So, you’re starting a new business? Then you’re also creating a brand from scratch. Building a company brand gives you the chance to get creative and make something that resonates with people. Whether you’re not sure where to start or just want to make sure you’re on the right track, we’ve got the basics covered below.
Building your new company brand from scratch
Almost every consumer has a brand they’re loyal to. Your brand — and how well it resonates with your audience — can make or break the success of your business. To build a successful company brand, you’ll need to take on a few personas, like researcher, writer and designer. In short, be ready to be a marketer.
Ready to dive in? Begin with these five basic brand-building steps:
1. Conduct a market analysis
If you want to build a brand that resonates with your target audience, you need to know your target audience. In fact, you need to know more than just that. You need to know your company’s place in the market, too.
To get all that information, conduct a market analysis. Market analyses are critical parts of your business plan because they help you define your market, target customers and competitors.
When doing your market analysis, pay attention to research like:
- The age, income, location and gender of your target audience
- Your target customers’ current buying habits
- How you can stand out from the current competition
2. Give your business some personality
After doing your market analysis, you should have a better idea of what you want your business to brand itself as — or better yet, who you want your business to be.
The best brands have personality. The personality you decide to hone in on determines everything from the copy you craft to the designs you create.
In short, how do you want your customers to feel when they think about your brand?
Examples of business personalities include sophistication, competence and excitement. How you interact with your customers — both in person and online — depends on your brand personality.
3. Craft the copy
Regardless of industry, no business can escape copy. It’s in nearly every aspect of your business, from your website to your marketing materials.
Once you know the kind of personality you want your business to have, you should have a better idea of how to reflect that personality in your writing through your tone and style.
Your business’s brand should be evident in your:
- Blog
- Website copy
- Marketing emails
- Support emails
- Storefront signs
- Social media posts
Not to mention, you need to create a mission statement to reflect your business’ goals and values. Your mission statement tells your customers what makes your business stand out from competitors.
Related: 3 Effective Revenue Strategies to Use When Starting a Business
4. Think through the design
Do you want people to know who you are and remember your company brand? Yes and yes. To help improve brand recognition (by up to 80%!) take some time to play around with the design. That includes your startup’s colors, fonts and logo.
Even if you choose to hire a freelance designer to help you with the execution, keep the following in mind when it comes to creating your logo and choosing your colors and fonts:
- Colors
- How many colors to use in your palette
- The psychology of colors in brands (e.g., yellow means optimism)
- What colors your competitors use (so you don’t blend in)
- Fonts
- The fonts that are the most readable on a computer (e.g., sans serif)
- Which fonts to use for headers, subheads and paragraphs
- Font sizes
- Logo
- Whether you want design, copy or both
- Best practices for creating a logo (e.g., keeping things simple)
- How to create your logo
5. Keep it consistent
Want your revenue to increase by up to 23% (who doesn’t)? Consistent branding has the potential to get you there.
Your brand is what represents your business. It’s how customers recognize your company. If you’re not sticking to it consistently, what business are you representing? Not to mention, you don’t want to spend all this time creating your ideal brand only for you to use it half of the time.
Consistent branding requires you and your team to know your brand like the back of your hand. That way, customers know it’s your business when they see your:
- Website
- Social media pages
- Emails
- Storefront
- Review site responses
That’s right: your personality, copy and design should be consistent regardless of what channel someone sees your business on.
To get everyone on the same page, write down every last detail of your brand. You can create a “Brand Bible” that goes over your style guide. What tone should everyone be using? How often should you use your business’s primary colors vs. secondary colors? Style guides are long. If you think you’re giving too much information, think again — and keep writing.
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Still worried? You don’t have to go it alone
Yes, your new startup is your baby. It can be tempting to want to control every last detail when it comes to your business and its brand. But when it comes to laying the groundwork for your business, you might be worried your brand will fall flat.
After all, you want your company brand to resonate with others. So, you likely need some input from others.
Listening to and working with others can help you get your company brand to where it needs to go. You can involve employees, family, friends, your target audience, investors, etc. to get your brand just right.
