Alexandra Dalgoutte
Five Simple Steps To Building A Brand
If you run your own business, you are likely familiar with the term – branding. But many people don’t realise what branding actually entails. Branding is the promotion of a particular product or company by means of advertising and distinctive design. Basically, it’s the reason people can recognise the Nike tick, they can see a giant glowing M and know that a McDonalds isn’t far away, and they can easily tell the difference between a Amazon parcel and a bog standard parcel – who doesn’t feel drawn to their cheeky smile?
Everyone can recognise branding, but most people don’t understand the ins and outs, and that’s completely fine! It takes years of branding experience to fully know what makes something iconic and recognisable. But thousands of SMBs struggle to understand the importance of brand marketing and think it isn’t really that important to them as they aren’t a household name. Well, they are wrong!
Many business owners have come to us feeling overwhelmed and out of their depth when trying to develop their brand. It is after all incredibly important. You want to stand out from the masses and ensure your target demographic remembers you, but aren’t sure where to start.
Well, you’ll also be pleased to know that it is possible to develop your own branding, and we are going to explain the steps you need to take to figure out what is right for your business!
Why Is Branding So Important?
Put simply, a brand is how a business wants to be recognised by customers. The companies’ identity sets them apart from their competitors while sparking a connection with their audience and target market.
The correct branding is crucial when making the best first impression. When it is consistently maintained, it increases the company’s value, provides employees with a sense of motivation, and makes acquiring new customers easier. To summarise, it’s very important.
What Are Brand Guidelines?
Brand guidelines are often referred to as brand identity guidelines, and these are clearly defined rules and standards that show how the world should see your brand.
The guidelines can also help businesses identify, build and grow their brand. They normally include things like colours, language and typography.
How Do I Create A Brand Personality?
Ideally, when you create your brand, you will want to sit down and take some time to think about the step-by-step process to make sure that you have covered all the essential elements and know what you need to include to fully establish the personality will be like. You also need to invest time into getting to know your target demographic – their likes and dislikes.
Our brand development strategy is pretty complex. However, we’ve put together five simple steps to help you get started.
The Ethos & Values Of The Company
The first thing you may want to figure out on your quest of establishing your brand is your business values and ethos. Having a clear vision of your values and ethos will help you to figure out who your business will appeal to, and in turn, who your target audience is.
In addition, having company values helps boost employee morale and motivation and provides employees guidance for their work.
If you are selling eco-friendly products, then you need to consider how your branding will highlight this. Your values and ethos are what set you apart, so be sure to find a way to embody them in your branding.
Decide On The Tone Of Voice
The tone of voice you choose for your brand is critical to how your company is reflected and how it connects you with your audience.
So after deciding what your business stands for, choose what kind of tone you want your business to have. This doesn’t just mean your written tone – this means the tone of voice you share across all mediums – design, customer service, store layout and content. For example, if you wanted to inspire and excite your audience, you wouldn’t use the happy shades of yellow in your branding. Instead, you’d go for something more thrilling and bolder.
Remember, your brand needs to reflect the tone of your business, whether that’s informal, corporate or perky.
How Professionally Your Company Should Be Conducted
As you are thinking about how you want your brand to appear to the public eye, it’s crucial to determine how your business will operate and where it will fit in the industry.
You will also want to have a level of standard that you want to maintain, so deciding how you want your employees to be conducted should be done at this stage.
How Your Product Or Service Should Be Maintained In Line With The Values
Once you have thought about what values you want your company to have, you now need to determine how your products or services will uphold them.
So, for example, if you are a sustainable and eco-friendly company, then you want your products or services to hold sustainable and eco-friendly values for them to align with your business. This is critical. It’s important to separate your own personal values and business values if they do not align – which can be tricky to do.
The Visual Identity Of Your Business
The final step now is to figure out what your visual elements will be to create your visual identity.
The visuals of your business may seem like a significant part of your brand, but in the whole grand scheme of things, it’s actually a tiny aspect. It’s very important, but we find this area is often the fastest to solidify.
However, having said that, once you have logos, colour palettes, style guidelines and graphics in place, you will start to see your entire brand identity come to life, so put as much time and effort into this stage as possible, just like the other steps.
At Cheshire Cat Marketing, we know how difficult it can be to get your visual identity to reflect your brand’s ethos and values while also trying to match your tone of voice.
Cheshire Cat Marketing specialises in helping SMEs and Startups grow while developing and reaching new goals with their online and offline marketing.
So if you are still struggling to figure out how to get your branding just right or need some help getting your business out there, then please get in touch for a completely free marketing consultation, and one of our experienced team members will be more than happy to provide you with advice.
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