Having a strong brand is very powerful in the business world. If you own a business, then your brand can be understood as your company’s status and it’s prominence in the marketplace. Once you achieve high levels of trust from your customers and your reliability and effectiveness as a product or service becomes broadly known then you will hold authority in your industry and see higher ROI. Therefore when you are starting out as a new business, it is important that you spend ample time and attention on your brand development. Follow these top 10 tips for new business brand development.

Develop an Effective Business Strategy

As already mentioned, having a strong brand will make building your business a much easier task. Consider what type of company you want to be. Clearly set out all your goals and familiarise yourself with your long term business plan. This will help you discover what your brand should be.

Customer Identification

Who is your target market? One of the most important rules in all aspects of marketing is knowing your audience. Even if your product or service could be suitable for a broad demographic, you still must able to identify characteristics of the group.

Minimalist desk with Macbook and glass with singular plant leaf as brand inspiration

Customer Research

Now that you know who your target market is, it’s time to thoroughly research the group. You need to establish your customer needs, perspectives and priorities. You also need to be able to communicate your message in a language that resonates with them. Customer research should be ongoing as trends are always changing and as such certain details of your target demographic could change as well.

 

Establish Your Market Positioning

What is your company’s position within the marketplace going to be? In other words, what makes your brand different from the other business selling the same products as you? Why should your customers choose you? Best practice for this stage is to write a positioning statement that is approximately three to five sentences long. This statement should be realistic and achievable however it isn’t necessary that you are at that position currently, you are a new business and therefore need to work towards this goal.

 

Determine Brand Messages

Typically you will have various brand messages, one dedicated to each facet of your audience. This can include customers, employees, clients, influencers and potential partners or collaboration opportunities.  These will be similar to your brand positioning but try to hone in on the details that will attract each distinct faction of your audience.

To rows of pink post it notes with brand development plan written on

Name, Logo and Tagline

This is for many people considered the fun part but it can also be very tiring and frustrating. Establishing your name logo and tagline will require patience and creativity. All three of these must communicate your brand distinctly to your audience. This may require a bit or original thought and it is essential that you conduct thorough competitor research to ensure you aren’t accidentally echoing another business in the industry.

Final Stages of Brand Development

Content Marketing Plan

Website Development

Build Your Marketing Toolkit

Implement Your Plan

Categories: Business