One of the strongest weapons of your business, especially in the world of marketing, is a good brand. If you haven’t equipped yours with one yet, it’s time to start concocting it. The tips, techniques, and methods below can help you build a brand that leads to recognition, trust, and loyalty.
Know Your Audience
All successful branding begins with the knowledge of who, exactly, your audience is. How we talk to people and the things we prioritize will change depending on who we are talking to. After all, they have different needs, preferences, and pain points. Most brands can benefit from going specific rather than going broad. As such, do the market research necessary to work out who your average (or ideal) customer is. Then, put together an ideal customer profile, working out what motivates your average customer, what problems they’re trying to solve, and what emotions drive their purchasing process. This way, you can begin to craft a message that is all the more specific to them.
Think About What You Want Your Brand To Communicate
When you know who your audience is, you’re going to have to decide how, exactly, your business aligns with them. To that end, you should put together a brand story. Your story is how you aim to have your audience perceive you. It could be as simple as identifying one of your core values or missions that you aim to achieve, or it could be related to offering products and services not available on the market, or even targeting an underserved community. Either way, think about how you want your brand to be remembered, as this will color what you choose for your other branding elements.
Pick a Name and Slogan
Every business needs a name, naturally. It’s not a decision that should be made lightly, as changing a name comes with some degree of friction that you typically want to avoid when just growing. Try to make your name memorable and easy to pronounce, above all else. If it’s a good reflection of the essence of the business, that’s even better. Furthermore, research to make sure that your brand name isn’t trademarked and that you can find social media profiles sharing the name before making a final decision. Slogans aren’t quite as necessary, but a well-crafted slogan can evoke emotion and create a lasting impression, so invest time in brainstorming ideas that capture your brand’s spirit.
Design A Logo
Alongside a name, you want your business to have a memorable logo. As the visual centerpiece of the brand, it’s going to be doing quite a bit of heavy lifting. You want to choose imagery that can be easily identified and recognized once people have seen it enough times. Simple and versatile logos can work even better because they can even be used across mediums, so consider working closely with a visual artist to create one that pops but that’s just as easy to print on business cards as it is to put at the head of a website.
Find Your Brand Voice
Your brand is more than just the visual elements, more than just a name, and more than a slogan. It’s the personality that comes out through your business’s communication. How you speak to your customer, the language you use, and the tone and imagery that you try to get across, this is all your brand voice. Try to create a voice that feels distinct, but that has the qualities you want your business image to have, whether that’s warm and friendly, or professional and serious, for instance.
Create A Professional Website
If you want your branding to do its best work, then how better than a space that’s dedicated to it in particular? Of course, your website is much more than a tour of your brand, it’s the online home of your business, driving sales, supporting your customers, and putting your business on the digital map. Work with a professional website designer to ensure that you have one that genuinely meets the needs of your business and helps you foster connections with your customers through great navigation and a high-quality aesthetic.
Find The Right Domain
If you want more people to use your website, then you have to ensure that you have the domain name to fit it. It’s your digital address, after all, so keeping it memorable and aligned with the company name is vital. For that reason, you want to find brandable domain names for sale that allow you to either match your company name or that allow you to get as close variation as possible. If your preferred domain is unavailable, consider creative alternatives, such as incorporating relevant keywords or using a different top-level domain like .net or .io. The key is to ensure your domain remains easy to spell and recall.
Write Content Specific To Your Audience
To ensure that your website is effectively equipped to do its job of attracting, grabbing the attention of, and converting your visitors, you need to populate it with content. Aside from the content that accurately and helpfully describes your products and services, you might want to start a business blog. Having a place on the site where you can routinely publish content that speaks directly to the needs of your audience gives them reasons to discover and to keep coming back to your website. It’s also the perfect opportunity to display the knowledge and insights that your brand represents.
Set Up Your Social Media Presence
Of course, not all of your branding work is going to be done through your website Outresearch is just as important, and social media platforms are powerful tools for externally messaging to customers, building brand awareness, and fostering relationships. Find the platforms that your customers use most frequently and start posting there. Create profiles that reflect your brand’s identity, and use them to share valuable content, engage with followers, and promote your products or services. If you’re using social media to market, then you have to be aware that consistency is key. If you start to fail in posting and engaging, then your account is quickly going to get buried under the thousands of others competing for your audience’s attention.
Reach Out Via Email
Although not always used as widely as social media by your audience, email marketing can be one of the most effective marketing methods for specific audience segments. For instance, B2B businesses often use email as their professional customers typically have their inboxes open while they work. Create email campaigns specifically designed to engage your customers, using your brand voice to provide the updates, promotions, and educational content that provides the most value to the reader.
Work With The Right Influencers.
Your brand doesn’t have to be built by just you alone. Aligning with the right voices can help you make it more specific to the audiences you’re trying to target. Working with an influencer marketing agency, you can reach out to bloggers, social media influencers, and other big names online, who can offer your brand a platform boost and help you better connect with your own audience through things like sponsorships and affiliate posts. In a socially driven marketing world, influencers can offer the keys to the kingdom when utilized well.
The specifics of your brand are all going to depend on the nature of your business and its relationship with your customers. Working out how you fit the above tips into your plans will ensure that you have the brand imagery and message that you can use to strengthen your marketing.
