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Building a brand is like decorating a house. It’s an opportunity to put your stamp on the place. Choosing your colour schemes and settling on a style for each room is your way of building your house’s brand. It’s the exact same with your business.
Your branding is the building block for bringing out the best in your business. So, just like your house, it’s important that your brand represents your personality. Build a brand you believe in, and your customers will too.
When you’re running a business, there’s a lot of cogs to keep running. We get it. If you’re going to spend time oiling one, you really should give your branding some TLC.
Your brand is your bargaining tool. It can keep you ahead of your competitors. Remember, 77% of consumers choose items based on the brandname rather than the name of the product itself.
Not only does it differentiate your business, but it can define it too. We live in an always-online world, so standing out is no longer a luxury. It’s a necessity. There’s a reason why when people say trainers you think Nike; fast food, McDonald's; mobile phones, Apple.
Building brand awareness harnesses brand power. That means you’ll maintain a dedicated following that you can convert into lifelong customers. It’s the kind of circle you want to keep going round in. 89% of shoppers stay loyal to brands that share their values – so if you’re building a brand to believe in, you’re already halfway there.
No experience should ever be accidental. Everything should be by design. Sure, it’s easier said than done. But it’s not impossible to begin building your brand awareness. Whether you’re right at the start or deep into your business, here’s our starter for ten on things to consider when building your brand.
Before you even begin to build a brand, you need to ask yourselves these two questions:
Imagine you’ve got a Venn diagram in front of you. On one side is your audience, on the other is what you stand for; the crossover is where your brand begins.
Developing a deep understanding of who your audience is critical to strategising for success. It’s no longer as simple as their likes and dislikes, but what are their wants and needs.Ultimately, it is about knowing how they interact with and understand concepts.
Once you’ve got this, it’s time to look inwards. As a business, what do you stand for? Understanding this inside and out is crucial to mastering your messaging. It’s also the base for building a brand your audience can believe in and buy into.
31% of consumers believe that trustworthiness is the most vital aspect of a brand. Furthermore, over 60% of consumers say they would boycott a brand that offends their views. So it’s about time you make sure your message matches the thoughts of your audience.
With that all tied up, it’s time to think about these four elements of building your brand.
Before you even begin to think about anything else, you’ve got to get on the same page. Creating consistency from day dot is key to keeping ahead. The best place to begin is by building your brand guidelines.
There are typically six essential elements you’ll need to make your brand guidelines:
1. Brand story – this is your opportunity to introduce your brand to the world. What’s your history and where’s your vision taking you?
2. Logo – this is where you set out the stall for how your logo sits anywhere it might go. This means the sizes it should be, the white space it needs, and it’s colour variations.
3. Colour Palette – Colour in your consistency with a distinctive palette. Most brands choose up to four colours, so it’s best togo with shades like your logo.
4. Typography – You’d be surprised just how important your font selections are to your brand identity. A good place to start is picking a font different to the one in your logo. You’ll help set your messaging apart. Like the logo, you’ll need to make it clear how text should be aligned and spaced.
5. Imagery – Everything you’re associated with is your brand, it’s as simple as that. This is your chance to set up shop on what type of imagery is and isn’t acceptable.
6. Tone of Voice – Your brand’s voice is just as important as your brand’s appearance. It plays a massive part in how your audience feels about you. It’s always best to describe the kind of language you want to use, and the do’s and don’ts.
Once you’ve got your guidelines, you can design your website, build templates for social media, and really create consistency. All in all, you’ll begin to build your brand from the bottom up.
Your visual identity is the key to visualising your success. You should see your brand’s visual assets as your arsenal. Your brand identity is your armour, and these are your weapons to keep ahead of the competition.
When we think visual assets, we think logos, images, fonts, and typography. It’s anything visual you plan on putting anywhere. 80% of consumers think that colour is a big part of brand recognition, so you’ll want to be careful what colours you pick. And it takes just 10 seconds to form an opinion about your logo, so put in the research.
A big part of your brand identity is your brand storytelling. It’s all about creating a narrative to connect your brand to your customers. You’ll want to focus on the things we talked about earlier: the things that you stand for and the way your audience thinks about these things.
This is where your messaging, positioning and tone of voice come into play. What kind of content is going to capture your audience’s imagination? Are you going to focus on crafting compelling copy or tying it all together with stunning motion graphics?
There are so many ways to tell a story, so how will you tell yours?
Building the blocks of a brand is just the beginning. To get off the ground, you’ll need to share it with the world.
There’s no one way to do this. Every business has its own goals, every brand has its unique selling points. It could be that social media is the place to grow into. It might be traditional marketing techniques.
If you’d like to chat about building your brand and how we can lend a hand in any of these areas, discover our services and get in touch today!
