Ecommerce Branding: A Complete Guide

Creating an ecommerce brand from scratch can be incredibly challenging. How can you establish yourself as a competitive and trustworthy brand with so many different details to decide on? 

Here’s everything you need to know about ecommerce branding and how to do it successfully: 

Why Is Branding Important for Ecommerce Brands?

While branding is important for all brands, it’s particularly critical for ecommerce brands. As you may know, ecommerce barriers to entry tend to be quite low, which can lead to a lot of competition. 

When you’re in a crowded field, it can be hard to set yourself apart from everyone else. However, the best way to set yourself apart and start establishing your brand is to focus your efforts on branding. 

6 Branding Elements You Need in Ecommerce

1. Name
2. Logo
3. Tagline
4. Colors
5. Font
6. Personality

While there are numerous elements involved in branding, here are the six that you need to focus on for your ecommerce brand: 

1. Brand Name

The first thing you need to brand your ecommerce company is a proper name. You can choose a name relevant to your industry, the products you offer, or your personal background. 

Alternatively, you can choose a seemingly irrelevant brand name to draw the attention and curiosity of potential customers. 

2. Brand Logo

The second thing you need to brand your ecommerce company is a brand logo. Since logos are visual, you want them to remain in the minds of your potential customers. 

Make sure that your logo is unique and isn’t an obvious copycat of another brand. Also, make sure that your logo is easily recognizable and readable. 

3. Brand Tagline

The third thing you need to brand your ecommerce company is a brand tagline. There are different ways to write a brand tagline. But it should communicate what your brand is all about and what you have to offer in as few words as possible. 

Consider some of these well-known taglines for inspiration:

• Disney: “The happiest place on Earth.”
• Nike: “Just do it.”
• Allstate: “You’re in good hands.”
• Dunkin Donuts: “America runs on Dunkin.” 
• Walmart: “Save money. Live better.”

4. Brand Colors

Once you have a better idea of what your brand’s all about, you can establish additional details like brand colors. Ideally, your brand colors should be based on the colors in your logo, but this isn’t a hard and fast rule.

When choosing your brand colors, it’s important to think about the psychology of colors. Different colors have been proven to evoke different emotions in people. For example, red makes you feel passionate and energized. It can also communicate feelings of love and romance.

On the other hand, blue makes you feel secure and sophisticated, while green makes you feel healthy and wealthy. The right colors for your brand depend on what you’re trying to represent and sell to your customers. 

5. Brand Font

Again, your brand font doesn’t necessarily have to match your logo font. It often makes sense for brands to have a few different kinds of fonts that all coordinate with each other. Here are a few different examples of font types to consider using for your ecommerce brand:

• Serif Fonts: Classic, traditional, and conservative
• Sans Serif Fonts: Simple, trustworthy, and modern
• Script Fonts: Creative, eye-catching, and interesting
• Display Fonts: Bold, original, attention-grabbing
• Handwritten Fonts: Quirky, interesting, and personal

6. Brand Personality

Now it’s time to establish your brand personality based on all the different components you’ve established thus far. A brand personality essentially describes your brand with human traits and characteristics based on what you want your brand to be and who you want it to appeal to.

Choose three to four characteristics to describe your brand to potential customers. Here are some examples of traits to consider for your brand personality:

• Accessible, approachable
• Calm, casual, cheerful, cool, creative 
• Elegant, energetic, exclusive
• Familiar, friendly, fun, formal
• Playful, polished, professional
• Serious, sophisticated, sleek, sincere

Where to Incorporate These Branding Elements?

1. Website 
2. Social media
3. Product packaging

Now that you’ve established some of the most important branding elements, you need to incorporate them into your website, social media pages, and packaging. 

1. Website

For starters, your website should reflect your branding. Start by creating a website based on your brand name. 

Then, design your website by featuring your brand name and logo prominently at the very top of the page. Incorporate your brand colors and fonts for a clean and cohesive look throughout your website. 

2. Social Media

Next, your social media pages should reflect your branding. Create social media pages for your business on prominent platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, YouTube, etc. 

Use your brand logo as your profile picture and design an appealing cover photo by incorporating your brand logo, colors, and fonts. 

An appropriate name, profile picture, and cover picture will help potential customers recognize your brand when they’re scrolling through their feeds. 

