| All business owners need a brand, but not all business owners have access to a branding agency that can do all the work for them. Developing a brand strategy is far more extensive than it sounds, but owners of businesses are the most qualified people to develop this strategy for themselves. Read our guide for how to develop your brand strategy for your business.
Consider your entire business strategyA brand should be a visual depiction of your business. So, what better place to start than by looking over all your business strategies? Elements of your business model such as your products, services and channels influence your brand strategy heavily. If you don’t have a solid business model fleshed out, this is a good starting point for developing your brand. Understand your audienceBranding is a way to connect real people with your product, so understanding who you want to sell to is a huge component. Really dig deep at this stage to figure out who you want to connect with. You can do this through consumer testing and developing in-depth personas of what your top customers could look like. Position yourselfA brand strategy determines the value of your offerings as you want them to sell for, at least in the consumers’ eyes. This is one of the biggest benefits of branding as you can value something wherever you want and, as long as you’re convincing, people will trust that they are worth as much as you say they are. It takes more than just positioning yourself as the most expensive brand, though. Look at where your competitors are positioned. Consider other factors—not just price—that are relevant to your particular market, including your product’s quality, accessibility, manufacturing processes, and others. Fit yourself into a gap where there is an opportunity to offer your product in a way that none of your competitors are. Develop a messaging toneNow that you know where you are positioned and who your audience is, it’s time to develop a tone of voice that will go across all of your brands’ messaging. Your tone is all about the way you want to connect with your audience—how do you feel you will best be able to relate to them? Your messaging one can be a casual, conversational tone if your audience is of a younger generation, or a highly technical tone for more involved, B2B brands. Don’t overthink this stage too much; it should come naturally. Get creative, strategically!Now—and only now—it’s time to develop the visual identity of your brand. Contrary to popular belief, your logo is not the first thing that creates your brand. In fact, before your collateral, it may as well be the last. Think about a visual identity as more than just a logo. It’s about developing a colour palette, and, even more than that, a way to integrate all your touchpoints in a way that your audience will immediately recognise as ‘yours’. |
