There is no instruction manual for building a brand. A brand position and reputation is something that is slowly built and earned over time. That said, as you plant the "seeds" at the beginning of your brand, the actions you take from the start of your business, will dictate where your brand is in the long-term head. It is important that you get this right, because it is often more difficult to change a tarnished brand image, than start from scratch. I will summarize the key elements of building a brand below.
1. Your Company Name
Something as simple as the name of your business will impact your brand. When I called my first start, iExplore, it was actually the third name of the company started with. The first name was Conquest Travel (who finally felt too "macho" for our targeted demographics). The second name was Adventure Experts (which was better, but the word "adventure" meant too many different things to different people, from highly technical climbing at a luxury safari in Africa).
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The third name, iExplore, done our best goals . The word "explore" was more in line with our global voyages of exploration and desires of our target demographics, and the "i" suggested that we had an Internet business. So give good account in the name of your company and what the consumer reaction will, as it could affect your marketing and branding initiatives.
Remember, building a brand name around a coined word, like Hulu, Expedia and Google, is often more expensive than naming a business around your product, like NetFlix, YouTube or Hotels.com, due to more consumer education process. But, once the brand is built, they can be even more impact on your long-term brand, your name could become the default jargon for your industry (eg, "Google it" instead to "search").
2. Your logo
Your logo is the first visual consumer gets on your business. What your logo visually represent your business? When we built the iExplore logo, we wanted a world like "o", as we wanted consumers to know iExplore could help them to explore the world. When we built the logo for my Red Rocket growth consulting company, I wanted to startups think we could help their business take off like a rocket.
Amazon has added a smile to their logo because they wanted to feel happy about your customer experience with them. So make sure your logo "shows the good story" for your brand message.
3. Your marketing tactics
The demographics you market to, and the vehicles you with market, will have a direct impact on your brand position. You do not see Gucci or Armani promoting their brand Wal-Mart or Sears. You see them looking in the distribution Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus, the luxury department stores firmly focused on serving affluent consumers. You do not see the Four Seasons or Ritz Carlton hotel chains reducing their prices or offer significant discounts to Travel Zoo.
You see to maintain their prices at 2x the level of a Hilton or Marriott, because they want you to have the perception that they are the best, and worth the extra price. So pay special attention to that and how you market your business, how you set your price and where you distribute your products, because they all impact your brand.
4. Your Graphics Marketing
Here are some advertisements, we used to iExplore to use as examples. We wanted our brand to travel to ooze.
(i) premium
(ii) trust
(iii) a once in a lifetime experience
I think these creations have done exactly that with
(i) spectacular images
(ii) "inspected" expertise
(iii) our "Come Back different line" tag .
As did the video business of iExplore brand image layered on additional emotion with music of a beating heart and inspirationally script writing. Thus, the images you use and words you write in your marketing materials will clearly emphasize your brand message.
5. Your communications
How would you describe your company on the "About Us" page of your website? What do you say about your business in your press releases? What the media say about your business? What media outlets are picking up your story? All these subjects related communications can and will impact your brand position. So make sure your ground is well designed and the media fully grasps your history, both in terms of messaging and desired investments.
6. Your reputation Social Media
In society driven social media today, it is impossible to hide your mistakes. Consumers have more power than ever to communicate their likes and dislikes of products and services via Facebook, Twitter and other vehicles. You have to constantly monitor what is said about your business, and take ownership of your mistakes and treat them accordingly.
You will gain longer long-term loyalty by properly managing your mistakes by claiming that they never took place or try to remove the bad reviews. I have news for you: angry customers always find a way to get their message heard (in a stronger sense, the more it takes to get the problem solved). So tackle the issues head on, in a fast way, easy way to help strengthen your brand positioning.
7. Your Customer Service
Does your customer service experience to back the demands of your marketing efforts? Because if it does not, your brand is dead. I have already written about the importance of customer service. Be sure to read this post and make sure that your operations team knows the impact of their actions on building your brand. Put the customer first, always !!
8. Your employees
More importantly, branding is much more than your marketing or operations department. Your brand should be instilled in all employees in your company, regardless of their role. Each staff member needs to know that their actions have a direct impact of the corporate brand, one way or another.
How fast is the member of the call center staff answered an advance? What is the speed of your technology is a web page? How quickly the Finance Ministry cut refund checks for poor service? So, keep that in mind when hiring staff who are passionate about your product, and make sure they are well trained they all need to "live the brand" in their day day jobs
Hopefully, now you understand the key factors involved in building your brand. Make sure you have brand strategies established for each component. And, remember , establish a brand is easier than fixing a broken brand, so get it right from the start
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