5 Steps To Good Business Branding

Branding is often used as a synonym for marketing, though it is not exactly the same thing. Branding is about identity and uniqueness, while marketing is about getting the product to sell. They are equally important, and you can’t really do one well without the other. However, we are going to focus on branding in this article and we’ll discuss the 5 steps that any new business should take in order to build a strong, powerful brand.

Start with research

Research is essential for brand development, and it’s important to work with an experienced researcher who can guide you. Another great idea is to hire an agency who will be there for you every step of the way. This task is time consuming and complex, and without proper aid, you can easily overlook important aspects of research, which can end up costing you money in the long run. You need to do market and competitor research, customer research, product research and keyword research for SEO.

What do SEO and branding have in common, you ask? This might surprise some of you, but it’s actually a great idea to use your main keyword in your core branding elements: name of product, tag line, website domain. Not only will you rank higher than your competitors in Google, it will also be very clear to anyone what it is that you do. For example: Bannersnack is a banner making tool, and the name itself gives people a hint of what it is.

If done well, the initial research will help you immensely. You will get a clear idea of the brand that you want to build, but it will also contribute to the development of your website, product and marketing strategy.

Establish brand identity

Once you finish the research, the next step is to process all the data and draw conclusions. You should know who’s your target audience, how they interact with your product, who are your main competitors, their marketing approaches, pricing. Develop a positioning plan and establish your brand’s identity.

Take some time to think about how you want your brand to be perceived: fun / friendly / bold / serious / something else. Make a portrait of your target buyer: an individual or another business. This must be communicated to your entire branding team, (plus marketing and design, if they are a separate team). Your brand’s identity has to shine in your every message, through words and design. It’s actually useful to have a meeting with everyone and decide together what colors best represent your business or product, what type of imagery, what type of approach would be best (formal / informal) and so on.

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Always stay true to your brand’s voice

It’s important to be consistent in your every message, email, social media post, landing page or direct conversation with customers. Hire people who portray your brand’s values, because your employees will be brand ambassadors. Whether you like it or not they represent your brand and can make the brand look authentic or fake.

Promote your brand on multiple channels

It’s important to be present wherever your customers are, offline and online. Think about what social media channels are used the most by your clients, make an account and start interacting with them. For B2B businesses, LinkedIn is the ideal network. For a photographer it will be Instagram and Pinterest. A Facebook page is also a must for every business because your customers expect you to have one and will look you up. Try Youtube or Vimeo if you produce any videos (which we highly recommend, as videos are fantastic branding tools).

Produce creative branding pieces

Surprise your clients with out of the box campaigns and they will be more likely to remember you. You can do classic advertising campaigns or focus on content marketing and do videos, articles, or ebooks.

We recommend Flipsnack for brand magazines, ebooks or presentation brochures, because it lets you deliver your messages using mixed media: video, audio, image and text. This will help you connect emotionally with your audience and make a lasting impression, which is key in all branding campaigns.

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