The early days of your business may not feel like prime brand-building opportunities. You have a product to get to market, a team to hire, and a vendor network to develop — who has time to brand?
Treat your brand as an item on your to-do-later list, though, and you could pay the price for years to come.
Great brand strategy pays dividends across all business functions. A strong brand gives your sales and service teams the benefit of your reputation, not to mention all the perks that apply to products and pricing. In the age of the internet, you don’t even need that much cash to start building. A little inspiration and a few core values, and your brand could set the stage for years of success.
What you don’t know about strategy building really could hurt you.
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Brands don’t develop naturally, however. If you want a good one, you must take the initiative to build it. Fortunately, you don’t have to start from scratch. Consider these expert strategies on how to do branding right:
Identify and research your target audience.
Hinge Marketing strongly advises young companies and rebranding businesses to define their target audiences clearly. Focus on as narrow a group as possible to maximize market penetration and achieve optimal growth.
The best brands don’t appeal to everyone. Health nuts don’t care for Mountain Dew and Red Bull, but all-night gamers and adrenaline junkies can’t get enough. Even if you sell something essential to life, like water, some people will have problems with the way you run your company. You can’t please everyone, but you can set a foundation to build a diehard fanbase.
Position yourself as an expert in service.
B2B marketing agency Renegade advises companies to sell through service. Give away insights, tools, products, services, and swag as often as possible. It may seem counterintuitive, but the more you give away, the more people will see you as an expert — and come to you when they’re ready to spend money. Branding is all about establishing credibility, and nothing says credibility like freely shared expertise.
Get started by creating more content about what you do and why you do it. Interview internal subject matter experts, and catalog those interviews to inform future content. As you grow, you can lean heavily on the insights you collected in the past. Those thoughts can help you stay on course when your company and brand face difficult crossroads.
Prioritize emotion over logic.
Your target audience will rarely remember the specific wording of your marketing campaigns, but they’ll never forget how your brand makes them feel. Foster a sense of community and belonging among your audience, positioning your brand as the common denominator.
HubSpot, king of content marketing, says companies should think about the role their brands play in their audience members’ minds. Some brands offer peace and tranquility, while others embrace a spirit of adventure. Start with the feeling you want to nurture — backed up by research and data, of course — and develop your marketing on top.
Remember your brand’s effect on employees.
Your brand defines your company for a variety of audiences, including customers, investors, and employees. According to Emotive Brand, if prospective and current employees view your company as an innovator and leader, they’ll see you as a worthy employer. You can earn a good reputation among workers by offering competitive salaries and benefits, but to get prospects’ attention (and keep it after they onboard), you need a strong brand.
Build clout in the eyes of employees and candidates by sticking to the company values your brand represents. A company that champions sustainability but relies on wasteful suppliers may strike the wrong chord with socially conscious workers. Stay consistent through your messaging and actions to demonstrate your company’s sincerity.
Whether you’re building your first brand or taking a new direction with an old one, keep these tips from the experts in mind. Your brand is your company’s lifeblood, and as your brand goes, so goes your business.
