When creating your brand, it’s so important that you think about everything, from your logo to the color scheme and even the tag line too. Let’s face it, starting a new business or rebranding is never the easiest of things, and more so if you’re in a competitive niche or industry. The late nights, huge financial demands, and all the sacrifices that go into it can feel overwhelming but is in most cases worth it in the end. A key part of the process is branding.

Essentially, branding is a marketing practice in which a business creates unique elements like its voice, symbols, web design, and name to help customers identify and recognize it any time they encounter it. As you can imagine, a lot of creativity and patience are needed to create a brand identity that etches in the minds of your customers.

In this detailed post, we show you 10 simple but effective tips and steps you can follow to create a powerful brand that helps your business stand out from the crowds and ultimately bring you more customers.

Customer Perception

You may understand your brand and everything that it stands for, but do your customers?

Ask your family and friends to give their opinion on any potential logo designs that you have and ask them to guess what service you provide. This will help you to get in the mindset of your customers and it will help you to conduct a business analysis too. If you have never given much thought to this side of things before, then it may also be worth looking into your target market.

Think about it, who is going to be buying your product? Are you solving a problem? Does your logo and branding reflect this? These are all questions that you need to ask yourself because if you don’t then you may end up doing yourself more harm than good. If you haven’t got any kind of logo yet, then Just 4resh Dezigns is here to help.

You can never please everyone. Don’t try it.

Can you imagine trying to meet the needs of each of the 7 billion people in the universe today? Is that possible even if you had all the necessary resources at your disposal?

Start small by targeting an audience that’s passionate about what you offer or produce. Strive to make a name within a small crowd instead of trying to be loved by everyone in the market. Sometimes it pays more to be a big fish in a pond than being a small fish in an ocean.

For example, if you know that your target audience is young then don’t be afraid to unleash a campaign that is catered to this generation. You might want to offer student discounts or even focus your advertising more on social media. This will help you to build loyalty and it will also help you to stand out from the crowd.

Have “The Look”

This is why the best business people and consultants dress to kill while others spend thousands on top-of-the-range cars to impress new partners or financiers, especially during those all-important first meetings. The impression you set for yourself to others plays a big role in how they perceive you.

Want to attract big clients? You’ll need to project an image of being big yourself. Most of these high-end clients want to be sure they are dealing with a reputable and reliable person or company, and the image is what they look at first.

A caveat though – don’t go so over the top that you end up being dishonest with your branding. Start by envisioning the future of your business – where you’d like to be in the future – and project your image based on that. This way, you’ll be able to attract the right prospects who will then thrust you to those heights.

Develop an Online Presence

If you want to really rocket your brand, then you need to have a quality online platform. This could include a blog or even a website (see here for a guide on how to start a website). This will help you to amplify any content you create while also giving you another channel in which to engage with your audience. Social networking sites are also ideal for things like this, but when choosing one, you need to make sure that it relates to your brand.

Get Social

Gone are the days when the only ways businesses could interact with their audience directly was through paid media coverage, emails, and phone calls. All these methods shared something in common – they were either too expensive or cumbersome to offer results. A lot has changed over the past decade or so especially with the inception and the growing popularity of social media.

Today, platforms like Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, and Twitter offer even the smallest of brands incredible opportunities to connect with their audiences and sell their products to them. All you need is to sign up for free accounts on platforms that best suit your target industry, automate as many processes as you can, publish useful content always, and where necessary, use influencers to speed up your growth rate. You can even choose to use paid ads to get the word out there quicker and to a highly-targeted audience.

Being consistency is key

Mentioned earlier, branding entails the deliberate actions you take to remain memorable in the minds of your audience. It is what users see, read, or hear about your business and instantly think or visualize it. For this reason, it’s crucial that your branding is consistent to avoid causing any kind of confusion among your customers.

By consistent, we mean using the same tone in your content, promoting the same message throughout, and sticking to the same values and quality. What’s more, strive to deliver consistently on all your promises to customers to foster that all-important belief in your business.

Collab with other brands

There’s power in association and learning how to leverage it is one of the quickest ways to catapult your brand even if no one knows you. The connections you create with other brands, whether inside or outside your industry, determines how strong or weak yours grow.

Start with your existing circle – college mates, friends, family, and colleagues. If you know that there is another business that works in your industry, then team up with them so that your products can complement one another. For example, if you sell band t-shirts, then team up with a sticker company so that you can give your customers a freebie whenever they order. This will give both companies publicity and you may even find that you make new alliances as a result.

Can you use their connections – through their social media accounts or blogs – to reach more people? Remember, any mention or recommendation from these people exposes you to others who trust the messengers. This way, selling your brand to this group of people becomes easier as those you directly have a relationship with have already paved way for you.

Weaving your brand with your human side

Personal branding should be a part of every single thing that you do. If you are able to develop your personal brand, then this will help your company brand, so make sure that you are presenting yourself in the way you want the world to see you. If you go to networking events then it helps to take a business card with you as well because you never know when the next big opportunity is going to come along.

Always seek to show your customers that your business has a human side – that there’s someone who cares about their needs and is doing everything possible to create useful products for them. Meet and interact with them on social media, respond to their emails, and send them good wishes on special days. All these, while appearing small and not-so-important deeds, will go a long way in building great relationships that enable your brand to stand out in its market.

Invest in simple but memorable designs

Which color pallets define your brand or website? Is your logo unique and easy to remember? Having memorable design elements will go a long way in boosting your brand identity.

Take an example of Apple – any encounter with an image of its famous bitten apple quickly reminds you of the brand and its highly-rated smartphones and other products. The same case applies to many other world-renowned brands like Coca-Cola, KFC, Mercedes Benz, and Adidas. They keep everything about their branding simple so it becomes easier for customers to remember them.

The idea is to avoid overcomplicating your brand. Help users remember your business by using a compelling logo, well-balanced color combinations and shades, and high-quality images.

It’s never too early to start branding

A lot of new business owners fail to prioritize their branding process, only starting work on it way later when their businesses are already established. Don’t make this mistake – as soon as you’ve chosen the direction you want to take for your company, create and begin implementing your branding strategy right there.

Remember, you’re oozing energy and passion at this moment and there couldn’t have been a better time to get creative with your branding work. And no, don’t worry about not having a clear path or definite idea about the products and services you’re creating when starting out. A brand is not defined entirely by that but is rather a combination of your set mission, vision, values, and business goals.

Conclusion

Building and maintaining a powerful brand identity is never going to be an easy task. Luckily, you now have a set of solid strategies that, if combined with a bit of creativity, should easily boost your company profile.

And don’t forget, Just 4resh Dezigns is here to assist. Click here to view the J4D Services or go to my Contact page to get started.

This is a guest article contributed by Nico Braille and Jacob Class.