27
May, 2021
Your branding is your business’ identity. It’s how you present yourself to the world. Your brand is your first impression. It includes your logo, your voice, your color scheme, your values, your products, your communication style, and more. But don’t get it twisted. Your brand isn’t necessarily defined by your logo or your website. Your brand is defined by what others are saying about your business. That means your job is to positively influence the consumer’s opinion about your brand. How can you do that? It all comes down to how you build and present your brand.
Define Your Target Audience and Competitors
By now, you hopefully have your product line all figured out and maybe even a name, so it’s time to define your audience and who you’re competing with. Who do you want to sell to? Be very specific about your target audience. What age are they? Is your audience mostly comprised of women, men, or both? What kind of car do they drive? Do they live in a home? Defining your ideal customer will help you understand how to market to them. You’ll also want to do some competitor research. You’ll find direct and indirect competitors, which can help you refine your strategy.
Define Your Mission, Values, and Voice
Your mission should tie into what you hope to offer your customers, and your values should speak to how you will carry out that mission. Borrow some of the questions from your target audience research and turn your brand into a person. You get to decide what this person (your brand) looks and acts like and how they communicate with others. Think about why your brand exists and what problems you are trying to solve.
If you don’t have a slogan to go with your name yet, now is the time to do it. You’ll also want to figure out what your messaging, brand story, and voice is, or the way you talk to your audience. They should be reflective of your mission and values. Do you want to be informative, yet conversational? Professional? Friendly? Sassy? It’s up to you, but keep in mind that this messaging should resonate with your customers.
Design Your Visuals
For many brands, this is the most fun part. You get to come up with a logo, choose your brand colors, play around with fonts, and make a website. Alternatively, you can hire professionals to do this for you, but it’s a good idea to at least have a vision for what you want before you begin working with someone. Each of these visual elements conveys something to your audience, so be careful in your choices.
Your logo is the face of your company. It’s often one of the first things that comes to mind when someone thinks about your brand. After all, it’s going to be everywhere. Make sure you love the final logo you design or choose. It should not only be easily identifiable, but unique and versatile.
Roll It Out
Once you’ve built your brand, carry it across all platforms. Your logo should be on everything, from your social media platforms to your print materials and business correspondence. Across the board, your brand identity should be consistent. That means if you decided that your voice would be professional, you should convey professionalism in every sense—right down to how you interact with your audience on social media. Stay true to your decision and be consistent.
Keep in mind that businesses periodically rebrand—whether their values have changed or they want changes to their visuals to reflect changing trends. Whether you are in need of branding services or a rebrand, BadCat Digital has the resources to help.
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