Whether it is your company’s first product or you are positioning a brand new service or product, it is essential that you consider how you will market it andgo about brand building. Use the expert tips provided here to help you through the process of building and promoting your brand.
Your brand is the source of a promise to your consumer. It’s a foundational piece in your marketing communication and one you do not want to be without. A strong brand increases the value of a company, provides employees with direction and motivation, and makes acquiring new customers easier.
Having a strong brand is extremely important for your business. The better it is known, the more sales it will generate. Branding is not only about the logo, but also about values and purpose. Keep these in mind as you come up with strategies for building and promoting your brand.
Brand building can be a valuable function of marketing. You can build your brand around a mission statement or a vision, or you can build it around the feelings that your customers experience when they interact with your company.
These expert tips will help you to build and promote your company’s brand in a way that generates revenue, increases customer loyalty and enhances your reputation.
- Start with a mission statement
As a business owner, you need to clearly identify what it is that your customers want. To get this right, you need to be able to relate to your customer base and understand their needs. Your company’s mission statement should address how you plan on fulfilling those needs.
Here’s an example of a good mission statement:
“To provide the customer with value-added services by keeping our service levels high while keeping our prices low.”
This mission statement is clear and concise and gives the reader a good idea of how this company plans on doing business. It’s easy to read, it’s easy to remember, it’s easy to repeat, and it doesn’t leave any room for misinterpretation.
- Let customers build your brand for you
When you allow customers to interact with your company and form their own perceptions about what it stands for, you can develop a brand that feels authentic because it was created by people who actually use your product or service. This is one reason why many brands use social media to connect with their customers: It allows them to hear directly from consumers about what they think about their products and services and how those products could be improved.
- Know Your Target Audience
By knowing your target audience, you’ll be able to tailor your branding efforts more effectively. For example, as a business who works within the tech industry, one of our main goals would be to target people who work within the startup community in general. This way we will be able to establish ourselves as a reputable branding agency among them.
- Define your brand
The first step in building a brand is defining what it is. What do you want people to think when they see your company’s name and logo? Do you want them to see you as innovative and cutting edge, or do you want them to feel like your product represents a safe investment? Whatever image you choose for your business, make sure that it’s one that will resonate with the audience you’re trying to reach.
- Develop a website
Your website is another key component of your brand identity. It should be easy to navigate and have clean design, so that visitors can quickly find information about your company and its products or services. Also, make sure it has a URL that is easy to remember and share with others.
- Tell the story of your brand
Once you’ve defined what your brand is and what it stands for, tell the story of your brand through every piece of content on your website and social media accounts. If you stand for something, say so. The more consistency you can provide in the story that makes up your brand, the more likely people are to buy into it.
- Use social media to promote transparency
Use social media as a tool to promote your brand, not just push products and services. It’s important to develop authentic, two-way relationships with customers and prospects. Companies that use social media as a platform to create engaging conversations with their customers receive higher levels of customer satisfaction, customer advocacy and brand preference.
Don’t just post sales pitches on social media. Instead, share content that will help your audience with the challenges they’re facing.
“People engage with people, not companies,” says Tim Washer, director of social media at Cisco. “If it’s just a company pushing a product or service, people aren’t going to engage with that.”
Washer suggests mixing humor into your messaging. Humor is a great way to differentiate your brand from the other companies in your industry. He also advises keeping your social media posts short and sweet — and less promotional than you might think.
Social media is an ideal platform for promoting transparency. It allows you to communicate directly with customers, which helps build trust and loyalty if you are honest and open with them.
- Be consistent across platforms
Whether you’re on Instagram or Twitter, make sure that your messaging remains consistent across all platforms. Don’t confuse potential customers with multiple personalities on different social media sites; they’ll become frustrated and look elsewhere for what they need.
- Deliver on your promise
Your brand is more than just a name and logo; it’s a promise that you make with your customers about the quality of your products and services—and how you’ll fulfill their needs better than anyone else can. It’s critical that you deliver on that promise at every interaction with your customers, from sales and delivery through customer service and support after the sale is made.
- Define your brand position in the marketplace
Defining your brand isn’t enough if you don’t know where it fits in the marketplace. You need to define what makes your business unique so you can reach potential customers who have a genuine interest in what you offer. To define your brand’s position, you need to ask these questions:
- What are our core competencies?
- How are those competencies unique?
- Who do we serve?
- How do we stand out from the competition?
- What is our promise to our customers?
- What makes us different?
- Get involved in the community
Building and promoting a brandisn’t just about marketing your company. It’s also about being a good member of the community. When you show up to volunteer at organization events or when you donate to people in need, you’re showing that your company is more than just a business. This enhances your reputation and increases customer loyalty. You also gain exposure for your business because people will see your logo or name on signs and other marketing materials when they see you out in the community.
Conclusion
For a long time, brand was the domain of big companies with big budgets. But the internet has changed that. Now, building and promoting your brand is more accessible for small businesses than ever before. So take advantage and get started on brand buildingso you can have a brand that will be relevant to your customers and give your company an identity in a crowded marketplace.