Brand this and branding that. What is a brand? A brand is a company’s personality. It’s what they believe in and stands for. Strong branding should describe what you do and build credibility and trust with your clients. Branding spans everything from your social media strategy, your company logo, and the content you produce. 

Branding your business makes your company recognizable and helps customers understand your values – it also separates you from your competitors. Your brand is key to growing a loyal customer base. Now, where do we start? Here are five of our most effective tips for branding your business. 

Find your Audience and your Voice 

When defining your brand, a good place to start is understanding your target audience and your competitor’s beliefs. It’s important to be a business that solves problems; however, it is just as important to understand the demographics interested in what you’re selling. 

• What’s your niche?
• What are you selling?
• Who’s interested in that?
• What’s the age range? 

Your brand’s content should be focused on the motivation and purchasing behaviors of your target audience. While researching, you’ll gain valuable knowledge of your customers and how you compare to your competitors. Identifying your target audience will benefit all facets of your brand-building process. As you define your audience, you’ll be able to leverage that knowledge in your promotional content. 

Your brand persona and your voice go hand in hand. You want to develop an identity and voice unique to you. Ask yourself, what does your brand stand for? What is your goal reaction? What do you want people to say about you? As you put together your brand persona, your voice will start to form itself. 

Another good way to find a voice is to list words you would like associated with your brand. Think of adjectives that describe your brand and will resonate with your target persona. Your voice should shine through in your logo, campaigns, and any communications. 

Strong & Consistent Social Media Strategy 

So, we know our audience, we know our voice, and we know what we want to tell our audience – Now, what is the best way to do that? Your audience research should help you identify where your target audience spends the majority of their time online. The best way to interact with that audience is to show up where they are – their social media platform of choice. 

Begin establishing your presence on the different platforms that your audience uses. You will want to maintain that presence by being consistently active. Create intentional content with your audience in mind, but don’t forget to create content that follows the social media platform you’re using – what you post to Instagram might not work for LinkedIn. Although content may differ between social media platforms, your brand image needs to be consistent across all channels, marketing materials, website, blog posts, etc. 

Consistency leads to familiarity, which leads to trust. 

Brand Awareness & Visibility 

You have your audience, a defined voice, a social media presence, and now you need to be known. Your business will only grow if you are seen. An effective way that many bands have been increasing visibility is through influencer marketing campaigns. Brands find influencers that fit their voice and have them help with visibility. 

Customer Experience is Everything 

We posed this question earlier, and it still applies – What do you want people to say about you? A lot of a company’s growth is based on a customer’s experience with you. How you engage with your customers will impact their perception of your brand. 

You need to provide exceptional customer service if you want people to speak positively about you,

This applies at all times. Consistent, positive customer service is necessary for a positive business reputation. 

Perform a Competitive Analysis 

Lastly, you want to focus on researching other brands that are a part of your niche. Researching your competitors allows you to be aware of their branding efforts. By no means should you copy what other people in your industry are doing, but take this as a learning opportunity. Branding your business is a way to make yourself stand out against your competitors, and researching them can help you do just that. 

Ask yourself who your competitors are, what they offer, what is their mission statement, and what are their customers saying? Keep track of this information and consistently check back and proactively compare yourself. 

A good branding strategy can elevate your business. You’ll find that little improvement will help your brand become more recognizable and increase trust between you and your customers. I hope these tips help you while you think about your business’s brand.