For businesses across Belfast, Northern Ireland & Ireland I look at how you can create a brand, or begin the process of rebranding your current one.
1. Determine your target audience
Branding leads to awareness, recognition, trust, and revenue. But let’s take a step back and understand where those stem from: consumers. And not just any consumers – your target audience and customers.
2. Establish your mission statement
Why did you create your business? Answering this will help you build your mission statement, which defines your purpose and passion as an organization. Your mission statement is a building block of your brand manifesto, which encompasses why your organization exists and why people should care about your brand.
3. Define your unique values, qualities, and benefits
There are probably lots of businesses in your industry and niche. It’s easy to focus on your competition (and there’s a time and place for competitive analysis), but, let’s focus on you. The one thing that your business has that no one else can mimic is -Your brand. Because of that, you must ensure that your brand is comprised of and inspired by elements that are solely yours: the values, benefits, and qualities that make your company unique.
4. Create your visual assets
At this point, you should understand your target audience, your mission statement, and the unique qualities that make up your business. Next step is visual design. Your logo, color palette, typography (fonts), iconography, and other visual components. As you create these elements, build a set of brand guidelines to govern the composition and use of your visual assets. This will ensure that whoever uses your new branding does so accurately and consistently.
5. Find your brand voice
Next, consider the auditory component of your brand. What would your brand sound like if you had a conversation with it, or if it texted you? From your advertising campaigns and social media captions to your blog posts and brand story, ensure your tone is consistent throughout all of your written content. Give your audience a chance to get familiar with your brand and learn to recognize the sound of your voice. Better yet, master a fun, entertaining voice, and your customers will look forward to your social media and emails.
6. Put your branding to work
Your brand only works if you do. Once you finish designing and creating your new brand (or rebrand) integrate it throughout every inch of your business. Pay extra attention to ensure it’s displayed anywhere your business touches customers. Here are a handful of tips for applying your brand across your organization;
Website
Splash your logo, color palette, and typography across your website. Don’t use anything but your predefined assets in your brand guidelines. Your website is a major part of your company identity — if it doesn’t reflect your brand, it will only provide a jarring customer experience. Insuring all web copy, calls-to-action, and product descriptions reflect your brand voice.
Social media
All profile photos, cover art, and branded imagery should reflect your brand. Consider putting your logo as your profile photo — this will make it easier for customers to recognize your business. As with your website, be sure all profile information, posts, and captions reflect your brand voice.
Packaging
If you have a physical product, your product is probably the most tangible way that customers interact with
your brand. For that reason, your packaging should reflect your new branding — in its design, colors, size, and feel.
Advertising
Advertisements (digital and print) are often used to establish brand awareness and introduce consumers to your brand, it’s critical that they reflect your branding. In fact, your branding should make the ad creation process easier — with your brand style guide, you already know how your ads should appear and what type of copy to write.
Get in touch today to start creating your new brand!