Make no mistake about it, the brand building process isn’t an easy task.
“What should my brand look like?”
“How should I make my target audience feel?”
“Will my brand resonate with the specific consumers I target?”
These questions inevitably crop up when you start connecting the dots between what you offer and your target audience. Whether you have a million-dollar business idea or intent to pivot your current brand, keep in mind that a loved and recognizable brand is the most valuable asset for your company.
If you own or manage a startup, the chances are that you’re competing against giant brands with unlimited marketing budgets and dedicated customers. That’s the primary reason you should find ways to differentiate – branding.
Steps for Successful Brand Building
The brand building process has five important steps. These include;
Step 1: Define your brand and everything that goes to it
Your brand is a promise. That means you must clearly define what that promise is and all the core values it stands for. Think of these values as the DNA of your brand. You need to define how it links to your company and other brands that you have.
Remember, brands don’t exist in a vacuum – you have to give it home somewhere in your portfolio.
Also, you need to think about brand drivers. These are detailed promises connected to your primary brand’s promise. Define how the core values of your business will be manifested into the critical business processes and marketing mix to support your brand effectively. Remember, all these aspects work in unison to help you translate the promise and core values into actions.
Step 2: Position the brand
Essentially, you are shaping your target audience to think about your brand. You identify with those consumers are, what benefits they seek from your products and services, and what they believe about what you offer. It’s recommended to compare this analysis with your competition.
At this step, you are making the direct link between your product’s value proposition and the brand promise.
Step 3: Express the brand
Once you define your brand promise and position it in the market, it’s time to express your brand. Think of your brand as a person. A person needs a name, personality, and identity in terms of how they look. It’s imperative that you do the same for your brand.
At this step, you must create the name and logo to help your target audience recognize the brand easily and remember the specific promise your brand delivers.
Step 4: Brand awareness
This step revolves around creating brand awareness and making it work for you. You can do this by communicating it internally (to your own organization) and externally to the market. Your employees and distributors play an integral role in delivering your promise. They create and distribute products or services that offer benefits to the consumers.
Keeping your brand, your brand strong means you have to communicate continuously and consistently reinforce the promise in the consumers’ minds. If you don’t do this, your brand will lose value.
Step 5: Measure the brand
It’s important to measure the value of your brand or what’s commonly known as brand equity. This is what you accrue when you develop, promote, and deliver an authentic brand promise. As the value of brand equity increases, your company value increases.
Another aspect that you must measure is brand performance. Is your brand living up to the promise? Is it doing what you expected it to do for your company?
The process of building an outstanding brand takes time and money. If you do it right, you will successfully create a strong brand that can make your business more successful.
You may want to check our next post about brand building.
