Branding 101: How to create a strategy?

Nowadays the brand is becoming important not only for business but also for people (consumers), but it takes a lot of time and knowledge to create it. A brand is not just an individual logo, product, packaging, service or organization. It is everything – symbol, design, name, sound, reputation, emotion, staff, and more, all that separates one thing from another and remains in the user’s mind for a long time.

A recognizable and beloved brand is important for the success of the company. The brand must reflect communication and experience through certain elements:

• Website and online advertising methods
• Social media and content marketing
• Sales and customer service

Stages of brand development

First of all, we would like to draw your attention to the fact that certain criteria – exclusivity, originality and relevance to the user – are very important when creating a brand. It is important that the brand encourages consumers to pay attention to it and satisfies consumers’ needs and expectations.

However, this is not all, as there are key stages in brand development that must be taken into account. So we present the essential stages of branding and believe they will facilitate your branding process.

• Create a brand vision and mission. 

The creation of a brand begins with the creation of a personal vision and mission, the essence of which is to set goals. Everything from the logo to the slogans, the voice conveyed by the message must reflect the intended visions and missions. Only you can decide how you want everything to look. That vision should span 10, 20 or even 50 years.

• Perform a general analysis of the situation. 

Once you have a clear vision, define what your target audience will be. Set it and create a brand, remembering what goals you want to achieve. You need to tailor both your mission statement and the message to your audience to meet the specific needs of your users.

Identifying the target audience for which a brand is being created requires concreteness and you should have a thorough understanding of consumer behavior and lifestyle. For example, will it be moms working from home, will it be students studying abroad or employment professionals? Create an accurate and specific picture of your target audience and then create a brand that is understandable to consumers and relevant to their needs.

• Defining the market 

Market for which the brand is to be developed is very important, as marketing strategies, strengths / weaknesses / threats / opportunities and the analysis of existing competition will need to be developed in the future.

Explore niches of existing brands related to your product. You don’t have to copy the big (authoritative) brands, but you have to pay attention to what they do extremely well (effectively) and where they go wrong.

It is a good idea to analyze your main competitors as it will reveal to you which of their branding methods have been effective and which have not.

• Create a good branding logo and slogan. 

Be prepared to spend a lot of time and invest money to create something exceptional. This is extremely important as both the logo and the slogan will be visible everywhere. Moreover, they are the first impression of the consumer.

You need to create a custom style that will be featured on business cards, stickers, various publications, signboards. In this case, the design of the website and the production of packaging, etc. are also important.

Define the main features and benefits of your brand. Because consumers will decide whether or not to choose the product you are offering.

• Shape the voice of your brand, depending on mission, audience and market. 

This indicates what is important when communicating with consumers:

1. Professionalism
2. Friendliness
3. Advertising
4. Informativeness

• Let your brand shine. 

Customers are not interested in what everyone is offering. They are looking for an experience based product that meets their needs. This can be simple if:

1. You choose the communication strategy properly
2. You are constantly sharing content
3. Tell true stories based on experience
4. You describe your product in an attractive way

Brand Management

The brand needs to open up to the market, which is best served by different types of advertising, public relations campaigns and so on.

In this case, the domain name and the websites that help you manage your brand position in the search engines must be secured. You should also use social media to manage your brand on social networks.

Create a Branding Message

Once the brand is created, briefly tell consumers who you are. This should be a 1-2 sentence informational message about the brand. It is important that the message is not focused on WHAT your product or service can do, but WHAT it is important and necessary.

Control and maintain your brand. It is important to monitor brand growth and how your target audience relates to your product.

Integrate your brand into every area of ​​your business. Your brand needs to be visible and reflected everywhere for it to be constantly seen by consumers.

Stay true to your brand. Do not hesitate to change your brand to something that looks more effective. Do not constantly change your brand as this has a negative impact on your customers.

Creating a brand requires a lot of investment and effort, but it’s worth the effort, because it all pays off in the long run.