4 Crucial Steps to Follow When Branding Your New Business

Your brand is one of the most important factors your customers will consider before doing business with you. Your brand is often defined by your customer's perception of your business, and in turn, tells them what to expect from your products and services.  Your brand is much more than a logo; with a strategically defined brand, you will be able to differentiate your business, while creating loyal customers and advocates for your brand.

It’s important to be innovative and stand for something you believe in — if you don't believe in what you’re selling, you’ll come across an ingenuine and untrustworthy. If customers aren’t confident in your brand they’ll be less likely to give your business a chance, and even less likely to refer you to others. As such, branding your new business is a major component of any marketing strategy; and with the digital age we live in, your image online is everything.

Let’s dig in and take a look at some key steps to consider when branding your new business:

Determine Your Target Audience

One big mistake new businesses often make, is trying to appeal to anyone and everyone. You’d think your business would boom if you target a broad audience, not to leave anyone out, right? Wrong. Taking this approach will only lead to a more generic brand down the road.

The best place to start is to build a target persona, and don’t be afraid to get VERY specific when thinking about who will benefit from your products or services. Are they female college student between the ages of 19-22 with Hispanic backgrounds? Fathers with daughters who play sports, that use Facebook and live in the suburbs?  Although it may seem far-reaching to target people down to the tee, it is necessary for building a strong foundation for your brand.

Honing in on a specific audience will make your life a lot easier when it comes to marketing your business online. When creating campaigns for your business online, social media platforms like Facebook offer amazing targeting options that will reach your audience based on the demographics, location, interests, and behaviour patterns you set it to. Having a target persona will also help you when leveraging tools like Google Analytics (GA) — you can use segments to gain more from Google Analytics.

Create a Unique Value Proposition

A value proposition is a statement that a company will use to express why a consumer should buy their product or service. This statement is what helps potential customers set you apart from similar companies to yours. For instance, Lyft and Uber, two very similar companies that offer the same service have two unique value propositions:

Lyft: “A Ride In Minutes”

Uber: “ The Smartest Way To Get Around ”

Thinking of a value proposition can be tough. Many people find it hard to pinpoint what it is their business does best, and how they can set themselves apart from the crowd. A key piece of advice when contemplating your value proposition is not to rush the process; when you land on the right slogan, you’ll know.

Build Out Your Brand

Now that you’ve done some solid thinking on the foundation of branding your new business, it’s time to formulate a strategy to put everything into action. This will include creating a logo, style guide and fabricating your brand’s personality. Creating this structure will set you up for success in communicating a consistent message moving forward. A style guide is simply the standards set for what your brand looks like in various visual media such as print, internet, and broadcast.

When creating a personality for your brand, you’re essentially giving your brand human attributes that will decide how your brand acts, the tone you use, and the way you interact with customers. Are you funny, serious, playful, tough, carefree? The list goes on, and choosing the right personality for your brand will reflect hugely on how your customers perceive you.

Put your personality into play... building brand awareness will play a big part in standing out amongst your competitors. One of the easiest ways to get your brand out there is through social media. However, choosing the right platforms for your business is important in making sure you’re reaching the right audience. For instance, a company selling B2B software solutions might benefit from being on LinkedIn versus Instagram. When you choose the right platform, you’ll be able to create social media posts that drive more engagement.

Build brand awareness by making an effort to stand out and use some of the following techniques:

• Be creative and make your posts pop
• Use hashtags to join trends
• Tag influential accounts to get them talking
• Don’t be afraid to experiment

Keep Your Message Consistent

Once your brand has been developed, it is crucial that all aspects of your business inherit your brand's message and implement it through all points of contact with consumers, including advertising, social media profiles and even staff that you hire. Your company’s employees will be your brands biggest advocates, so having the right people on board with your brand’s messaging will benefit greatly.

Assure that your brand looks the same everywhere, using your style guide to create consistency with typeface, colours, logos, etc. When creating a website it’s important to incorporate your brand personality and tone into content. Consistent content is also very important if you’re going to follow SEO best practices. You need to create quality content to not only deliver value to your customers, but to ensure that you’re reaching the right audiences to drive more conversions.

Branding your new business online is no small feat. To learn more about increasing brand awareness after your initial steps, call TechWyse at 866.288.6046 or contact us here to speak with one of our digital marketing experts today.