Business Branding : 11 Steps to Establishing it in Your Company.

One of the most critical aspects of any business – small or large, B2B or retail – is branding. The best business branding strategy offers you a clear advantage in today’s competitive markets. 

Are you wondering where you should start? Use the following steps to achieve your own successful brand!

Step 1: Identify Your Target Audience

The foundation of building a brand is determining a target audience that you would like to focus on. While building your brand, remember that you need to know who exactly you are trying to reach. This will help tailor your message and mission to address their specific pain points.

Identification of your target means figuring out specific lifestyle and behaviors of your customers. For example, you could focus on the single moms working from home, tech-savvy early adopters, college students studying abroad or the executive looking to recruit professionals. Solidify this picture and create a brand identity that your customers will not only understand but relate to.

Step 2: Your Brand’s Mission Statement

Before building a brand that your intended customer will trust, understand the value your business is providing. A mission statement defines the purpose of your existence.

Everything from your personality, message, voice, and tagline should reflect your mission. With time, brand loyalty will eventually grow to expand your reach.

Step 3: Research

Never imitate what your industry’s big brands are doing. However, you should know the areas they are doing well in – even where they have failed. Your goal should be to differentiate from your competition and convince customers to purchase from you.

Research your main benchmarks or competitors. Study what they can effectively or ineffectively build their brand. Are their message and visual identity consistent across various channels, what is the quality of their products and how do they react to social mentions and customer reviews?

Step 4: Outline Key Benefits and Qualities of Your Brand

There will always be brands that have more resources and bigger budgets to command your industry. However, remember that your products, services and the benefits they offer all belong to you. So, delve deep down to figure out what you’re offering that no one else can.

It could be a better way of supporting productivity, a transparent and authentic customer service experience or even helping save money by offering an affordable option. As long as you know your exact target audience (refer to step 1), give them every reason why they should be choosing your brand.

Step 5: Creating a Great Brand Logo and Tagline

The most important piece of the brand building strategy is creating your own business logo and tagline. The graphic will be on anything related to your small business, and it could be your calling card and visual recognition of what you promise. It’s advisable you invest money and time into the process of creating something exceptional.

Hire a professional creative agency or designer to help you with branding and identity design. 

Their expertise will go a long way in creating that unique and timeless mark for your company. A designer will also help you with providing consistency in the preparation of future applications of the logo and act like a guide to materials that are best for relaying your brand.

Step 6: Finding Your Brand’s Voice

Your brand’s business voice is dependent on your industry, audience, and mission. It is in how you communicate with your clients and how they respond. Your business voice may be professional, service-oriented, conversational, friendly, promotional or informative – the possibilities and adjectives are endless.

Follow the lead of a company like Virgin America. The company is widely known for its reliable and friendly customer service, something that builds the brand. On Twitter, Virgin America adopts a personable style by using location-based humor.

Step 7: Building Your Brand’s Message and Elevator Pitch

When building your brand, you should tell your customers in a clear manner who you are. 

Intricately associate your message with your brand and convey it in one or two sentences. Your message goes beyond your tagline and logo by defining key aspects of who you are, what you are offering and why your audience should care.

Step 8: Your Brand Personality Should Shine

Your audience is not looking for just another company that is offering something everyone else is. They are on the market searching for that unique experience tailored towards addressing their pain points and backed by genuine personal relations.

Step 9: Your Brand Should be in Every Aspect of Your Business

Your brand should be clearly reflected and visible in everything your customers will see – and even those they don’t see. When your customer walks into your premises, your brand should be visible in both personal interactions and the environment. Tangible things – from advertisements to business cards, to your packaging – should bear your logo.

Step 10: Be Consistent

Unless you will be changing your brand to a more cost-effective option based on customer response, consistency is critical. Do not change your branding constantly. This inconsistency will eventually confuse your audience, making your long-term brand building effort even more difficult.

Step 11: Be Your Brand’s Biggest Ambassador

When you have a brand that works for your business, you and your employees should be its biggest advocates while marketing it. While onboarding new employees, make sure that they culturally fit into your brand’s values, vision, and mission. Encourage your employees to adopt a personal brand that is in line with your company’s brand.