How To Build A Lasting Brand For Your Business

Branding is a key ingredient for success, and a strong brand identity can help promote your business, whether you’re a small business owner or the CEO of a larger company.

Branding essentially means having a distinctive market positioning including purpose, mission & vision, personality, tone and brand story. It also includes visual aspects that form your brand identity such as logo, colours, font etc. 

This article will discuss how to build a brand, so that you can grow your business to its full potential.

Identify Your Target Market

The first step in building a brand is knowing your target audience.

One way to know this is to conduct market research. This gives you more ideas on your customers’ needs and pain points and helps you find new ways to market your brand, and how it can help solve their problems. 

Let’s say you own a shoe company. You could look into the following details:

• The genders and ages of your audience
• The designs they like
• Whether they prefer an online business to a physical store

Understanding your customer’s demographics and knowing all the common traits your customers share can allow you to find better ways to connect with them and gain potential customers.

Creating a strong brand image means getting the attention of target customers, which leads to the next tip.

Most of all, your entire branding should answer the question “Why does your company exist?”

Come Up With A Company Name

A memorable brand identity starts with a memorable name. Popular names are short and unique.

You might want to try taking a creative spin on your company’s main product. Otherwise, you could make a funny pun that your target audience likes, both of which can boost brand awareness.

Your business name leads to a unique brand voice that can catch more attention than your competitors.

Look Into Your Competitors

Continue the brand-building process by checking how you compare to both direct and indirect competitors.

Competitor research could be your key to more growth.

Get to know their existing customers, along with their marketing strategy and brand positioning.

Ask yourself questions like. “What can I offer that they don’t?” or “How can I set my brand’s positioning apart?”

Cultivate a Brand Personality

Another part of brand building includes knowing what makes your brand unique: its brand story, visual assets, and marketing materials.

Give your brand a voice. This voice can start as a slogan but try to consider questions like the following.

• Is it casual and heavy on slang?
• Is it corporate and formal?
• Is it helpful and supportive?
• Is it fun and engaging?

Pen a Concise Slogan

Just like the catchy jingles you hear on TV or the radio, slogans make your brand stick in people’s minds. 

Building brand awareness could mean having a short yet catchy slogan that can be added to your logo. 

Design a Brand Logo

When you build a brand, one of the priorities is a logo that boosts your brand identity. A business can define its visual brand identity through its slogan, logos, colours, and fonts used.

This identity represents your brand’s positioning and can either catch attention or turn people away.

Find your brand’s visual identity with colours that represent it. For nature-related products, use earthy tones. Or go for a modern vibe with a simple font.

It might seem small, but it is key to brand success.

Good logos promote a brand’s personality by showing why the brand exists instantly. A standout brand logo sets you apart from competitors.

Search for the logos of popular brands on social media platforms and see how they bring their brand to life. 

Consistently adding a logo to promote your brand online, or on a website, may also help build brand awareness.

Create Your Company’s Website

Beyond social media marketing, brand marketing includes having a well-designed company website. This is where you can apply your brand kit.

Many brand kits include a brand’s core values. Some examples of brand values include “integrity” and “customer service.” Brand values connect you with your customers and employees, which you can add to your website.

A website provides more freedom to include your brand style guide while also serving as a direct connection with your customers. You can also include your company’s mission statement.

It can act as an online store to show your product portfolio. Customers can also directly contact you with an automated chat box or email addresses.

Use Your Brand’s Visuals as a Springboard

A company’s branding efforts go beyond just words and visuals. 

It’s about providing a strategic direction for your company and making sure that your product quality, service, employees, and company story are aligned and consistent. 

For example, your brand guidelines may include a logo that is connected by simple icons. That same simplicity and connection can translate into the quality of the product and any marketing campaigns you create.

Use Social Media to Your Advantage

Anyone with their own business can use social media posts as a great tool for promotion. It can be a way to build your personal brand or to find a new audience completely.

Once you have found good and reliable platforms, remember to add your brand positioning statement to the “About” section of your page.

It’s a short explanation of what your brand wants to achieve, similar to a vision statement. This value proposition may give further depth to your brand in the eyes of customers.

Include your logo, branding colours, and brand voice in all posts. Consistency is crucial in making your own brand shine.

Keep Your Brand Identity Consistent

When you build a brand, people look for consistency in both the visuals and the quality of the products.

Staying consistent can help you follow the branding and teach it to your employees. In all brand-building strategies, uniform branding can empower continuous growth.

Brand operations and strict guidelines allow you to remember the branding rules and transfer them to the quality and quantity of your products, both on and offline.

Conclusion

To brand effectively, it is important to know your business from the inside out. Whether you use a branding agency or not, sticking to a good brand can create loyal customers and potentially help your business grow.

Brand creation is only one part of success. If you’re planning to expand, you’ll need a successful brand strategy.

It’s possible that after learning how to build a brand, you’ll need a bit of extra funding to capture your new market. In that case you might want to consider commercial loans to get the extra cash needed to grow.