A Step by Step Guide to Building a Brand
Over 600,000 businesses are going to start this year in the US alone. Is your’s one of them?
If so, you are facing steep competition. Regardless of what industry you’re in, you’ve got tons of competitors who all want the same customers that you do.
And your competitors might have products that are just as good as yours. So how can you beat them out, ensuring you have a steady stream of new business coming in? It’s all about building a brand.
Branding is what separates the biggest and best companies from everyone else. Branding is what causes customers to remain loyal to your company over another that might produce identical products.
But what goes into the process of creating a small business brand? Keep reading below for some important branding tips when you’re just getting started.
What Is Branding?
Before you can build brand awareness, either for your company or for personal brands, you need to know at a brand is, and what it isn’t.
A brand is not a name, a logo, or a slogan. Those are all assets that contribute to your brand. But they are not your brand.
Your brand is simply how your customers, and the general public, perceive your company. When someone thinks about your business and your products, what do they think? Whatever they are thinking, that’s what your brand is.
When people think about Amazon, do they think about the smile logo? Do they think about how large the Amazon rainforest is, and compare it to the size of the company?
No, they think about how they can order anything they want, from thousands of different retailers, and have it all arrive in about two days’ time. That’s their brand.
When you are building your brand, what is it that you want your customers to think about when they see your logo or hear someone talking about your business? Whatever you want them to say about your brand needs to be built into everything you do from day one.
Know Your Target Audience
To build an effective brand, you need to know who the brand exists to serve. You can’t appeal to everyone, nor can you serve everyone. You need to select a niche and focus your brand and marketing efforts on those people alone.
To define your target audience, you’ll want to create customer avatars. You need to know their demographics, including how old they are, how much money they make, where they live, and what their spending habits are.
But beyond that, you need to focus on psychographics. These go deeper than demographics. This is when you get into someone’s value systems, beliefs, and attitudes towards everything, as this ultimately determines how they spend their money.
Building a Brand With a Competitive Edge
Next up, look around at your competitors. Try to compare them with each other. What makes each one different from the last, and what are some commonalities among them all.
Now think about your company. How can you set your brand apart from all the others? What is your competitive edge?
Are your products of higher quality? Do you deliver faster? Do big-name celebrities trust your company? You need a competitive edge, and it needs to be built into your brand to give customers a reason to choose you over the others.
Branding Assets
Now you get to handle the fun stuff. Once you’ve done enough research, you can start creating your branding assets.
This includes a business name, a slogan, a logo, brand colors, and fonts. It’s best to work with a branding expert to create these assets on your behalf. If it’s not done properly, people will have a bad first impression of your business and walk away.
Good design is imperative in 2022 and beyond.
Build an Online Presence
Once you have your assets in place, it’s time to start creating your online presence. Use these assets to design a website, use them across social media, and on any other platforms that your brand has a presence. When it comes to the digital world, consistency and cohesion are key.
Invest in Brand Media and Awareness
Now that you have a brand, it’s time to let the world know what it is. Of course, you’ll experience organic momentum over time as you focus on providing a positive experience for your customers.
But there are certain things you can do to speed up the process. One of the best ways to do this is with video content. If you can create professional videos about your business, your products, your services, and how it benefits your customers, then you can spread your brand quickly.
Content consumption has moved away from the printed word and into video. That’s why platforms like YouTube and Tik Tok are the most popular right now. People want to watch and hear what you have to say, they don’t want to read about it.
Check out https://www.1minutemedia.com.au/ to see how a video production company can create valuable multimedia assets and brand videos for your business.
Videos are much easier for users to share on social media or send to their friends. By creating shareable video content, your business can go viral.
Focus on the Customer Experience
What are some things that people say about Apple? They say that the unboxing experience feels magical. They say that the people at the Apple Store are super helpful. They say the products are more reliable than any other.
This is the Apple brand. And people talk about it because design and packaging, customer service, and product quality are huge focuses for the company.
So too do you need to prioritize what matters. That means treating your customers like royalty to ensure they come back time and time again. It means making every interaction with your company as easy and painless as possible.
Ultimately, these are the things your customers will talk about, not your logo or brand name.
Focus on What Matters Most
Building a brand is no easy feat. It takes time, dedication, and money. It doesn’t have to cost a lot of money upfront, but there are certain things you can’t skip, such as working with a professional designer to create your assets.
The most important thing is defining what you want your company to be, and prioritizing the actions that will get you there.
Looking for more tips on establishing your company? Explore our blog!
Author
About Author
