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When it comes to exposing your API products successfully, you need two things: a good API portal - also called developer portal - and a nice branding to go with it. API portals allow you to match your brand, making the transition between your website and your API portal seamless. Here’s a guide on how to successfully brand your API portal.
Spot quiz, which of these acronyms can you translate without using Google:
If you can translate both, well done, you must know the value of technical and commercial knowledge. Most people would know one or none. That’s because when you have a deep skillset, you rarely look outside of what you know.
APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) live in the world of technology. Despite people interacting with them multiple times a day and relying on them to create seamless connections between the apps we love to use.
ICAs (Ideal Customer Avatars) live in the world of commerce. They are what we use to identify the market for our products. We are all an ICA for someone. Knowing your ICA is a critical step to creating a brand for your business.
In this blog, we want to bridge these worlds. APIs are big business. There are endless opportunities to create a successful API product from sharing a public API to customers directly, or using an API privately for partners and employees. Part of that success is a quality product that solves a need. Another crucial element to success is communicating the value of your product to potential customers. Every API needs an ICA.
We’re going to focus specifically on the creative branding of your API, why it’s important, and how to do it in three simple steps using the Blobr API portal.
A brand is like the human side of your business. It tells the story of your product through both words and the aesthetic created by your choice of colour and style. Customers form an emotional connection with a brand which is what leads to trust and ideally regular connection.
A brand is a combination of all of the features that differentiate your product and service: name, design, imagery, and customer touch points. Your brand should capture the attention of your customers and turn them from indifferent to enthusiasts.
According to Edelman, brand trust is the strongest insurance for businesses against disruption and the best lever for continued growth. Trust brings both credibility and a strong reputation. In a 2020 survey, 64% of respondents said the brand was the 2nd most important deciding factor after price.
Right now we’re in a Golden Age for branding. There are increasing ways for products to carve out their place in a marketplace and endless ways to directly connect with customers. On top of that, the technology has never been easier with no code solutions.
The early internet branding days are long behind us. No one wants to see an ‘under construction’ sign when looking for your product. There is no reason they should have to with the ease of creating a brand.
Blobr’s API portal allows you to get a branded API portal in minutes. Having a polished, consistent brand look and feel will help build your customer’s trust, but there is something even more important.
Blobr’s API portal creates a seamless customer experience. Brand reputation is no longer through word of mouth, it’s through words in reviews.
Customers now expect a good brand experience and research shows customers choose brands and may even pay more based on the brand experience. At Blobr we analyzed the adoption rate of APIs with a portal compared to those without a portal. We found that a branded portal increased API adoption by 30%. Along with that, customer satisfaction also increased.
With these clear benefits, let’s look at how you can customize the Blobr API portal with your branding in 3 simple steps.
Branding will give your customers an understanding of the value your product offers and the best way to connect with you. API customers expect a certain standard of presentation. Luckily this is easy to create with Blobr’s no-code solution.
Brand identity is what makes your product recognizable. It’s made up of the colours, fonts, images, logos, and symbols you use.
In Blobr’s API portal you can instantly add you organisations name so your customers know exactly who you are.
Sometimes your brand colours and logo are even more recognisable than your name. That's why we enable anyone to match their brand colours and upload their organisation's logo in a few clicks so that it is displayed on the API portal.
To ensure you are maximizing brand recognition and trust, make sure to keep your brand consistent.
Our developer portal allows you to quickly connect your domain name to satisfy your customers peace of mind. With cyber security threats being a growing concern for customers, unrecognisable URLs can be off-putting. An API portal with your domain increases customer confidence. It also improves customers' ability to find you when searching.
A critical aspect of branding is your brand position. One way to do this is based on access and price.
Blobr’s API portal allows you to set access to your API at a granular level. This is perfect if you have a more exclusive offering for a specific customer. Indeed, you can decide if API Products are private or public. You can also decide if your API portal is public or private. That way, you have a very deep and granular view on whom is accessing what.
You can also choose if your product is a premium or low-cost solution. Once you’ve determined your price position you can easily monetize your API with the business conditions, limits, and monetization rules that suit your product, whether you choose a subscription model, metered or tiered pricing. We’re directly integrated with Stripe with auto-generated invoices to make payment easy.
As your IC’s (Ideal Clients) discover your API, Blobr’s API portal will provide the infrastructure to keep up with your growth. As new customers use your API, the portal can scale with you.
We have in-built geo-redundancy across the world with minimum latency, provide reliable and fast infrastructure, with security measures.
Best of all, once your API is live in Blobr’s API portal you can manage and monitor the usage in real-time. We have built in dashboards to give you detailed customer insight. This insight will help you adapt your product and brand strategy based on real customer usage to enable your continued growth.
Sign up for free to start customizing your very own API portal. We can’t wait to hear what you think of it!
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