Whether you operate a small business or are a large corporation, your brand is likely one of the most important assets you have. It can also be one of the most challenging to build and manage. But, with the right strategies and tools, you can turn your brand from a liability into an asset that draws in new customers and increases loyalty among current ones. Read on for a step-by-step guide to creating a powerful brand. From understanding what makes for a great brand to identifying potential pitfalls to avoiding them, know everything you need to get started.
1. What makes for a powerful brand?
This will depend on a number of factors, but one of the most important is the overall strength of your brand. How strong is your logo? How does your color scheme fit in with your products and services? These are all things that can be easily and quickly changed, but they’re also indicators of a brand’s overall strength and potential to bring in new customers. Another key factor is your imagination. Who do you associate with? Does your brand fit with the image you want to portray? If not, you may want to re-evaluate how you’re conveying your brand.
2. Research Is Key
As a first step in building a powerful brand, conduct a thorough search for competitors, your industry, and your target audience. Doing this will help you get a sense of the market you’re operating in and to who you’re attempting to appeal. If you operate a small business, you might also consider doing market research for potential customers. What types of products do they use? What do they want? What do they expect? What do they find valuable? This will help you understand your customer’s needs and identify ways to better meet their needs.
3. Define your target market
Before you can begin to build a powerful brand, you need to know to who you’re aiming your efforts. How will you know when you’ve hit the mark? What are the key indicators that tell you your efforts are paying off? Defining your target market will help you avoid a number of common brand pitfalls. These include:
- Not understanding your customer: If you don’t know who your customers are, you have no idea how to speak to them. And without knowing who you’re trying to reach, your efforts will be completely off-course.
- Being one-dimensional: A powerful brand must be both unique and relatable. If your brand is entirely one-dimensional, it will fail to reach its full potential.
- Lacking consistency: A powerful brand must have both consistency and distinctiveness. It must be recognizable, while at the same time, having a certain level of originality.
- Not being customer-centric: A powerful brand must be built around the customer. It must be designed to meet their needs and expectations.
4. User experience is key
Buying a product is only one aspect of the brand experience. After you’ve made a purchase, how satisfied are you with your experience? Is your brand adding value? Are you receiving what you paid for? These are all things that can be easily and quickly changed, but they’re also indicators of a brand’s overall strength and potential to bring in new customers. It’s also worth considering how you’re interacting with your brand. Are you using the logo? Your logo is a very powerful tool for communicating your brand. Be mindful, however, of the environment in which you use it. If you’re in a restaurant, for example, you may want to keep the logo hidden. It’s best, also, not to have your logo on your business cards, letterhead, or any other stationery used in public.
5. Craft a message that resonates with your target market
Once you’ve defined your target market, you’ll be better positioned to find and develop a message that resonates with them. What do they value? What do they find valuable? What’s missing in their lives that they’d like to change? What do they wish someone would do? These are all things you can research and find out as much as possible about your target market. Once you’ve identified the key values, you can use them to create a message that speaks to your customers. A powerful brand has a clear and concise message that resonates with the target market. It reflects the values, feelings, and emotions that the customer would like to experience. A powerful brand is relatable, and authentic, and offers solutions to real problems faced by the customer. A powerful brand is also visually appealing and conveys a certain level of originality.
Bottom line
With the right strategies and tools, you can turn your brand from a liability into an asset that draws in new customers and increases loyalty among current ones. A powerful brand will give you the competitive edge you need, both in the marketplace and in existing and potential customers’ minds.
