Brand Factor: A Guide to Branding Your Business

To start off, let’s clarify that this blog will be tackling basic aspects to take into account when BRANDING YOUR BUSINESS.

Think: Pepsi vs. Coca Cola – both offer quite similar products, but what really makes them stand out from each other?

THEIR BRANDING.

Which do YOU pick, and do you know why you prefer one over the other?

 

Your choice reveals much of what their business branding has worked to do.

They (as in the businesses) wanted to reach you, and THEY DID.

Want your business to stand out next to tough competition? – Work on building a strong foundation for your branding.

“The brand is ultimately what determines if you will become a loyal customer or not. The marketing may convince you to buy a particular Toyota, and maybe it’s the first foreign car you ever owned, but it is the brand that will determine if you will only buy Toyotas for the rest of your life.” – Tronvig Group

Before we get into the ‘HOW-TO’ of things, be sure to answer the following questions:

A) Who are you as a business? // What’s your company’s mission?
B) Identify your primary target market, a.k.a your MAIN target customers.
C) What are the products and services that you offer?
D) Why are your products/services of value to potential customers?
E) Your Competition: Who are they? How do people perceive them?
F) How is your business different than your main competitors?
G) How do you want your business to be perceived by consumers?
*) Choose 3 adjectives that you ideally envision your business being described as.

Building a solid brand for your business means developing the following aspects:

– Logo
– Tagline
– Brand Voice/Personality
– Online Presence – Websites/Blog/Social Media
– Store/Office
– Team Representation
– Overall Branding Integration

To help you on your creative journey we’ve compiled a a few examples for each element.

LOGO

Here you can find some examples of four very recognizable logos that we’re pretty sure you MUST know at least 3 out of the 4, if not all, just by first glance…

TAGLINE

“Just Do it.” – Nike

So iconic, that the design doesn’t even have to have the tagline as the most prominent words to display…

“Got Milk?” – California Milk Processor Board

This tagline was created back in 1993, and is still going strong 25 years later…

Last, but not least one of the most well-known taglines, that incorporates the business name in the catchy phrase, comes from none other than MasterCard:

“There are some things money can’t buy. For everything else, there’s MasterCard.”

BRAND VOICE / PERSONALITY

Developing a brand voice can be a fun process… You decide what kind of ‘personality’ you want your business to have, and how to interact with both positive and negative engagements. This doesn’t particularly mean that you have to be the happy-go-lucky character all the time either.

Wendy’s does a great job with their brand voice on social media. At first, their spitfire statements were seen as a shocker, as nobody had really done it the way their team did, but now it’s A TRUE ASPECT OF THEIR BRANDING – AND PEOPLE LOVE IT!

Check out some examples of their sassy comebacks below:

ONLINE PRESENCE

Build on the online presence of your business, and make sure you connect all the pages you have set up online with one another. Start from your business website and/or blog, and remember to incorporate your social media accounts too! Think content (consistency with key topics of discussion and posts), aesthetics (visual appeal), and brand personality.

Website

Blog

Social Media

Facebook

Instagram

Twitter

STORE / OFFICE SPACE

Let’s take a glance at Target for some inspiration when it comes to branding a store. From the entrance of their stores, to product carrying supplies, to sneaky in-store branding, all the way back to check out – TARGET makes sure to hit the bull’s eye when it comes to store branding.

TEAM REPRESENTATION

Signature look from Apple employees: a blue shirt with the Apple logo on the front, and accessorized with an Apple device hanging from around the employee’s neck.

Starbucks actually has a color palette that its employees work with when dressing for the job. Besides that, who can forget the infamous green apron with their mermaid logo embroidered on the front?

OVERALL BRANDING INTEGRATION

Overall branding means OVERALL BRANDING.

Wherever you can brand, do so.

This can range from stationary, to office supplies, to email signatures, and even car stickers!

TIPS FROM THE CARIBMEDIA CREW

Be a Promise Keeper

Make sure to keep true to the promises that you make to your clientele and prospects. People trust people who keep promises. Show your customers that they can have confidence in your business, by showing them that you don’t just talk the talk, but you walk the walk too!

Consistency is Key

We cannot stress how important it is to be consistent with your branding. Of course you need to test things out, but try to keep the testing out of the public’s eye. Whatever you choose to do for the public. Keep consistent – This is a simple reflection of your reliability as a business.

Improve While You Move

Remember it’s never too late for improvements. This might be a bit of a contradicting statement compared to the above emphasis on consistency. However, if done right, people won’t mind a switch up. Do you even remember what Google’s first logo looked like? Neither do we. Truth is, we tend to forgive and forget if a product is improved and re-branded in a strategic manner.

On that note, you should also think about how you introduce new updates to your followers. Letting them know that you care enough to ‘give them a head’s up’, speaks volumes.

However in-depth you would like to go with your branding efforts, we applaud you for taking the next step into understanding  your business from a new perspective!

Best of luck with DEVELOPING YOUR BRAND FACTOR!

 

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Published on August 1st 2018. Written by Megan Rojer.