How memorable is your brand? In all honesty, most companies struggle to reach the pinnacle of brand recognition, where customers have a full picture of what a business stands for.

For those that make it, people naturally associate the brand with an immediate—hopefully, positive—image. This association leads to more brand loyalty and higher revenue. But before this happens, you must climb the different rungs of the branding ladder to move from unknown to unforgettable.

Rung 1: Unbranded

From Day One, unless you’re very lucky, the company will be relatively unknown. Customers may have been introduced to your business but generally have no idea what it represents—or even remember what your logo looks like.

Heck, you might be still trying to figure it out yourself.

At this stage, you have the luxury of being flexible. Each day is a new opportunity to mold the company’s message and develop your brand’s essentials.

For startups that, by their very nature, work at lightspeed, decisions about brand elements are usually made on the fly. As the company matures, it’ll need to be solidified as you begin creating a cohesive brand.

Rung 2: Recognition

Now at this point, you would have some visually branded assets, at the very least a logo, website, and a few social media profiles. People are beginning to notice and recognize your business. They’ve seen your products, and many have even bought a few.

But your products are not the same as the brand.

People are not yet building an immediate association with your brand’s image, messaging, and values.

And here’s where it gets sticky.

Many businesses encounter a common problem as they try to climb the next rung. It’s usually difficult for stakeholders and managers to look at their strengths and weaknesses objectively. If they don’t fully understand where their brand stands, it’s not easy to continue moving forward from vague recognition to a distinctive brand.

Rung 3: Positioning

A major advantage of brand positioning is hollowing out a solid place of your own in the industry. You’re using data and consumer insights to direct your marketing efforts, but it’s not without its challenges. According to Bynder’s State of Branding Report, one of the top struggles marketers encounter at this level is how to “make sense of inaccurate or inconsistent data.”

This news might sound like doom and gloom, but this is the breakthrough stage for your brand, and more importantly, it’s where you build your tribe.

But to do it, you have to keep working towards creating more creative content and use consumer insights to position your business as an industry leader.

Rung 4: Personality

The most memorable brands create a cult of personality that customers want to be part of. Starbucks’ culture centers around building coffee bars that give people a similar experience as what they would find in Italy.

People want to become part of the company’s brand and often integrate it into their own identities. Diehard Starbucks fans, for instance, visit the café at least 18 times a month, spending around $3.50 each time. They’re loyal fans of the brand who don’t just love it but live it.

Once a corporate branding design is fully fleshed out, you’re in a place where people hear your company’s name and can instantly visualize it. Think of Apple. When this name is mentioned, people know it evokes images of sleek devices, sophisticated branding, and minimalist features.

Google is another example of business branding filled with personality. As the world’s largest search engine, Google’s colorful font logo, iconography, and, of course, daily doodle are all familiar elements of a brand, which has a strong presence in our lives.

Rung 5: View of the World

Once you’ve gotten to this rung, your brand has not only a personality but uses effective branding strategies to express what the company believes in.

Online banking service Wise is an international company focused on creating internal and external policies promoting transparency and inclusivity in digital finance.

They’ve built their business around customer feedback and use their experiences to deliver better financial products and services. Wise understands that the current way businesses function online and off requires modern solutions.

In the company’s view, banking should be accessible to everyone. And they’re also not shy about throwing shade at competitors who actively limit their customer’s ability to do business online.

The takeaway is that brand storytelling, and core beliefs aren’t about numbers. It’s about the company’s emotional and societal impact it makes on its customers and the world.

Rung 6: Company and Policy

If your company makes it to the top of the ladder, it has everything it needs to be a memorable brand that customers love and trust. But building fair customer service and employee policies into the company is how you create a lifelong, supportive following.

It’s been shown that people will spend more with companies providing a good customer experience. Part of that includes showing that your employees—and company—care about making things right when there’s a wrong and making an effort to treat them with respect.

Conclusion

If you think your company is on the lower rung right now, it doesn’t have to stay that way. There’s always a way to keep climbing to increase your brand’s resonance with customers.

But remember, the inverse is also true.

Once you reach the top of the ladder, the brand still needs to be refined to stay relevant. Otherwise, you’re risking being knocked down a peg or two.