Building a Winning Brand Identity from the Start

Business branding is big news. The rise of branding as a key strategy in business success has been noted, thanks to its ability to improve company recognition, increase value, and attract new customers. For startups, the cost of brand building can hover between $15,000-$75,000 depending on your branding strategy, requirements, and the agency you choose to work with.

For a new business looking to craft a brand from the ground up, knowing where to start can be difficult. From creating a brand logo and boosting your search engine ranking to maximizing your presence on social media like Instagram stories, there’s plenty that goes into it. If you’re approaching the brand-building game for the first time, here are a few tips to get you started.

What Are Your Brand’s Defining Traits?

Creating your business’ brand personality is a large part of improving the way customers view you and your business. Your brand personality showcases the values, style, and approach your business will apply to operations including customer service, press announcements, and product launches. If you haven’t settled on your brand personality yet, take the time to do your research. Many businesses take a dual branded approach when naming a company, meaning their business and product brand will share an identity and certain personality traits.

In addition to considering what your intended customer would find appealing, consider what characteristics you want your brand to be known for – such as excitement, sincerity, sophistication, or awareness. Think of your business brand as a person and envision how you would it would like to present itself. This involves your choice of brand colors, logo, and even your choice of brand names.

Who Is The Target Audience?

Building a brand largely centers on customer perception of your brand, your service, and your product. In a Nielsen survey, customers preferred to purchase new products from a brand that is familiar to them. Therefore, when building a brand for the first time, it is important that your brand resounds with your target audience. Start with defining your audience using demographics like age, interests, geographic location, and purchasing behavior to create buyer personas.

Once you know the kind of people that are more likely to be interested in your product, it’s time to look towards your competitors, potential employees, and media personnel. Competitor branding strategies can provide useful insight into how similar companies are engaging with their customers and what branding strategies are not working. Meanwhile, identifying media personnel is beneficial since this is an all-important avenue of generating public attention and a buzz for your brand through business stories, mentions, or collaborations down the road.

Are Your Branding and Business Strategy Correlated?

Lastly, making the connection between your brand and business strategy is crucial to executing a successful brand launch. In a survey by Omobono and Marketing Week, 85 percent of respondents said communicating a clear brand vision is a top challenge they experience. Since your brand will be instrumental in driving the performance of your business in several areas, ensuring clarity and cohesiveness exists when it comes to brand-building efforts will play a large part. This may also mean investing in your employer branding and training initiatives for employees across the board in customer service. Ensuring the brand characteristics you are aiming for are emulated by all employees and business functions present a unified image.

There is no question that branding is important to the success of a business. Some experts estimate that brand value can represent up to 20 percent of your business’ market capitalization value. This is why you must take the time to craft a great brand from the very first go. While your brand will evolve over the years to come, starting with these key basics will set you on the right path.

Featured image source: Freepik