How to Define Your Brand and Maintain It
You may have heard the term “brand” thrown around a lot in the business world. Just between you and I - are you still trying to figure out what a company brand is and how it impacts your business? In this article, we’ll go over what elements make up a brand, how it contributes to a company’s success and how to get started in creating your own.
A Brand is a Personality
Think of a company as a person. For instance, how would you describe your best friend? What are their values, goals, and most importantly their style? A brand is a company’s personality. Try to imagine what kind of person your company would be. You get the idea, right?
When getting started, one factor that you need to account for is your target audience. Your target audience helps you create the building blocks of your brand; aka the mission statement, values, color scheme, website, logo and tagline, to name a few. The brand is catered to the target audience. Without the target audience, there is no brand.
The big fuss behind branding is customer loyalty. You want to be your customer’s reliable best friend. A strong brand helps create and maintain loyal customers in good and bad times. For example, Fenty Beauty is a brand launched by Rihanna. Brand personality wise Fenty Beauty is Rihanna reincarnated. Take a look at the company’s social media, it practically oozes RiRi’s personality through memes, hilarious clap backs and consistent authentic customer interactions. Because of that many beauty guru’s only buy Fenty Beauty products, consistently leave positive reviews and defend the brand when inevitable drama occurs.
Creating Your Company’s Personality
So, how do you create your company brand? Take a second look at your products and services. Who benefits the most from your products and services? You want to be their best friend.
The best way to map out your company brand is to literally sketch it out. Create a mood board of different color schemes that appeal to you and research companies that you admire for logo ideas. Sit down and do a deep dive into how other companies have utilized their brand to their advantage through company blogs or unique social media branding.
Collaborate with a friend or co-founder on different taglines and messaging. When you have a good grasp of who your company is, lay out all the elements side by side and make sure they come together and create a brand personality you can get behind.
When you have created your company personality, it’s time to make some friends. An easy way to accomplish this is through social media and digital marketing. You will have the opportunity of interacting with and maintaining a relationship with customers like never before. This can be done through responding to customer questions and concerns, sharing customer posts and occasionally sharing a quality meme - but only if it fits brand guidelines. Do not overlook copywriting and digital marketing. Share company news, product launches and influencer endorsements to strengthen credibility.
A brand is what makes your company more than just a product or service. When done right, it can ensure customer longevity and company prosperity. Do not be afraid of putting a face to a name - it’s worth it, I promise.
