How to Build a Strong Brand

Last week’s post focused on the benefits of branding. This week, we’ll delve into what to consider when constructing your brand. It is imperative that your customers have a clear understanding of what your company stands for and what kind of experience they can expect. When done correctly, it is your brand that communicates all of this.

Identify your company’s character. Clarifying the exact personality you want to strive for is the first step toward constructing a comprehensive brand. What values do you want your company to embody? How do you want to be perceived by your target market? What kind of experience do you want to give your customers? When determining these factors, make sure the overall concept is unmistakable from your company’s mission statement to your customers’ concluding transactions.

Brand personas. A big part of making the above decisions involves understanding your audience. This requires researching your target market and getting to know what makes them tick. While doing so, you will notice that your customers have certain things in common. These similarities could be anything from demographics and lifestyle characteristics to personal attitudes and values. These connections form your brand personas. Putting names and faces to these personas will help you think of them as living, breathing people so that you can then construct the foundation of your brand in harmony with what is important to them.

Develop a specific style of communication. Once you know the values you want to convey through your branding, you must then determine exactly how to present it. Directly connect the mottos, slogans and catchphrases you use in your messaging to your established mission and core values by employing keywords that will efficiently communicate these values to your customers. Whether your mission statement makes mention of a focus on innovation, exceptional customer service or dependability, you’ll want to utilize language that reflects the impression you wish to relate.

The design of your brand. Remember, your brand’s imagery should encompass more than just a logo. Your chosen colors and images need to be seen across the entirety of your messaging. Your brand’s design should also be simple so as to be remembered easily and quickly. Just like the words you use, the way your brand looks should carry the same tone with which you want your company to be associated. If your brand projects an image of action, the colors and imagery should contain the same quality.

Consistency – not repetition. Consistency in your messaging is a huge key in building a cohesive brand. Being consistent does not simply mean repeating the same words or throwing your logo on everything. This will quickly get redundant and annoying to your audience. The point is to use your tone throughout in order to express your company’s character to allow your target audience to become familiar and comfortable with it.

Remember to keep your branding authentic and honest. The best way to do this is to stay true to the core nature of your company and the values your customers have come to expect.