A recognisable brand name brings numerous benefits, including increasing the value of your business, attracting more customers and being able to charge higher prices.
Here are 7 ways to build your brand:
1. List your values – as great brands are built on strong values. This can be the values of the business owner or the combined values of the board of directors. Whatever they believe in will be reflected in the brand (and I’m really hoping that one of them is ‘integrity’).
2. Have a big idea behind your brand. Write this down and share it with everyone (i.e. staff, associates, suppliers, investors and family members).
3. Differentiate your business from the competition. This is worth thinking hard about. (If you’re struggling, I offer a creative thinking training which can be applied to your brand).
4. Work on your visual brand identity, including your logo, company colours and typography. It needs to look professional – so use an experienced graphic designer and it all needs to be consistent. Ensure that your logo is used everywhere (email signature, printed matter, social media accounts etc).
5. Create a handful of messages to associate with your brand. These should include a strapline.
6. Great brands don’t bore people to death. Think of novel ways to attract customer attention. Don’t do what everyone else does!
7. Choose your promotional mix and communicate, communicate, communicate. I’m often asked about this, as business owners and marketers can sometimes feel that they are communicating too much. Don’t worry about it – as it takes a huge amount of effort just to be noticed at all.
Bonus idea: use images – as a picture paints a thousand words. People remember images, long after they have forgotten what was said or read.
Nigel Temple offers brand advice via his marketing consultancy services.
Join 13,000+ people who ffollow Nigel on Twitter: https://twitter.com/nigeltemple
