Making a brand recognizable is one of the greatest challenges in business. But before having a recognizable name and logo in the market, there are lots of steps that you have to take to develop your brand.
To understand branding, you have to relate it to people. Each of us has a name, face, style, way of communicating, etc. The way we are makes different impressions on different people.
Similarly, businesses have brand names, logos, colors, fonts, voices, etc. It is what defines how they will be perceived by their customers.
Read some of these steps on how to start your own brand from scratch:
Dig Deep into your Target audience and your Competitors
Understanding the current market is the name of the game. This means you also have to learn about your potential customers and current competitors.
One simple way to do this is through the internet. Going to Google or surfing relevant social media accounts/pages will reveal a lot of things about products and services, how they perform, who are the top competitors, and the approach they used to get where they are now.
Take a note of how customers speak and what they talk about. This will give you hints as to what interests them and let you know what products that they are more likely to buy.
Meanwhile, evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of your competition, helps you formulate how to give your company an edge.
Pick your Positioning Statement and Write a Slogan
Starting with one to two-liner statements, you’ll be able to identify the product or service that you want to offer, the target market that you are eyeing to sell to, the importance of the product, and why customers should choose it over your competitors’ products.
Creating a unique statement that will be the claim that you will stake in the market is the key to building your brand’s messaging.
Alternatively, you can start writing a mission statement will declares a clear promise to your customers or to the world if you have a strong cause at the roots of your business.
You also have to think of the words that you want to associate with your brand. You can use this to establish your tone of voice on social media and in all your visual and written materials.
A fun and useful branding exercise is pitching three to five adjectives that describe the type of brand that might resonate with your audience. I compiled this list of traits to help you get started.
In building your brand’s think of a personality, animals, vehicle, gems, etc., which possess qualities that you can relate to your brand.
You can now go ahead and think of a short yet descriptive statement which will serve as your tagline in your social media accounts, website, and custom business cards. Keep in mind that these few words must make a big impact.
Decide on a Business Name
A brand is so much more than a name but it is one of the things you have to establish because it will impact your logo, your marketing, your trademark registration, and your domain.
Our advice is to pick a name that’s hard to imitate and will set you apart from the existing competitors in the market. Instead of limiting it to your product category, we suggest making it broad to give you flexibility.
Keep in mind that your brand name will affect the domain/URL of your website. So, before deciding on a domain name, make sure you know what’s already taken.
When starting your business, make sure to keep your promises and try to give the best customer service you can because, in the end, it is still the personality, actions, and reputation of your brand that will give your brand name meaning in the market.
Choose a look that’s suitable for your brand
Color is not only about the looks of your brand but it also expresses the feeling that you want to convey in everything that you do. So choose one that’s unique and won’t be confusing for your shoppers.
Your chosen colors will also influence your logo and infographics so find the perfect colors to represent your message and the identity you want to build. While doing this, you should also be browsing a font that will compliment your colors and your brand’s style.
Design your logo
A company logo design must be unique, identifiable, and scalable to work at all sizes because expect that you will use this on almost all your marketing materials and social media accounts.
An icon element is always advisable especially when you decide to take the online route because text logos are commonly too hard to read when put into smaller sizes such as in Instagram.
The logo that you want to invest in should appear anywhere around the web and in the physical world.
You are free to decide on the logo design that you will be using but outsourcing services to design it is always available online.