Did you know that 77 percent of consumers make purchases because of the brand name?
It doesn’t matter how big or small a business, smart brand development is an essential part of every successful company. Selling excellent products or providing outstanding services is no longer enough. You have to have a great branding strategy too.
Keep reading to find out our 10 smart brand development tips you need to know about.
1. Take Every Opportunity to Raise Brand Awareness
You should never miss a chance to spread your brand. There are so many surprising ways to raise brand awareness.
Of course, your brand should always be displayed on your products and packaging, your website and your premises.
But there could be other opportunities that you’re not seeing. Perhaps you could bring out a line of materials, such as pens or T-shirts, with your brand printed on for your employees to use.
2. The Best Brands Are Instantly Recognizable
If you think of a half-eaten apple, the technology company Apple Inc. immediately comes to mind. Or, what about a swoosh? This time you can only think of the sports giant Nike.
This is the effect that the best brands have. They are instantly recognizable to millions of people around the world.
While your brand may never be recognized by millions, you can learn from these world-class marketing titans. You should aim to develop a brand that needs no introduction.
Standing out from the crowd means researching your competition and your target audience. You need to consider everything from the color of the logo to the message the brand conveys.
3. Brand Development is Difficult
Creating a brand is much harder than many people expect. If it was easy to develop a brand that communicated a clear message, instantly recognizable and visually impressive, everyone would have done it. But they haven’t.
One of the most important qualities of any brand is to have a unique selling point (USP). The best brands are memorable because there is nothing quite like them. While discovering the perfect brand identity for your business may take time, but eventually, it’ll be worth it.
4. Be Consistent With Your Brand
Brand development can be a lot of fun. But once you settle on a brand for your company, stick with it. Don’t start coming up with yet more brands, logos and designs.
You need to create a consistent brand design. This means that your brand should constantly inform the colors of your website, the font of your promotional materials and message you give consumers with your customer service.
5. Make Use of the Experts
It might sometimes feel like it’s you against the world. But it’s not the case. There are many people out there that can help you develop your brand.
While you may be able to come up with an excellent brand message and marketing strategy. You may stumble at the moment you have to create a professional standard company website.
The important thing is to concentrate on the bigger picture of your business. Hire experts to come up with a tagline for your logo, or the design of your product packaging. Don’t waste time trying to do your graphic design yourself, get in touch with experts for help.
6. Establish a Target Group
It can be easy as a small business to make decisions based on your personal preference. Although it’s crucial that you believe in what you’re doing, you don’t have to like everything about your brand. After all, your brand is probably focused on a target group different from yourself.
Put yourself in the shoes of your perfect customer. This needs to go beyond the usual demographics and gender. Consider the interests, personality, and motivations of the group your product or service is targeting.
7. Develop Your Online Presence
The days when small businesses could get by with just a website are over. Every business needs to develop their online brand awareness too.
The most important step is creating a user-friendly and well-designed website. This allows online users to find you. If they can’t find you online, you don’t really exist in many people’s minds.
You need to develop a blog that provides your customers with interesting and engaging content. Use your expertise and knowledge of your business area to develop a loyal readership.
After this, you also need to set up social media accounts on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest and LinkedIn. Although you may not need to concentrate your efforts on all of these at once, it’s important to consider which best communicates with your target group.
8. Provide Your Customers With Value
‘Value’ is a crucial world in business and marketing. It doesn’t matter what you sell, you need to create a sense of value for your customers.
But producing value for your customers is not only about the product or service you provide. It’s also an essential part of your brand development.
Your brand sets you apart from the competition because they are buying into what your company stands for. Maybe this is quality products, or perhaps, you focus on ethical and sustainable products.
After all, when you purchase a cup of coffee at Starbucks, you’re participating in an idea not just drinking coffee. You need to provide this same value to your own customers.
9. Find Your Business Niche
Discovering your place in a crowded market is always a struggle. But you don’t have to enter an existing market. Instead, you can create your own market by finding a niche.
Looking beyond the current market for products and services take vision. But the most successful companies identify a gap in the market that they can fill. This is an important part of any brand development.
10. Give Away Freebies and Deals
Everyone likes getting something for nothing. Giving away freebies and deals to customers is a great way to drive loyalty and positivity around your brand.
By starting online competitions for free or offering discounted products and services, you can gain new followers on social media.
Learn More About Branding and Business
Now that you know the top 10 tips for brand development, you can start raising brand awareness in the right way.
To learn more about branding and marketing, check out our blog post on why you need to hire a social media strategist.