Business Branding: Top 10 Things You Need To Create a Brand
For the rapid growth of your business, you need to turn it into a brand, which means that your target customers should perceive it the way you want them to. They should see your business, product, or service as a unique and distinct offering that helps stand out from the crowd of competitors in a market.
So, to be seen as a brand, your business must stand out in your target market and audience. You should tell your brand story to the audience frequently to engage them with the developments happening in your business and industry.
Here are the top 10 considerations to make while creating your brand
1. Know your customer inside out
Source: Identify
Before you set out to build your business branding, it is crucial to know the ideal customer of your product or service is? You should precisely know the different backgrounds of one such customer and shape up your branding visuals accordingly. So, know which social, educational, cultural, and financial background does your customer comes from.
As you pinpoint your buyer’s persona, you can get a personalized logo that targets and appeals to the customers.
To research your target customer, use tools like Google Analytics, survey social media, and visit markets to have a face-to-face conversation with customers.
2. Research competitors
Source: Relevance
Try first step to take for business branding is to know who your competitors are and how they differ. Every brand makes efforts to be distinctive in a target market to drive customers’ attention.
You can also do so by researching your competitors’ brand identity to know how they look and sound to the customers.
Take a note of the quality and features of their products or services so that you can offer something more valuable and unique to your target customers.
Visit their website, blogs, videos, lead magnets, case studies, print social media pages, and online advertising content to know more about them.
But do that only for inspirational purposes and not to copy their approach.
3. Get a professional logo
Source: Designhill
Make sure that your company’s logo looks like a professionally created design. Your logo will convey your brand message to the audience to make an intended impression on them with colors, fonts, icons, etc., elements.
But do not worry about your low budget. You can create a logo with a free logo maker, a DIY tool with many drag-and-drop features, and design templates.
You need to pick colors, fonts, etc., and the tool will take care of the design. But first, have some insight into how a professional logo design looks like so that you can create the one for your brand.
Make sure that your logo is simple, unique, memorable, and scalable.
4. Come up with a catchy brand slogan
An attractive brand slogan or a tagline is an important tool for a new business to convey a brand message in no uncertain terms immediately. A new business often faces issues in communicating about what it is all about, and a tagline or slogan can help in this regard.
Even established big brands use taglines effectively to their advantage. Nike’s ‘’Just Do It’’ is an excellent example of an engaging slogan.
So, get a precise slogan or tagline that conveys all about your brand and helps it stand out in the market. The tagline should explain a product’s key benefit.
5. Think of the trends
Do not ignore the current trends in your zeal to look unique in your target market. Instead, pay heed to the ongoing trends as they tell you what is appealing to today’s people. You can then mold your branding efforts accordingly to please your audience.
So, do some research to find out what people do not like in your industry and business today regarding the product or service you are offering. Then address their concerns in your visuals and brand slogans, etc., carefully. But avoid following the trends strictly and do not get caught in them.
6. Know your brand personality precisely
Source: Clarityqst
Like humans, your brand also should have a personality so that customers can relate to it and connect emotionally. So, determine what character traits your brand should acquire.
Is your brand modern or traditional? Do you want to project your brand as an easily accessible personality or someone exclusive? How about projecting your brand as high-energy, or should it be careful? Should it be seen as fun or serious brand?
7. Build your own business culture
Source: Inc
Your company should set the rules about a work culture that your employees and others will follow. That will help create an intended brand image and identity. For example, how you treat your customers and employees will determine your brand image in the end.
Similarly, does your company emphasize collaboration and teamwork? Should your company give maternity leave to make it your corporate culture?
Determine such cultural values clearly for your company and your employees should also know and follow those values as part of your brand-building exercise.
8. Get a trademark for your brand
Make sure that your brand name, logo, slogan or tagline, all have protection against any of its misuse. So, you should get a trademark on your name and logo. Therefore, you should file for trademark application. This is your way to protect your business from any impeachments.
Do some research using USPTO trademark search to look into the trademark database and see what you should trademark for your business.
9. Determine your brand voice
Is your brand voice professional or casual? Should it be a fun or serious voice? You should first determine the voice and then stick to it and maintain it across platforms. For instance, when you write blogs to promote your business, decide if you should write in the first, second, or third person.
But make sure that your brand voice suits your brand personality so that you can tell your brand story to the audience and engage them. You can talk to your customers to know which brand voice they like the most. Once you have determined your brand voice, avoid changing it frequently.
10. Promote your brand aggressively
Do not hesitate to promote your new brand aggressively on all platforms. Start with creating a dedicated website for your business. The website must have all the relevant information about your products or services as well as your industry. Also, do not forget to add call-to-action such as Sign Up, Schedule a Call, Buy Now, etc.
You should build a well-thought-out marketing plan that should include your content marketing strategy, social marketing, email marketing, and paid advertising plans. So, take your business to your target customers, frequently exploring all marketing platforms.
Wrapping Up
Branding your new business is essential to create an intended perception of its target customers and market. So, know your audience and competitors well so that you look different and unique. You should build a brand personality and voice based on your research about competitors and customers. Also, set your brand culture and make your employees follow it regularly.