It’s 2021, if you want your business to stand apart from the rest of the noise, an average approach is not going to cut it. In order for you to get consumers to talk about your service or product, you need to create a strong and memorable brand. In this post from Next Thursday, we take a look at the importance of branding, the process of creating a brand in 5 simple steps and some tips to consider when it comes to making your brand truly unique and memorable.
What’s The Importance Of Branding?
Branding is important because your business’s reputation is linked to your brand image. If you’re a small business owner, you won’t be able to interact with all potential customers in your market. That is why you have to let your brand speak for you. Potential leads will interact with your brand through various formats, gradually building brand awareness over time. In some instances they may see it in a store or through an online search. In others= situations they could see their friends using your brand. An effective brand strategy can help you to manage user perception of your product.
Build A Brand In 5 Easy Steps
1) Develop a Mission Statement
What is a good reason why your company should exist? That reason or reasons should be a part of your mission statement. If you can’t answer that question, you should put the time in to figure out a good reason why your company should exist. Put it this way, if you can’t determine the need that your business is able to satisfy within your target market, then your customers won’t be able to either. As such, when it comes to developing a mission statement you should figure out what your brand guidelines and purpose is. Once you have developed your mission statement, it should be at the core of how you communicate with your audience going forward.
2) Determine Who Your Target Audience Is
You cant create an effective brand without having your target audience in mind. When it comes to your target audience, you should ask yourself who are the types of people that would love to use your product or service? Details such as genders, nationalities, education levels and ages should be considered by it comes to determining who your target audience is. Once you have an idea of the type of people that you plan to serve, you can develop your product development and marketing strategies around these people.
3) Determine How You Want Your Customers To Interact With Your Company
What kind of aura does your product invoke? For instance, if you’re selling cotton candy, you may want to invoke an aura of joy. In that situation when people interact with your brand, you want them to feel happy. If you’re providing home alarm systems, you may want to demonstrate a high level of safety and professionalism. In a situation like that, you would want your clients to view you as an expert that can protect them.
4) Message For New Customers
When it comes to creating a memorable brand, one of the things you should do is choose a message that would be perfect for new customers. Simply said, what do you want customers to think when they come across your product for the first time? The answer to this, should affect various aspects of your company, such as its name and even your marketing copy. This message should also affect your visual identity, web design, slogans and even packaging.
5) Unify Aspects Of Your Business With Your Branding Choices
When it comes to effective branding, you will need to demonstrate consistency throughout the entire structure of your business. For example, if you have several employees for your business, you’ll want to ensure they are utilizing the same brand language and visual aesthetics. One of the ways you can do this is to pass out a brand style guide so that the marketing coalesce and elements of your company, demonstrate a shared vision.
Tips For Creating A Memorable Brand
As mentioned above, when it comes to creating a memorable brand, you need to go above and beyond where other businesses have failed. Here are some tips to creating a truly unique and memorable brand.
a) Sense Of Humor = Memorable
Don’t shy away from the possibility of using humor to market your brand. In this context you can play with your audience a bit, by telling a funny story. When you think about some of the most memorable ads that you have seen, chances are that you can think about a Super Bowl ad or two. A prime example of such would be Doritos. They made a flying pig commercial which many people found hilarious, this helped to ensure that potential customers would remember that LOL moment when they go into the stores and see the brand.
b) Colloquial Language
Customers will get turned off by the prospect of reading complicated details and won’t interact with a brand that spews jargon. Certain words such as ‘best service’ synergistic and other complicated terms will drive customers away. The key thing to remember is to speak to your target audience as you would your friends.
c) Ensure That Offline And Online Store Experiences Are The Same
Oftentimes business owners struggle to determine the best way they should meld their online and offline presence. An effective strategy would be to ensure that the offline experience mirrors what your online business provides.
c) Unified Presence Across Multiple Platforms
When it comes to gaining brand awareness, you should consider using a holistic approach with your target audience. What this means is that your customer should be able to access your brand through multiple venues such as Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and search engines. When they continuously see the same transparency and professionalism in all the media that you provide through several venues, they will begin to trust your brand and dig deeper into the story behind your brand, which will eventually turn into a sale.
Barry Lachey is a Professional Editor at Zobuz. Previously He has also worked for Moxly Sports and Network Resources “Joe Joe.” He is a graduate of the Kings College at the University of Thames Valley London. You can reach Barry via email or by phone.
