Branding is one of the most important aspects of building a business. Becoming a respectable and well-known brand isn’t easy, but it is achievable. Many think that the only way to build a brand is through expensive advertising, but, not only is that untrue, it is also highly unlikely that any start-up business will have enough money to do so. On the other hand, there are other strategies that can help you enhance your brand and build brand awareness for a fraction of the price or even for free – let’s talk about them.
1. Define What You Stand For
Even though the logo you decided on speaks a lot of your brand, it’s hardly the defining factor. For instance – you can easily spot a Nike commercial when it’s on, even though you don’t see the ‘Swoosh’ until the end. Why? Because of what Nike stands for. You know you’ll see elite athletes in their videos and Nike prides on excellence, so, instead of advertising their products, they focus on great people that wear their gear while doing great things.
The same thing applies to you. Make sure you define your message and what your brand stands for and stick to that. Make sure every piece of your business conveys the same message. That way, when people start noticing your products, whatever they may be – they’ll instantly connect the values you stand for with your brand and your products.
2. Invest In A Great Logo
Even though we’ve just said that logo isn’t the most important factor when it comes to branding – it is still something that you need. A logo is a visual representation of your brand. It is something people will connect to you, your business and your products. While it is true that if you build a successful brand people will be drawn to your products regardless of the image that represents you – it is still quite important for that image to be good. For those reasons, you should never skip this step. Find a good designer, explain your vision and what your company stands for and have them create a great logo that you will use for years to come.
3. Find Your Niche
While it does seem great to have a business that will tailor to everyone’s needs, in reality, that is just not possible. Not everyone will like or appreciate your products. You can’t satisfy everyone. However, what you can do is find your niche and stick to it. Once you do that – you’ll have yourself a much narrower target audience, but the one that appreciates you and your products a lot more. With time, your brand will become recognizable and respected in those circles and that is more than enough. What will your niche be? it doesn’t matter. Whatever it is – just make sure you do it right.
4. Quality Over Everything
Arguably the best way to enhance your brand is to make sure you always deliver on quality. Everything else fails if you can’t deliver quality to your customers. Whatever it is that you do – you have to want to be the best at it. Whether you’re a musician, a baker, a woodworker or a doctor – strive to be the best. Strive to offer the best products and the best services. That will be your greatest brand ambassador.
5. Have Quality Packaging
According to www.quickboxespackaging.com, people love the unboxing experience – just look it up on YouTube. On that note – quality products must come in a quality package. I don’t know about you, but we certainly haven’t seen a quality product in a terrible package – that’s just not the way it goes. Take Apple for example – whether you’re buying a new phone or a new set of wheels for your computer – it’ll come in a nice, shiny box. They don’t have to do it, but then again, would you consider them a premium brand if they stopped? The same thing applies to you. If you have great, quality products, why wouldn’t you want them in great packaging?
6. Entertain Your Audience
Now, we’ve come to advertising. The way you advertise your brand can make or break your company. Before you say anything, we did mention that you don’t have to spend a fortune on advertising to build a successful brand, so don’t worry – we don’t mean hire RDJ when we say entertain your audience. However, what we are saying is to make your ads entertaining. Whether you want to aim for funny entertaining or inspiring entertaining – that is entirely up to you. Just don’t make your ads boring, that’s the worst thing you can do. Just think about it – do you truly feel anyone would ever use Old Spice if there wasn’t for Terry Crews? To be fair, they probably would – but not to the extent they have. And that’s the power of entertaining ads.
7. Use Social Media
Whether you like it or not – you have to be active on social media. By active, we hardly mean just post pretty pictures of your products. No, everyone does that and that’s hardly enough. You have to use social media in every conceivable way. Post pictures, post videos, share stories, have giveaways, collaborate with influencers, use paid advertising, do collaborations, and all the other things any social media platform allows you to do. There are so many people on social media every single day that it would be ludicrous to forget about it when we talk about spreading brand awareness and enhancing your image.
8. Stop Selling, Start Helping
According to sites like this one, your customers must never feel like all you want is their money. If they ever feel that it will be the death of your brand. What you must do is convey a message that you’re helping them. They have a problem and you’re offering them a solution. Once you do that, it doesn’t matter how much does your product cost – you’re not doing it for money, you’re doing it to help. How do you do that? Well, start treating your customers with respect and always offer the best service you can.
As you can now probably tell, a brand is a lot more than just the image. A brand is how you carry yourself, what you stand for and what you represent. If you do the right things and make the right moves, you’ll build yourself a respectable and cherished brand a lot faster than you might’ve thought.
