6 Steps to Building a Successful Brand

A brand is a customer’s perception of the business. Your brand is what your customers know about you. This knowledge is established by your image, products and reputation.

Good branding helps potential customers make informed buying decisions. It tells them what quality standards to expect from your products and customer service. Good branding makes customers feel assured, which builds trust and understanding.

According to a recent survey, almost 59 percent of customers prefer to buy products from brands familiar to them. This is the reason most marketers are considering increased brand awareness as their marketing goal.

An established brand communicates understanding. A developing brand engages with customers and helps them understand its value and objectives. A poorly developed brand feels disconnected from its customers and lacks definition. However, with so much content flowing online, from ad campaigns to social media updates, it is easy for businesses to feel lost while trying to build and maintain a consistent brand identity.

So if you feel you are starting to lose your brand identity, use these six steps to get back on course.

1. Identify your target market: The first step to branding your business is gaining an understanding of your target market. Once you have identified and understood your target audience, every aspect of your branding strategy should relate to it. Your customers should become part of your business identity. A failure to connect with your target customers will lead to long-term failure. It is critical to solicit regular feedback to determine how your customers perceive your brand and offerings.
2. Tell your story: Telling a story that engages your customers is one of the most effective ways to create a successful brand for your business. Telling your story will not only highlight your brand identity and culture, but it is also a memorable way for your customers to relate to your brand on a more personal level. Your story should define the objective of your business or product and create an experience your customers can identify with.
3. Refine your message and style: After you have identified your target market and created your story, you need to put together a message that resonates. Refine your message in a way that defines who you are and what you offer. Keep it short, clear and to the point. Your brand name should project your image and the nature of your products or services.
4. Be consistent: Being consistent is essential to building brand recognition. Both your message and visuals must align. If your message has an opinionated tone and your visuals have a vintage feel, you may miss the mark. This process seems complicated, but it is well worth the effort. You have to be consistent with your website, social media posts and other marketing and promotional activities.
5. Be memorable: Create customer experiences that they will remember. Any business can provide excellent customer service, but some companies aim to offer memorable experiences to customers. This is what sets them apart from their competitors. Some businesses believe in becoming cause-driven. By finding a cause that ties closely with their brand, they can successfully build a reputation that projects them as an organization that cares.
6. Increase your online visibility: The goal is to reach your target customers through a clear message across multiple social media channels. You can use social networking sites to reinforce your brand. An active presence on social media is essential for businesses looking to build a name for themselves. Social networking sites are the direct channel to your target audience and the most efficient way to set yourself apart from competitors.

Most businesses go to great lengths and expense to create and promote their brand identities. However, the most important thing to ensure is that your brand builds loyalty and offers excellent products and services. Being responsive to your customers’ needs and demands is critical. Taking the steps mentioned above can make a good brand great – and help your business grow.