Alexis Kestler
Words “branding” and “brand” seem to pop up a lot lately, mostly connected to marketing. In its expanded use, it has been often mixed up with the word “business”. But it’s not the same, although they go together well.
If branding is confusing you, or you are worried that is too difficult, unclear what to do, expensive, etc. this is the right post for you. We will explain some creative and cheap (or free) ways to brand your business. You will need to spend a bit of your time, but in return, it will help you grow your business.
Building your brand is a part of your business that can not be skipped. It is giving your business a voice and value, kind of identity. By putting it out there brand grows awareness about your business. So read this post carefully and dive into branding!
Understand your audience
We were already writing about the importance of understanding your audience, so you could create better content and marketing materials. The ones that fit their needs and answers their questions.
What you could do is create a (fictional) character that will represent your typical buyer. But with the real characteristics, of course.
You should know their age, gender, education, job, etc. Basically, the things that will help you determine their marketing requirements, objects, and habits. This will also help you find out which kind of social media they use, so you can focus on choosing the best platform.
Create an identity for your brand
It is very similar to creating a character who is representing your audience. You need to answer these questions: What are your business’s implications? What do you represent? how do you want to be seen by your audience?
All of the content that you create and post should be tightly connected to answering those questions. That includes your blog posts, emails, social media posts, etc. Try to imagine your posts before creating them. How do you want them to appear to your audience?
Build your presence
So, after you get a picture of what your audience wants, and what you want your branding to be like, you will need to be present on social media. As we already mentioned, on the platforms where your audience is.
Determining which platforms are the most suitable and how your audience behaves could be done by examining the statistics. For example, if you own a local business then geographical factors are important to you. You will need to get social media statistics for the specific area, and if those are not available to you, you can research on your own.
Building your presence means engaging in every way, not just posting regularly. Leaving comments, likes, and answering questions are essential. On Facebook and Instagram, you can use stories, even better – interactive stories to communicate with your audience.
Have an excellent customer service
Why is that important? Because social media users expect you to be available 24/7. In the digital era, we want answers now, especially if we need help with something. We published a post on using social media for customer service recently, and it explains why this is crucial for your business, how to organize to reply fast and to everything, and how to resolve possible problems. Take a look at it.
Having excellent customer service can actually save you some time and money. If you do it well. it can work as good marketing for you. Your customers will appreciate it and leave good reviews. Don’t underestimate that.
Few easy tips on branding:
Analyze your performance
And be honest. Have you offered value, credibility, and authenticity to your audience? If not as much as you need, this is the first thing you need to fix. This is what will strengthen (or weaken) your brand name. If something goes wrong, be honest about it and try to fix it. This will actually get you closer to your audience.
Redesign your logo
We know that your logo is the face of your company, but even the biggest businesses redesign it from time to time. Its importance is unquestionable. Think about the big companies whose logos have become so famous that they are symbols. (McDonald’s, Adidas for example.) But if they weren’t good, it wouldn’t be that way. So if you are not 100% sure that your logo is perfect, recreate it.
Create more videos
Your audience is 10 times more likely to engage with your videos than photos or text posts. So, the part of your branding vision should be more videos = more engagement. They will more comment and share your content, and that will be great for your brand.
Try to use targeted videos that will educate your audience (how-to videos e.g.), help them remember and recognize your brand, but also make them buy your product or service.
Start blogging
It is hard to imagine that a business doesn’t have a blog. This is not just one of the best branding ideas, but more a requirement nowadays. By blogging you will gain influence in your business and industry.
Create a great design for your blog, and write texts that your readers will find useful. Always make sure that the information you use is up to date, and add high-quality visuals to it. An interesting mix of content will attract visitors to your blog.
When branding (or rebranding) your business, your first focus should be on creating graphics such as logo, website, business cards, even social media templates. And all of it should match in colors, font, style, etc. Think about all the creative ways you can capture your audience. And have fun while you do it!
