If you own a business, you already know how critical it is to establish a brand and separate yourself from the competition. According to a study by the Content Marketing Institute, 89 percent of the marketers surveyed noted that brand awareness is their most important goal in content marketing.
Building a reputable brand can mean the difference between becoming the next Apple or just another company that makes technology. Consumers tend to prefer brands that they can trust and have interacted with before.
Keep reading this guide to learn how to build your own brand that can take your business to the next level.
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Determine How You Want to be Viewed
Before you build your brand, it’s important to determine what your business is about and how you want it to be viewed by consumers. There are a few questions you can ask yourself to help you decide the direction in which you want to go. These include:
- What makes your business unique
- How can you provide value to consumers
- What is your identity
After answering these few questions, you should better understand what your business represents and what identity you should be projecting to consumers.
For example, a company that knows its identity very well, Apple, does an excellent job of presenting itself as a sophisticated, innovative, and modern company. By staying true to its values, Apple can capture an audience of like-minded people or desire to be part of the brand.
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Develop Mission and Vision Statements
While determining your business’s values and identity, it’s a good idea to write down its mission and vision statements to show the world what your business is all about.
Starbucks is one company that has stayed true to its values. According to information on the company’s website, Starbucks mission statement is the following:
“To inspire and nurture the human spirit – one person, one cup, and one neighborhood at a time.”
The statement is brief but really zeroes in on what the company is all about – not only providing a great cup of coffee but also promoting the experience around it and the sense of community it can generate.
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Be Consistent
If you are looking to build your brand, staying consistent can make a world of difference when it comes to brand recognition and awareness. Everything should stay consistent, such as creating a brand name a logo to help your customers recognize and continue to do business with the brand.
The name and logo will be the first things that individuals see when interacting with the brand, making it essential to stay persistent with things like:
- Colors
- Designs
- Typography
- Fonts
By staying consistent, consumers will have an easier time finding your brand and hopefully continuing to do business with it. One of the easiest ways of accomplishing this is by utilizing tools and resources such as a free logo maker to help you with the design.
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Stand Apart From the Competition
There is a common saying when it comes to starting a business that goes something like “be first or be better.” Or in other words, if you are going to start a business, you will need to make it distinct to separate yourself from the competition.
Being first or being better is a good way of looking at it – if your idea isn’t original, think about how you can improve upon it to make it better. One way of determining your competitive advantage is by using a SWOT Analysis. A SWOT Analysis consists of different categories designed to recognize and analyze four different critical aspects of your business, including:
- Strengths
- Weaknesses
- Opportunities
- Threats
By utilizing tools like this, you can zero in on what makes your business unique and why consumers should be doing business with you rather than the competition.
For example, Apple wasn’t the first company to build a mobile phone. However, they do control the largest share of the market. Apple was able to accomplish this by improving the product and putting its unique spin on it.
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Let Everyone Know Why Your Brand is Better
It’s not enough for just you to know that your brand is the best. You need to explain to the rest of the world why it’s the best. This can be accomplished through marketing.
Marketing is one of the best ways to get your brand name out there and begin creating a brand identity. Consider a company like Geico that has had multiple successful marketing campaigns that have helped them establish their position in the market. Most people by now can connect the slogan “15 minutes can save you 15 percent or more on car insurance” with Geico. This has now become Geico’s brand identity – when people think of the insurance company, they think of saving 15 percent or more on car insurance.
This isn’t the first time that Geico has run a successful marketing campaign either. The first marketing outreach focused on how easy it was to use their services and save money while doing it. The slogan “so easy a caveman can do it” was also a wild success in reaching the brand’s target market and explaining why individuals should do business with them over going to the competition.
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Be Yourself
At the end of the day, nobody is better at being yourself than you – This is a competitive advantage in itself.
Today’s biggest and most admired brands all have a unique factor that has allowed them to establish their position in the market. Being yourself and allowing the uniqueness to shine through your brand can help relate to consumers and create engagement around the brand.
Learn More About How to Build Your Own Brand
When it comes to starting a business, learning how to build your own brand can be one of the most rewarding things you can do. Products will go out of date and eventually be replaced in time. But, an established brand can last much longer and can also help consumers distinguish your products or services over the competition.
If you are thinking about starting a business or have already started the process, check out our blog for more helpful tips and tricks to get you started.
