What is a brand and why is it important?
The steps to building a successful brand starts with creating a brand that will let your buyers know what to expect from your company and its products and services. It distinguishes the business and its product lines from the competition. It is also about making the company easily identifiable and memorable with the creation of a name, a logo, symbols, imagery, and designs. In addition to brand recognition, it is important to be associated with a positive user experience.
Benefits of a strong brand
A strong brand will:
- build buyer preference
- shorten the sales cycle
- make consumers less price sensitive
- drive referrals
Having a strong brand image plays an important role in building your business; it makes your business attractive to buyers across the sales funnel. Your brand, when well communicated, informs customers about what your business represents.
To help you create a brand that is established, we have outlined 10 simple steps you need to follow.
Steps for building a successful brand
It all starts by asking the right questions. Let’s talk about some of the elements of building a successful brand.
- What are your company’s vision, mission, and values?
- What are the business goals and objectives?
- Who are the target audiences?
- What problem are you trying to solve?
- What solutions do you have that will solve their problem?
- How is your product/service offering different from your competitors – what is your unique value proposition?
- Where does your audience like to hang out?
- What would you tell them about your business products/service?
- What is the best way to reach your target audience to tell them about your product offering?
- How do you want your brand to look and feel and how will that translate into the advertising and messaging?
Build Trust
Building a trusted brand is not an easy task. However, it has numerous long-term benefits. A brand’s voice that comes across as human, real, and trustworthy will gain a competitive edge. Take the opportunity to strengthen your brand across all touch points down the sales funnel. Humanize your brand through sharing stories, testimonials, and reviews, showcasing team members, and letting customers know what the business stands for. The best way to build a strong brand is to understand your target audience, and that starts with identifying who they are.
Identify with Your Buyer
Brand building begins with identifying your target audience and understanding more about who they are, and what makes them tick. It also includes knowing where they consume media (where they hang out), their likes/dislikes and what influences them to buy.
Mapping out the customer or pathways to purchase is an ideal way to build the persona of the ideal buyer. To do this, research some of the topics below.
- Demography: gender, age, education, income, etc.
- Interests: What do they like, and what are their interests or hobbies?
- Customer’s pain points: triggers that push them to purchase your product or services
Personas don’t just help you crystalize your brand messaging, they will help you to qualify leads, inform product development, develop creative content, and aligns your sales teams to be more effective. According to experts, when you take the time to understand the persona of your buyer, it increases customer retention by 5% and could grow your profits by 25%- %.
Build your Marketing Strategy with Your Brand In Mind
Marketing strategies have a longer lifespan than individual marketing plans because they contain value propositions and other key elements of a company’s brand. Marketing strategies cover big-picture thinking, while marketing plans expand on the logistical details of specific campaigns.
A marketing strategy overlaps with your brand strategy and typically answers the following questions:
- Who are its customers?
- Who are its competitors?
- What makes a brand stand out in the market?
- Which market trends can be taken advantage of?
- What is the SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) analysis of the specific product or service?
- How is your product/service offering different from your competitors – what is your unique value proposition?
These questions will help determine your company’s competitive edge and one that’s sustainable. This is only done when you understand the needs and wants of your buyer and can crystalize the company’s unique value proposition and solidify what your brand represents.
360 Integral Marketing can help you develop a roadmap for your business to excel based on the competitive landscape, your unique value proposition, the strength of your brand and by determining the best pathway for acquiring and increasing your sales. Contact us for a 15-minute introductory call to determine ways to establish your brand and grow your business.
