Building up a brand can take weeks, months and even years, but once you’ve cracked it and achieved a brand that can easily be recognized and associated with a positive experience, there’s really nothing like it.
While you might not have the budget of bigger, multi-national brands, it’s still possible to build a strong brand profile, and here are 7 effective ways to get it done:
- Understand what your brand means to you and your consumers
By having a clear understanding of the purpose of your brand and what it stands for, you can help others connect with it in a powerful way. Ideally, you should have something that makes you stand out from similar companies. Maybe it’s the fact that your brand is socially responsible or that you’re open 24 hours a day—or that you’re minority owned. Once you’ve found what helps you stand out from the rest, you can begin building a robust brand that others feel connected to.
- Conduct market research
Until you truly understand the market you exist in, you’ll never be able to build a strong brand. By carrying out extensive market research, you can gain valuable data and insights to help you forge a robust brand building strategy, Find out who your customers are, where they live, their ages, their buying patterns and anything else you can find. The more you know, the more you can connect with (and find!) your ideal buyer. You can find this information buy looking at your customer database, assuming you’ve collected data along the way. Gathering and reviewing the data can be complex and time consuming, but it’s worth it in the end.
- Recognize the importance of visual elements
Nothing can capture the attention of a potential customer quite like a strong image; one that resonates and is unique. Make sure your brand logo is clear and easy to recognize, and that it says something boldly and confidently about your brand.
- Define the personality of your brand
Humanize your brand. Seeing your brand as a person that others will want to identify with, is a great way of humanizing your brand and determining its personality. From there, you can create your brand voice. Professional, playful, exclusive, elegant and humorous are just a few examples of brand personalities. Think about your brand’s unique attributes and target audience and create your personality from there.
- Always be sincere
Modern consumers are often well versed in the products and services they seek to use, and as such, you need to ensure that you’re transparent and honest with your customers at all times. Don’t be short-sighted and misguide your customers for a quick sale. You may gain a win at that moment, but you’ll burn the chance of gaining a second opportunity. Go above and beyond, and you’ll build loyalty and hopefully more customers. Under deliver and you’ll get the exact opposite.
- Make your employees brand ambassadors
By treating your employees with respect, they’re far more likely to promote your brand among their friends and family, and on social media. They’ll also be more likely to go above and beyond for the most important people: your customers. Make sure that all of your employees understand your vision, focus and goals so they can transmit that to your customers. Also do regular check-ins with your staff to ensure they’re happy with their work and the way they’re treated.
- Keep a close eye on your strategies
It’s important to never rest on your laurels when your marketing efforts seem to be going well, since things can change at the drop of a hat. Monitor and audit your strategies regularly (having a third party do this for you makes it easier), and establish key performance indicators (KPIs) that serve as benchmarks for measuring success.
By sticking to the points listed above and enlisting third party help like Towers Marketing Group, you can help your brand establish a strong identity, and ideally, a strong following among consumers.
