In the store, you buy more than just the product, right? They have managed to create their brand!
Coca Cola is not just a soda, Apple is not just a phone and Volvo is more than a car. The companies have succeeded in creating strong brands. When you pay for one of these products, you not only get the actual product, you get the experience. The companies that sell a product to you know exactly what kind of experience you expect, you want the feeling of quality or status from their particular brand. It’s called branding, companies create a brand.
Creating a brand is more difficult than you think, to succeed in creating an image of you that everyone recognizes, you have to create a common thread through your company. Everything from the color codes on your website to the language in your instagram posts must be coherent. Everything must contribute to what you want your customers to feel when they interact with your company. A company is more than just the name!
A clear common thread gives your customers reason to buy, to remember and to prefer your products. After reading our guide, you will know exactly how to create a strong brand in your industry.
What is a brand?
Before we start with how important it is to create a strong brand with your customers, we will start talking about the basics, what is a brand?
A brand is what you offer to your customers, it is what sets you apart from your opponents and makes customers choose you. The brand often has a name, a logo, a slogan, a color code, a voice (will return to this). It’s not just what you offer to paying customers, it’s also about your social media and passers-by on the street.
Creating a strong brand
Creating a brand is important and complicated, it requires a lot of research and reflection, so today we will help you along the way with perhaps one of the most important steps in your company’s history.
Who are your target audience?
The first step before you can create a strong brand, you need to know who to meet, who to impress with what you do. If you are not sure who will be hit by your business, you will not be able to achieve the trust, the awareness, the presence and of course the revenue you expected.
Before you start pressing the pen against the paper, you should think about the following questions to be sure who your target audience is:
- Who benefits from your product?
- Who is the ideal customer?
- Why did you create your business from the beginning?
Once you have answered these questions, you will know who your target audience is and it is only then that you can continue to reach them in a good way.
What is your purpose?
It may sound ridiculous to think about why you have created a company and what the purpose of it is, but thanks to this you can find out how this should radiate all your business. You need to know what your story is and what you are going to convey to your customers through your brand.
Does that sound a little unclear? Think of it this way, everyone wants to sell their product. But Coca Cola wants to offer you the cold drink you want after a hot day at the beach. Starbucks wants to give you the dream coffee after a long day of work. All companies we help the customer with something, but what is actually important is the experience around the product. What can you offer and at what time does your brand fit?
Once you know how to help your customers, you can base all your presence on this.
What are your benefits, why should the customer choose you?
There are probably many companies in your industry but we want you to sell best. It’s easy to focus on your opponents but today we’ll look at how you can succeed with your sales.
What is different then? Well that’s your brand.
That’s why you need to fill your brand with things that are yours, and only yours. Your values, your benefits and your quality. That’s what makes you unique, this is what you should push when creating a strong brand.
That’s why I think you should take a moment to sit down and look at your company, what is it that makes you unique from everyone else, then I do not mean the products that you offer but rather your unique positions that differ from the opponents . You should keep this in mind when building your presence.
What are your visual characteristics?
Now you have hopefully found out who your target group is, what you want to achieve and why customers should choose you. Then we can continue with the fun parts of creating your brand, creating visual characteristics. As we talked a bit about before, it is important that your customers can recognize you when you are active online, to do this it is important to choose a font, create a logo, choose a color palette and create an icon. You should base this on what you have arrived at in previous steps.
When you create these, you need to make sure that they match your purpose and reflect your benefits that you offer. If you are a larger company, it can be beneficial to create some documentation about how you who have created a brand think that it should be used. This is good if someone else you will handle marketing so your thoughts match and the characteristics are kept consistent.
How does the company’s voice sound?
To be able to sell, you have to communicate with your customers, how does it sound when you communicate with your customers? How does the company sound?
When a customer contacts you, you need to make sure they recognize who they are talking to. A way of writing, a simple answer that is recognizable to your customers is also part of your brand. Another way to let your customers recognize you and let them have a voice on you is to create an animated commercial .
Make sure your customers recognize who they are talking to right from your social media campaigns to your blog posts and website. Keep it consistent. Creating a brand is about consistency, keeping the common thread. This also applies to your tone online, your voice.
Creating a brand is about being recognized. Follow the common thread!
Are you ready to create a brand?
Now we’ve got to the part where it’s time for you to start shaping your brand. We have today talked about what is important in theory, but you should now apply it in practice. Make sure your brand is spread across all possible platforms and remember. The Red Thread.
Website
Fill your page with logos, colors and fonts that match your business. Do not use anything that does not suit what you want to convey. Your website is a big part of who you are. You also want to make sure that all the content on your page reflects your voice. The company’s voice should be visible in blog posts, buttons and product texts.
Social Media
All photos, videos or company photos should represent your brand, who you are. We recommend that you use your logo as a profile picture and just like on the website, all posts and descriptions should reflect your voice. Let your customers recognize you.
Packaging
If you sell actual products, packaging is the time that your customers actually hold the brand in their hand , shouldn’t they show what company you are? Create your packaging so that it matches the experience you want to give a customer. Fonts, colors and phrases should also match what you can see on your website and social media. All to follow the common thread.
Customer support
A brand is nothing if there are no people working for it behind the scenes, make sure that your customer support is committed and knows what image they are to convey to the outside world. Make sure your customer support uses logos, known phrases and your voice. Remember your voice.
Is the brand as a person?
We think that, an easy way to make your brand strong and recognizable is to see it as a person, let the customers do the same. If you want to see how it works, try answering the following questions:
- How would your brand present itself?
- What is the appearance of your brand?
- In what way would your brand speak? Would it speak seriously and professionally or fun and a little challenging?
- How would others describe the experience after hitting your brand? What is their first impression in a few sentences?
As another thing we want to help you think about, these questions are something you want to be able to answer about your company to build your communication on this.
You can think of creating a brand, is like raising a person.
Ready for your brand?
Now you have hopefully managed to both lay the foundation and create a strong brand. As I have said many times now, it is incredibly important to follow the common thread. Make sure you are consistent with your brand. You should always keep the strategy in mind when exposing yourself to your customers, it does not matter if it is online, in the shop window or in an email campaign. This is your brand, what your customers experience when they shop with you.
