Your logo, business name, tag line, colour scheme, motto, website, digital marketing and print marketing materials are all imperative factors that congregate to create a brand. Remember your brand is your company’s identity, it’s the first thing people see and will often influence first impression, create loyalty and so on. You get the gist; your brand is very important!
Here are 7 top tips on how to build an effective brand:
Audience Profiling
Ask yourself who is your target audience? Who is most likely to engage/ purchase/ interact with your product and service? When creating your brand, you should always keep this in mind as well as what is likely to appeal to them and what isn’t. Your audience profiling should shape your design, your marketing efforts, your values and so on.
Logo and Design
There is huge research to suggest that certain colours invoke certain feelings, emotions and levels of trust. Your logo and design should bare this in mind and initiate positive first impressions. For example, if your brand is for a Nursery/ Childcare, parents will be looking for a mixture of vibrant bright and pastel colours… in this instance black would be a fairly big no go. It’s great to be creative but don’t go too abstract, your design and logo shouldn’t be too complicated, you want it to be simple and easily identifiable.
Core Values
When creating your brand this is something you should establish from the outset. Your core values will help guide your brand whilst maintaining a certain set of standards. All brands want to generate a loyalty with their customers so that they return for repeat custom. One of your core values could be something as simple as offering a first class quality custom service.
USPs
What makes you stand out from the crowd, why should someone choose to buy your product or your service over a competitor, what’s your hook to draw someone in? Yes, your unique selling points are something that you should be able to reel off on the tip of your tongue, so give them some thought!
Marketing and Awareness
How are you going to get your brand out there? You need a well devised marketing strategy that will introduce your brand to new customers and maintain relationships with existing customers. There are so many marketing opportunities available to you, from social media, SEO, email marketing, web design, to print marketing and more, find a matrix that works well for you.
Monitor and Measure
People often get carried away with all the other aspects of building a brand; they sometimes forget this important one. You want to make sure that your marketing efforts are working, your core values are being adhered to and so on. If something is amiss, you can nip it in the bud before it damages your brand which you have put so much time into creating.
And finally, Consistency…
Remain consistent in building your brand, don’t go chopping and changing, you want people to familiarise themselves with who you are and what they can expect!