5 Essential Steps to Successful Branding

Excellent branding of your new business helps you stand out from your competitors and connect with new customers. Your brand is more than just your logo and website design, it is the customer experience you deliver and the values your business stands for. Here are 5 steps to build a successful brand:

1. The reason

Your brand must represent the purpose of your business. This includes your mission, core values and benefits to your customers. Be genuine with your purpose and make sure you have what it takes to deliver what you promise. Compare this purpose to your competitors’ to discover how you are different from them.

2. Know your customers

Successful brands go beyond fulfilling their customers’ basic needs. They are able to anticipate their customers’ desires to sustain a long-term business relationship. This comes from truly understanding your customers inside out: what drives them, what values they stand for, and what they can’t live without. Such information can be obtained through market research, surveys and interviews.

3. Teamwork

It is important to involve your management and employees in the branding process because if they are not convinced of your brand’s message, they cannot convince potential customers. They can also provide valuable insights to shape your brand.

4. External feedback

Running your initial brand concept by potential customers can bring different perspectives. It is easy to start with family and friends. You can find out if your brand resonates with them. They can give your useful advice on how to improve your brand message.

5. Construction

With all the information and feedback gathered from the above steps, you are now ready to construct your brand. The components consist of your name, logo, colour scheme, tone and style. They should represent the message behind your brand and applied across all social media channels, website, uniform, and company correspondence materials.