6 Branding tips every new business should follow
Branding is about managing how customers see and feel about your offering. If you get it right you can become the latest object of desire of the masses. Get it wrong and you could be forever flogging a dead horse. If you are starting a new business or new brand here’s six things to keep in mind:
1 There’s more to branding than a logo
Yes a funky, eye-striking logo is nice to have, but that alone won’t win you customers and neither is it the limit of branding. In fact how your logo looks is a lot less important than you probably think. Take Google for example, it regularly changes its logo to fit in with the latest front page doodle, but people still flood back. It is the content of the site and the trust and reputation of the brand people come back for not the way it looks.
2 Make it cross-platform
So you’ve secured your domain name, now secure your social media names too. Twitter username (Maximum of 15 characters), Facebook Page unique URL (More than 25, less than 100 likes), etc. It is important these match to make sense to your potential customer, so they can easily find you if they need you.
3 Make it uniform
That could even mean making it your uniform, branded clothing does work in the right circles. Whatever you do just make sure that spellings, spacing, capitalisation and even colour where applicable, are the same wherever your brand is used.
4 Define your brand and state it
Dedicate a page on your website to defining your brand. What makes it unique? What philosophies drive it? Where did it begin? Where is it heading? Not only will it re-inforce the brand-washing in your own head but it will make it easier for potential loyal customers to latch on to you, normally because of some shared values.
5 Give it character
It may be your brand, but it is better to be its own brand. It may be just you writing the copy and tweeting at the moment but if all goes well you will expand and there will be other contributors. Define the voice of the brand now and it will be easier for all in the long run. Also character means being a bit controversial every now and then. Make a stand and stick to it.
6 Be seen and be known
Following on from 5 above, if you show an opinion people will take notice – in support and against – that’s what you want. Also make sure your brand is out there, on billboards, in newspapers, at events. The more people see it the more notice they will take. Don’t ignore local publicity and media either. It’s usually much easier to get coverage, great for gaining experience and also good stuff often gets picked up nationally that way too.
Of course, there is so much more to branding and it’s an ongoing task, but if you ignore these six you can almost guarantee your potential customer will be ignoring you too.
