Branding is one of the most challenging yet exciting components of creating a business. Although, it can be a bit daunting when you actually sit down to create your brand. Below is a list of five tips to building your brand.
1. Determine Your Target Audience
There are too many people in this world to be able to reach all of them through your brand, especially when you’re just starting out. The first step to developing your brand is to determine who your target audience is which means the people that you are trying to sell to.
People tend to group together based on their lifestyle, income, gender and age, among many other things. Consider all of these factors and determine who you are targeting by being as specific as possible. A few examples of target audiences are college students studying away from home and single moms that work from home.
Once you know who your target audience is, you can create a brand identity that these individuals can understand and relate to. The more specific you are, the better because you will become more unique through your brand which is a competitive advantage.
2. Research Brands in Your Industry
As a rule, you should never copy what others are doing in your respective industry. That being said, you should still be aware of what the competition is doing including what is working for them and what is failing. You can learn from your competitors’ successes and mistakes.
Researching others in your industry will help you build your brand too. You can work on designing something that is unique compared to your competitors, the whole purpose is to win customers over.
3. Highlight Key Qualities and Benefits of Your Brand
As the old saying goes, there will always be someone better than you. This phrase isn’t meant to be discouraging, it is meant to remind you that your products and services belong to you only and they are definitely unique from anything else out there.
Take the time to understand what the strengths are of your product or services and highlight them in your branding. You might not have the biggest brand out there but that doesn’t mean you don’t have potential to make a great brand.
The target audience becomes important here because they are the ones who are going to consider the key qualities of your product or service. Make sure that it is clear in your branding and advertising so that customers have a great reason to buy.
4. Brand Logo and Tagline
The majority of people are visual learners, this is why so many companies take advantage of logos and taglines. Customers can link an experience with a visual very easily so they will remember your brand in the future.
Your brand logo will appear on everything from clothes to tote bags, so it is important to ensure that it represents what your company stands for and is eye catching. It is difficult to give additional pointers here because a lot of branding requires exploration and creativity. Try to think outside the box!
Because of the importance of a brand logo and tagline, you should plan to spend a lot of time and money on developing these aspects of your brand. If it’s not done right now, you will risk your company’s success in the future.
5. Form a Brand Voice
Brands are almost like people in a way, this includes having a voice. To demonstrate what a voice is, consider how a cashier at a grocery store greets you versus a teller at a bank. Grocery stores have branded themselves to be approachable and friendly in their voice whereas a bank wants to be formal and professional in their brand voice.
How you communicate with customers is important because it is an extension of your brand. Potential ideas for a brand voice are professional, friendly, authoritative, conversational and informative, the list goes on!