As a new entrepreneur do you wonder how the world’s most renowned companies achieved their current status? Do you wonder what are the tips and tricks that sets you apart from the aggressive competition? If yes, the answer is brand management services! Branding includes the objectives, appearance, values, tone, and identity of a company. It is how Apple is identified from its logo, Coca-Cola from its color, and Starbucks from its packaging. They employ various visual branding assets that contribute the most to brand recall.
However, that not the end of what branding can do for a business. While it unveils a myriad of advantages, there are as many ways to achieve it for your business. If you’re an entrepreneur, here are 7 easy steps you can brand your business, just like the famous ones do.
Find Your Audience
A brand is nothing without its audience and not just any audience, but one that is handpicked just for you. The first step to branding is identifying your prospective customers. For businesses that have digitalized their presence, their potential customers are dispersed all across the globe. In such a case, it might be difficult to find the ones that are suited more for your brand. However, certain ways can help identify one’s target audience.
ASSESS YOUR PRESENT AUDIENCE
One way to do so is by evaluating the present customer’s demographics and preferences. A brand’s existing customers present a clear roadmap. They are a rich source of information that can help reshape the brand’s current approach. Look at what your audience prefers in your competitors? Is it lacking in your brand? If yes, there’s your answer. Some brands also leverage personal communication means to understand the needs and preferences of their customers.
RELY ON MARKET RESEARCH
Once you’ve found your target audience, it is not time for some efficient market research. The strategy aids in understanding the latest market trends. It also provides opportunities to understand the customer’s preferences, their buying habit, and their perspective on your brand. The market research also shows how your competitors are performing, where they lack, and the services they offer that retain the audience. Various platforms such as social media channels, review websites, and Q&A sites like Reddit are one way to begin the research.
Present A Value Proposition That Connects
What a brand promises to provide its customer, is known as a value proposition. While it’s a mere tagline or slogan, it is what persuades customers to pick that product from the shelf. For instance, Uber promises the smartest way to get around – which intrigues people to give a try to hassle-free commute. Once their experience what the brand promises, it turns them into loyal, long-lasting customers.
While creating a distinct selling proposition is both tricky and crucial – it depends on the following questions:
What does the customer want? And how can your product solve the problem? What motivates your customer to make a purchase and why are they preferring your competitors? The answers can be summed up in one line that we call the value proposition.
Find Your Brand’s Mission and Vision
A business that begins without a mission, wouldn’t go a long way. Whenever an entrepreneur sets the brick for their startup, they should always have an ambition in mind. The strategy remains the same for both a fresh startup to a world-renowned franchise.
An efficient way to brand your enterprise is to put forward an effective mission declaration. The statement that enunciates the purpose you want to achieve, your target customers, and the products/services you will offer. These four aspects summed in a well-crafted and engaging mission statement make it resonate with the potential audience.
Followed by the mission statement are the business’ core values – the principles that maneuver the organization’s journey to achieve its goals. It is the set of beliefs that govern the company’s policy, its work culture, and the stakeholder’s impression. However, for an impactful mission declaration, avoid using generic words. Instead, use phrases that do represent the company’s principles and how you achieve them in the workplace
Build Your Brand’s Personality
What pulls us towards other people is their personality and the same can be said for an organization. A business would never attract its customers, even the potential ones if it doesn’t build its brand’s personality. It can be described as a blend of qualities that an organization consists of. How would you like to describe your brand? What pulls us towards other people is their personality and the same can be said for an organization. Would it cater to a younger audience or older demographics? Do you want your brand to be perceived as visionary, bold, charismatic, or dynamic? Choose the traits that you’d like to associate with your products/services and showcase them as a brand.
Create Well-Thought Brand Assets
Once you’ve thought of the qualities of your brand, it is time to create elements that would represent it. Brand assets refer to the color theme, font, slogan, logo, and art of packaging that would become a brand’s representation. One glance at any of them and the audience would know which they belong to. Assets play an important role in brand recall.
Colors also play an important role in describing a brand’s personality. Companies like Apple, Honda, Nike, and PUMA opt for a black and white theme to depict balance, neutrality, and calmness. Whereas Barbie, Hallmark, and Yahoo choose purple to represent creativity, imagination, and wisdom. A brand that caters to adults would opt for subtle branding traits as opposed to one that serves youth and children.
Showcase Brand Assets on Various Platforms
After figuring out the brand assets as a means to identify your brand – it’s time to integrate them across different channels. This can be done by incorporating visual elements like logo, color theme, and fonts as a part of your messaging. Similarly, companies also present a detailed mission statement on their website’s About Us page. Another strategy is to educate the potential employees about the organization’s core values via branded videos and posts.
Stay Consistent
The key to effective branding is to maintain consistency. Experts reveal that it might take companies up to 5-7 brand impressions before the customer can recall the brand. Furthermore, it is equally impertinent to remain consistent while showcasing the brand on social media channels. Be steadfast while employing various visual branding elements to ensure brand recall amongst clients and consumers.
In addition, companies should be vigilant about the tone that they use on their social channels. If their brand voice is youthful, it is recommended to remain casual in their blogs. Consistency is the key to customer trust and loyalty – something which takes a brand a long way.
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RELY ON A BRANDING PARTNER
Branding is a business strategy that owns the potential to make and break a company. It helps a brand stands out amongst others and manifest itself in the consumer’s mind. Alone you might be able to achieve some of it, but with a team of branding efforts – you’ll revel in its benefits.