to work with an expert design agency to create a packaging design that best suits your business needs and objectives. 

In conclusion,

More than half of all online product searches begin on Amazon, so making the most of this online marketplace can make a huge difference in your business growth and success. Implement the above-mentioned strategies to create a unique brand identity on Amazon and boost your brand engagement. Lastly, remain patient and keep giving your 100 percent. Over time, you’ll surely reap the fruits of success.