3. Packaging

Finally, your packaging should reflect your branding — design customized packaging with the help of packaging providers like Box Genie. With Box Genie, you can create your custom packaging online using the design studio, or you can email in your design. 

Again, make sure to incorporate all the key branding elements of your ecommerce company — including brand name, logo, fonts, and colors so that customers instantly recognize your package when it arrives.

Consider taking your branded packaging game a step further by customizing inner packaging components to provide your customers with an exciting unboxing experience. 

For example, you may want to consider using custom product inserts or box dividers.  

Complete your packaging with a handwritten thank you note or a discount code for a future purchase. 

Final Tips for Effective Ecommerce Branding

1. Know your audience
2. Tell your story
3. Promote a cause
4. Set yourself apart
5. Focus on your products
6. Be honest about your policies
7. Be consistent and cohesive
8. Refine when needed
9. Produce branded content
10. Invest in advertising

Now that you know about the different elements you need to brand your ecommerce company and where to include these elements, let’s cover some final tips for effective ecommerce branding so that your brand is instantly recognized, remembered, and revered: 

1. Know Your Audience

While it’s important to focus on yourself when branding your ecommerce company, you also need to focus on your target audience. 

• What do they need? 
• What do they care about? 
• What do they respond to? 

This is especially important when coming up with your brand personality, as your brand personality may also describe your ideal customer! 

2. Tell Your Story

Bring the focus back to yourself by telling your story to connect with your target audience emotionally. 

• Why did you start the company? 
• What brought you to where you are today? 
• What do you care about? 

Share this information on an “About” page on your website, on your packaging, and in a press release. 

3. Promote a Cause

These days, it’s not enough to simply mention what you care about on a page on your website. If you want to make a lasting impression with people, you need to be passionate about promoting a cause that matters to you. 

There are so many different creative ways to do this, whether it’s donating products, money, or even time. 

4. Set Yourself Apart

While promoting a cause is a great way to set yourself apart from the ecommerce competition, there are other ways to separate yourself from the rest of the pack. 

One of the best ways to do this is through a unique value proposition or UVP. This statement clearly communicates what you do, why you do it, and why you do it better than anyone else. 

5. Focus on Your Products/Services

Effective branding doesn’t mean much when your products or services aren’t up to par. As a result, you should spend more time developing great products or offering top-notch services than you do coming up with brand logos, slogans, fonts, etc. 

You can have the best logo in the world, but if your offerings don’t match that, then you’re not going to be very successful in the ecommerce industry. 

6. Be Honest About Your Policies

Consumers tend to be more skeptical about ecommerce brands because they tend to be more impersonal. 

For this reason, you need to be upfront and honest about your company policies right on your website. Provide specifics about what you offer and what you don’t offer. 

Clearly define your return and exchange policies to avoid misunderstandings. 

7. Be Consistent and Cohesive

Branding your ecommerce company won’t happen overnight. Instead, you need to be consistent. Keep using the same branded elements you came up with, including your logo, fonts, and colors within your website, social media pages, and packaging. 

8. Refine When Needed

At the same time, you shouldn’t feel completely stuck with your branding choices. Brands are constantly evolving, and, therefore, you may feel the need to make some changes to some of your branding elements as time goes on. 

For example, you may want to tweak your color palette if you discover that it’s too similar to a competitor. You may also want to tweak your logo if you find that it’s not clear or well-received. 

9. Produce Branded Content

It’s also a good idea to post branded content on your website and social media pages. For example, you could build a blog on your website featuring articles about your products, brand, or overall industry. 

You could also create branded posts on social media or boost engagement using interactive features like live streams, polls, giveaways, and more. 

10. Invest in Advertising

Once you’ve started posting branded content on your social media pages, you should also consider paying to promote it or paying to run separate advertising campaigns. 

Social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram make it easy and cost-effective to reach your target customer with targeted content. 

Final Thoughts

With the right strategy and assistance from experienced companies like Box Genie, it’s easier than ever to establish your ecommerce brand to start building your company from the ground up. 

Sources:

From "Got Milk?" to "Where's the Beef," Here Are 15 of the Best Slogans and Taglines in Advertising History | Business Insider

Brand Personality | Investopedia