The terms “brand” and “business” are often used interchangeably. But building a brand goes far and beyond filing your LLC paperwork and opening a business checking account. A brand is more than just a company logo or slogan. For individuals and businesses alike, establishing your brand can make a difference between success, mediocrity, and failure.
Whether you’re launching a start-up or rebranding your existing business, this beginner’s guide to branding will help you establish a successful brand that will stand the test of time.
First thing first, why put effort into building a brand? This will be the most important step in building a business brand.
Your brand is essentially the face of your business.
Your brand can even impact your pricing strategy. You could get a bigger cup of coffee for a fraction of the cost at a gas station or small local doughnut shop, but those places don’t have the same branding power as Starbucks. Are Nikes really worth five times more than a generic pair of sneakers?
That’s why it’s so important to put effort into building a brand.
10 Steps to Building Your Brand
Now that you understand the basics of brand identity and the importance of establishing a brand, it’s time to build one of your own.
Firstly, Establish the Purpose of Your Brand
Why are you in business?
Yes, I’m sure you want to turn a profit, but that isn’t the type of purpose that will help you build a brand identity. It sets the standard for how your team and staff behave and becomes what your customers expect from your business when they buy.
Step #2: Identify Your Brand’s Target Audience
Who wants to buy what you’re selling?
One of the most important aspects of branding is the identification of your target audience. Each of those brands appeals to specific target markets. As with any other marketing campaign you need to treat your branding strategy.
You’ll have a better understanding of why your target audience is so important to your branding strategy as we continue through the remaining steps.
Step #3: Create a Unique Voice for Your Brand
Once you have selected your target market, a brand voice must be developed that speaks to your audience. They’re not targeting grandparents or families.
Businesses that sell surfboards will not have the same voice on the brand as a law firm. B2B selling company SaaS should not have the same brand voice as a retailer selling teenage girls’ clothes.
Step #4: Tell Your Brand’s Story
The brand story covers all three steps that we discussed earlier.
This explanation of why you are in business should appeal to your target market while expressing your voice in the brand.
Step #5, Design Your Brand’s Visual Elements
Now it’s about time to create your brand’s visual representation. There’s something as simple as your company name font inside the logo tells a lot about your brand identity. The font alone makes the company feel like a brand that your pet can trust to walk around.
If the dog-walking logo was dark and included a skull (like the tattoo shop), this service may not trust people.
As you can see from those two polar opposite examples, your branding strategy’s visual elements carry significant weight in how your brand is perceived.
Step #6: Establish Your Brand Differentiation
What makes your brand unique in the sector? You have to take your time researching your competitors to see what they are doing.
You’ll be able to discover what branding strategies work and which ones to avoid by monitoring your competition.
In a saturated market, try not to follow the same exact branding strategy as other companies. If those companies have branded themselves well, a new business will be challenging to come in and have success. If you wanted to open up a fast food business it would be a disaster to try to replicate McDonald’s branding.
While competing against other local coffee shops and international chains like Starbucks, this branding strategy helps this business prosper.
Step #7: Build Out Your Brand
Now that all of the components of your branding strategy have been established, it’s time to put that strategy out for the public to see. You can’t write a copy of the website until you have established your brand voice.
If you complete this step not accordingly, all of your branding strategies will struggle. But if you complete the steps in the sequence I’ve explained, all will come to fruition when you start to build your brand out.
Step #8: Promote Your Brand
Once you’ve built up your brand it’s time to start promoting it. A local dry cleaner will not have the same promotional strategy as an e-commerce brand in the country.
Regardless of how you run promotions (social media ads, PPC campaigns, email marketing, radio ads, guerrilla marketing, etc.), it’s important that your branding strategy is reflected in every promotional method. You should create marketing strategies which will make your existing customers brand advocates for your business.
Step #9: Get Others to Advocate For Your Brand
Great branding spreads out like wildfire. You should create marketing strategies which will make your existing customers brand advocates for your business. Foster customer reviews. Have promotions run to encourage referrals.
Create a customer loyalty program. Partner with influencers who can make your mark come alive.
It’s much easier to build your reputation by getting others to advocate for you and promote your brand. Just be warned-not every brand has a good reputation. That is why following the steps I’ve presented in this guide is so important.
Step #10:
Last but not least, be prepared to adapt to the times and change. Tomorrow may not be effective for your branding strategy today. Brands change based on market needs or trends in the industry; even possible company mistakes might force you to rebrand your business.
For a variety of reasons, some of the world’s most popular brands have famously rebranded themselves.
For example, Nike never sold basketball sneakers until Michael Jordan was signed on. Today they sell most of the world’s basketball shoes.
Another instance of rebranding for the better is even McDonald’s had a reputation for being unhealthy and fat-making. But McDonald’s offers a variety of healthy options today, including salads and fruit smoothies.
If you are unable to evolve, then your brand will not survive the time test.
Final Thoughts
Without branding, your business will just be another nameless and faceless organization. People won’t be able to pick you out of the crowd, and survival will be a struggle. But establishing a brand identity can do incredible things for a business. that’s why you need to take the right steps to build a brand from scratch. Establish your business brand the next level with TM Tollfree today! Hit us at 1 800 22 2020 or visit our website www.tollfreemalaysia.com for business branding assistance. Cyngus Technologies is always ready to Complete Your Brand!
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