What name comes to mind when you think of a place to buy a pair of shoes or a nice jacket? If a brand name popped into your head, you would know how powerful branding is and how it influences buying decisions and people’s storytelling. But it’s also difficult to build a brand from scratch.
As you delve deeper into the world of business, you begin to understand how the little things can make a big difference in your brand’s creativity. These little things affect your business in the long run and ultimately create a corporate brand for you.
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Branding elements
Branding Elements includes six main categories that represent your brand’s voice, your brand’s personality, your brand’s promises, and what it offers. It also demonstrates what principles and values the brand is focused on, what target market you are targeting, and where your brand stands in the eyes of consumers.
Let’s look at Amazon in this case. Amazon has managed to become one of the greatest e-commerce stores the world has ever seen and at the same time revolutionize the way people shop online.
But how did it happen? The e-commerce platform reported net sales of over $138.41 billion in the last quarter of 2021. Their focus on user experience, including startups, small businesses, and large domestic businesses, says a lot about their brand value.
We also see an exceptional business model and how it has evolved for a giant company over the past 20 years. They offer what their target audience wants and stick to their values, which are essential elements for any brand.
But how to build from scratch an entire empire that will successfully attract a large audience and meet their requirements? Let’s find out.
Guide to building a brand from scratch
While starting from scratch to build your brand identity can be difficult and time consuming, the effects add up to create a stronger and more efficient business. Over time, you will see how the brand helps you achieve long-term goals and builds the trust of the target audience.
So, if you’re looking to take your business to the next level, we’ve put together seven comprehensive steps to help you build your brand for maximum impact and accelerate turnover.
While you may find yourself going back and forth between the same steps, the key is to stay consistent and consider every aspect when defining your brand structure.
Define your target audience
Before you jump on the bandwagon and build your brand from scratch, you need to understand who you are trying to reach. Narrow down your niche, see who you target, and serve as a business. For example, targeting youthful, dry, and normal skin could be your niche if you own a skincare brand. A specific topic will reduce the competition.
You can use various metrics to learn more about your target audience and use this information to understand existing audiences when developing strategies to reach more potential consumers.
Keeping track of your competitors also helps you see how they are targeting consumers. It also allows you to identify loopholes in the system and fix them with your products.
Position yourself
Branding helps your potential customers improve their decision making and activates the positive qualities associated with your brand. Developing a mental connection with your audience helps play a critical role in determination of the main dimensions for your brand identity.
Positioning your brand in the market is a complex task, so a positioning statement can help you make a name for yourself in the market. For example, if you’re dealing with skin care products for youth, you know that the main difference is “skin care for youth”. When you know your unique selling point, you can promote campaigns and branded content that will help you position your brand and speak directly to your audience.
This is where brand equity comes in. Brand equity demonstrates the value of your company name in the real world, beyond what is reflected in your financial statements. Realizing this value helps you design and position your products or services correctly for your target audience.
Your company name
One of the most important brand building strategies is your company name. After all, it will be the first thing customers see when they see your brand. You can choose any name as long as it matches your brand values and perfectly describes your brand vision.
Your company name is probably one of the biggest commitments you can make due to its huge impact on your branding, marketing, brand logo, and domain. In an ideal situation, you would have to come up with a company name that is difficult to imitate but that captures the essence of your brand. Let’s look at some types of trademarks and how they are used in real companies.
- Descriptive: Brand names that reveal the core competencies of your business are also a great way to name your brand. But as you know, these trademarks can also be tricky to trademark because they are based on common words. Examples include The Weather Channel and Bank of America, which use descriptive names for their companies.
- Invented: These trademarks have Latin, Greek or other foreign roots. Examples include Google, Adidas and Pixar. Each of these names has built monumental brand equity, using the brand name over the years.
- Memories: BMW, HP, and MTV are all brand names that are nothing more than a bunch of capital letters that have nothing to do with it.
- Acronym: Names like Nike, Amazon and Patagonia are unique and creative and leave room for interpretation. As a rule, they are also easier to register as a trademark.
- Lexical: Trademarks for this type include smart branding. Dunkin Donuts and Krispy Kreme are examples of lexical names that rely on puns to help the audience remember the brand.
Slogan
A compelling slogan is an optional element of the brand building process, but it adds valuable information to your business and helps consumers understand what the company is about. For example, Nike’s slogan “Just do it” serves as a motivational quote for a sports brand, demonstrating the brand’s attitude. The slogan should be a unique element that elevates your brand identity to the next level.
Create your brand story
Your brand story describes the why and how of your brand. Telling your story in a compelling way says a lot about how much you value your brand. It also shows customers what value you provide and the expectations they should have for your brand.
You may have heard that “consistency is the key”. This statement is true because you can’t expect to build a brand that reflects its history without constant effort extending to all parts of your business. However, determining what the “sequence” should look like for you is critical to working on your business goals and brand story from the start.
A good story will resonate positively with your audience and make them respect and appreciate every aspect of your brand.
Create your unique logo
Your branding isn’t just about choosing the right logo or catchy name. Proper branding helps create a positive image for your business. It also shows your customers what to expect from your company.
However, a creative logo is critical to helping consumers recognize your brand and name. Therefore, your logo should be filled with personality and meaning. You can choose from several options to create an impressive logo, from brand emblems to lettering.
Advertise in every possible way
Online and offline marketing play a key role in developing a branding strategy and making it work. You need to make sure everyone sees your brand. Using online social media campaigns helps keep consumers informed about the brand and encourages them to buy. Website development also gives your brand a professional look.
Traditional marketing tools such as outdoor signageincluding billboards, banners, posters, etc. will also help you in your marketing efforts and showcase a positive brand image to your local audience.
Smartphone brands such as Samsung advertised their “The Future Unfolds” campaign by placing large billboards around the world. Permanent signs attract the attention of visitors and remind you of the brand.
These signs help create an impression within 2-3 seconds. Mundane and nonsensical advertising signs are ignored due to their general nature. Traditional signs are also adaptable to any area and improve the potential consumer’s interaction with your brand. That’s why luxury brands and big companies consistently work on campaigns using practical traditional marketing tools.
Conclusion
Building a brand from scratch can be a daunting task, but it’s essential to survive in today’s competitive arena. Proper branding can do wonders for your business and help you establish an emotional connection with your customers.
Emotional connection builds trust and enhances customer loyalty. This way, your customer will never abandon your products or services in favor of another business. A brand identity gives customers a reason to come back to you and remain committed brand advocates.
Thus, building a brand from scratch and building a brand identity with small details in mind turns out to be a fruitful investment in the long run.
