In the world of marketing, building a recognizable and loved brand is one of the most valuable assets a company owns.
According to a Nielson survey, 59% of consumers prefer to buy new products from brands that they are familiar with or have used previously. As a small business, you will be competing against big brands with loyal customers and unlimited marketing budgets. For this reason, you must find ways to stand out with a solid brand building process of your own.
What is a brand?
Simply put, your brand is defined by a customer’s overall perception of your business. In today’s market, a successful brand has to be consistent in communication and experience, across many applications such as:
- Environment (storefront or office)
- Print material, signs, and packaging
- Website & online advertising
- Content publishing
- Sales & customer service
The reality is that branding doesn’t happen overnight…or even in a few months. Building a brand is a process that will result in establishing long-term relationships with your customers, This can lead to a steady increase in sales, more projects, word-of-mouth referrals, and advocacy for your products or services.
What is brand building?
The definition of brand building is to generate awareness about your business using marketing strategies and campaigns with the goal of creating a unique and lasting image in the marketplace. Creating a Positive impression and standing out results in brand success.
Expansion of your brand image can be done effectively through various digital marketing activities such as:
- User Experience (i.e. your website)
- SEO & Content Marketing
- Social Media Marketing
- Email Marketing
- Paid Advertising (PPC)
Below are some of the steps on how to build a Brand People Love:
1. Discover the purpose of your brand.
Every successful brand has a powerful purpose behind it and so should your brand.
There are four questions you should ask yourself when defining a brand purpose:
- Why do you exist?
- What differentiates you?
- What problem do you solve?
- Why should people care
Studies show that 50% of consumers worldwide say they now buy based on a company’s brand values and impact. So dig deep and find those nuggets of truth which can distinguish your brand from others.
2. Research competitor brands within your industry.
You should never imitate exactly what the big brands are doing in your industry. But, you should be aware of what they do well (or where they fail).
The goal is to stand out from the competition. Convince a customer to purchase from you and not your competitors. Research your main competitors or benchmark brands. For instance, study how well they have gone about building a brand name.
For a brand name to be effective, it needs to be easy for consumers to recognize and remember.
3. Determine your brand’s target audience.
When building your brand your main focus is to determine the target audience that you’ll be focusing on.
When brand building keep in mind who exactly you are trying to reach. You’ll shape your mission and message to meet their exact needs. The key is to get specific. Figure out detailed behaviors and lifestyles of your consumers.
When branding, targeting a niche requires committing to something very focused to start. You’ll come to realize that the competitive advantage when branding your business is to narrow your target audience focus. This can help ensure that your brand message comes across crystal clear to the intended recipient.
4. Establish a brand mission statement.
Have you thought about your brand mission? In essence, you’ll have to craft a clear expression of what your company is most passionate about.
Before you can build a brand that your target audience trusts, you need to know what value your business provides.
The mission statement basically defines a purpose for existing. It will inform every other aspect of your brand building strategies.
Everything from your logo to your tagline, voice, message, and personality should reflect that mission. When branding your business, start small and remember to focus on your target niche audience first. With time, your brand loyalty may grow enough to expand your reach.
Start small when branding your business, and remember to focus on your target niche audience first.
5. Outline the key qualities & benefits your brand offers.
There will always be brands with bigger budgets and more resources to command their industry. Your products, services, and benefits belong solely to you. Starting a brand that is memorable means you dig deep to figure out what you offer that no one else is offering.
Focus on the qualities and benefits that make your company branding unique. Think about how you provide value that improves consumers’ lives (outcomes or results that are experienced).
6. Form your unique brand voice.
Your voice is dependent on your company’s mission, audience, and industry. It’s how you communicate with your customers, and how they respond to you.
A brand voice could be:
- Professional
- Friendly
- Service-oriented
- Authoritative
- Technical
- Promotional
- Conversational
- Informative
You’ll see that if you find and use the correct brand voice, you have the strongest chance of connecting with consumers.
This is particularly important when publishing blog articles or social media posts. Maintaining a consistent voice will help your brand image become recognized on multiple channels in the same way. A community of followers, readers, or subscribers will come to expect a certain brand voice and brand personality when they consume your content.
7. Let your brand personality shine.
Customers are not looking for another startup company that offers the same thing as everyone else. They are looking for an experience suited to their needs, backed by genuine personal interaction.
If you are wondering how to brand your business in a unique way, Make your personality stand out in every aspect of your brand building process. Be consistent with this brand personality across all points of contact.
8. Create a brand logo & tagline.
When you think about how to build a brand, visuals probably come to mind first. We haven’t even talked about these until this deep into the brand-building process.
The most exciting (and arguably the most important piece) of the brand-building process, is to create a brand logo and tagline for your company. This logo will appear on everything that relates to your business. It will become your identity, calling card, and the visual recognition of your promise.
So be willing to invest the time and money by creating something exceptional to reinforce the visual identity for your business.
If you need help branding your business, Hire a professional designer or branding agency with logo and identity design experience, to help make your brand stand out. Their expertise will ensure that you get a unique and timeless mark for your business.
A designer can also develop brand guidelines, to ensure consistency for any future application of the logo and associated brand color palette or fonts.
A strong brand style guide will include the following things:
- Logo size and placement
- Color palette
- Typography and fonts
- Iconography
- Photography/image style
- Web elements
9. Integrate your brand into every aspect of your business.
The brand-building process never stops. Your brand should be visible and reflected in everything that your customer can see, read, and hear.
If a client walks into your office, or a customer walks into your store your brand image should be on display both in the environment and with personal interactions. Anything tangible from business cards to advertisements, to packaging and product, needs the stamp of your logo.
On any digital platform, ensure that your brand looks the same everywhere. Use your brand style guide to create consistency with visuals such as color and logo use, fonts, photography, etc.
Your website is the most important tool for marketing your brand. When you design your website: incorporate your voice, message, and personality into the content.
Profile pages for social media networks should be branded visually, and with your chosen voice for engagement.
10. Stay true to your brand building.
Unless you decide to change your brand into something that is more effective based on measured consumer response, consistency is key. Once you establish a brand voice, use it for every piece of content you create.
Your brand building will be worthless if it is not consistent so don’t constantly change your branding. The inconsistency will confuse your customers, and make long-term brand building more difficult.
Thank you for going through this article I hope you learned all you need about brand building, its importance, steps, and process.