Building a brand that people love and flock to has many different components. It’s like a recipe where the cake won’t bake quite right unless you have a little bit of the right thing. And it also depends on what you are baking as to what ingredients you’ll want to add to get the taste and texture to your liking. Here are some tips to help you build a thriving brand. Sprinkle in as much as you need to get the outcome you desire.
Discover Your Business Purpose
Why do you exist as a business? On the surface it might be to clean people’s homes or to provide great products for kids. But what deeper need is that product or service meeting. There is more to your business than what you do. It’s also about how you treat others and the level of care you provide people who interact with your brand. Your business purpose helps guide all of your marketing efforts so that there is consistency in what you do.
Identify Your People
Once you know your purpose it’s easier to identify your target audience. Before you build a brand, you must know who your ideal customer is and what they want from you. Your target market is the specific group of people for whom you are designing or selling products and services. It helps to know as much as possible about your people before you get started so you can more effectively market to them and meet their needs.
Connect Through Community
The most important part of a brand is its community. Community management is a big component to building a brand nowadays. What is community management?
It’s a way to communicate and get others talking about your brand and connecting with you. Your customers are your best source of feedback and advice, especially when you’re just starting out, and building a community of like-minded people can be the foundation from which your business grows. You need to offer consistent communication, useful content, and a genuine concern for the needs of the people and how you can meet them with your product or service.
Discover Your Unique Brand Voice
Everyone’s voice sounds different. The brand voice is the tone of your brand. It’s how you want to be perceived and remembered, both online and in person.
Your brand’s tone should be friendly and approachable—not intimidating or snarky unless that’s the ironic vibe you’re going for. Be consistent with your brand voice across all channels.
Make sure that whatever words and phrases are used in marketing materials are also used on other platforms such as social media accounts, websites, blogs, advertisements, and email newsletters so that there is no confusion.
Define Your Core Branding Pillars
Brands are made up of four main elements. These are the name, the logo, the slogan, and a mission. These are your branding pillars. They’re what give you your identity and help you stand out in the crowd. Building your brand with these pillars can help create continuity as you connect with people online and off.
Develop Your Visual Identity
Colors and designs evoke emotions within people. The way people subconsciously respond to red or green will differ from how they respond to yellow. Your visual identity should be recognizable, and unique, and evoke emotions consistent with your brand.
A logo along with a color palette will help you build consistent brand materials. A logo should be unique and easily recognizable even when reduced in size for use on social media icons and other small images/graphics.
Plan Your Website
There is a lot that goes into building a great website. When you know your brand voice and your colors and logo, you have some key elements that you need for your site. You can use this information to build out the content that explains who you are, what you do, and how customers can connect with you. You’ll need a plan with defined objectives as well as a platform, domain name, and hosting provider. It’s best to hire a web designer and a content/copywriter.
Develop a Marketing Strategy
Develop a marketing strategy. A marketing strategy is a plan that guides the direction of your marketing activities. Your strategy should be based on your business goals, your brand pillars, and who your audience is.
Using these ingredients will help you build a thriving brand over time and give you the connection you need to build your community.