If you have plans on starting your own business, congratulations! Not everyone has the capital and the desire to make a change in an industry, so the fact that you’re taking this first step is very admirable. However, the battle only begins here, as you and your brand need to make sure your audiences also get to know about your presence.
Thing is, managing a business and managing your marketing can be two completely different things. And unfortunately, marketing an entirely new brand isn’t exactly easy. Branding itself might take time away from managing your sales and operations, right?
Well, not necessarily. In fact, with some quick branding tips, you may be able to not just form an awesome brand but make sure it’s in line with everything else you want to pull off for your business. Here are some quick branding tips to get you started:
- Decide on a color scheme and basic shapes. This might be an odd first suggestion, but it’s important to make sure you decide on a color scheme and basic shapes to follow early on. Instead of deciding on a logo outright, you need to take note of the subtle things that have to be consistent with your brand. For instance, fast food chains always have reds and yellows to denote hunger and energy. Meanwhile, sports brands usually follow blue colors to denote “coolness.” These subtle cues in colors and shapes will help audiences associate your brand to your industry and vice versa.
- Brand logo must not market your brand. Your logo shouldn’t be a form of marketing – instead, it should represent your brand. This is an important distinction. Your brand logo must contain your identity – primary shapes, motions, icons, and even messaging that represents your branding and what you stand for. When you think about your brand logo, think of something people can easily recognize and separate from others in your field.
- Create a design document. Once you’ve settled with a logo, color scheme, and shapes, you need to form a design document for them. You need to settle on how exactly you want your branding to be presented across all your materials. This is an important early step, as you want to determine as early as now how your marketing materials and partners should present your branding regardless of the situation – be it in merchandise, advertisements, or in your actual website.
- Websites are an extension of your branding. In today’s digital age, branding becomes “alive” thanks to company websites. As such, your website should represent your branding properly, much in the same way we wear clothes to occasions such as interviews and parties. Your website should contain everything people need to know about your brand (About page), how to reach you (Contact Us page), what your services are (a Services page), and even your contributions to the field (a Blog page). Moreover, your site needs to be navigable and easy on the eyes, so you can boost your overall customer appeal. This also ensures you can present your products and services more efficiently.
- Avoid relying solely on your social media. True, social media can be extremely useful when it comes to reaching your audiences. After all, social media networks are the best places to find people in general – be it people who are just there to hang out, people who are in hobby or interest groups, or even individuals who use social media to market themselves and their services. However, you shouldn’t rely solely on your social media to promote your brand. Remember, it’s better to have a solid foundation for your brand, and it’s much better if you use something you own – like your website. Your social media should always redirect to your website or other channels. That way, when a social media network goes down, your branding and sales won’t be impacted as much.
- Try to look for partners to promote your branding. Aside from formulating your actual brand, try to take into consideration potential partners and colleagues you might meet in the industry. You should start forming connections with partners and services of niches remotely related to your industry so you can propel your branding and ratings by piggy-backing on their own. You can have them review your products, you can write articles for them, or you can even make collaborations with them.
- Always try to interact with your audiences. People hate it when no one’s paying attention to them – and the same works when they’re interacting with your brand. A lot of brands today are successful because they aim to connect with their audiences – and not just connect as in “make content they’ll recognize.” In your case, you should make content that resonates with them and encourages them to interact with you. By slowly making your presence known to them, they’ll look at your brand as something they can rely on as you actively talk to them.
- Remain consistent with your message. Aside from establishing a message, your brand needs to be consistent in the presentation of your message. For instance, in the case of best interstate moving companies, you need to make sure that you’re presenting your brand alongside common terminologies and keywords that people need to remember you for. In terms of SEO, these are keywords that can boost your prominence in search engines. However, more importantly, seeing terms familiar to your industry such as “interstate moving,” “movers,” or even “moving long distance” are essential if you’re promoting a particular kind of service.
Branding Tips: It’s All In The Image
With the above tips in mind, it’s important to remember that branding isn’t just about using pretty colors, minimalist designs, and catchy catchphrases. Instead, branding is all about bringing out the image you want audiences to see when looking at your brand and making sure it lies consistent with the rest of your business plans. Thanks to our tips above, you’ll not only have a quick headstart with your branding, but you have the necessary knowledge you need to further develop your brand for the long-term.
