What Is Your Company’s Brand and How Can You Build It?

When it comes to attracting new customers, consider how they view your company. How does it make them feel? Do they feel attracted to it, or does it feel impersonal, causing them to look elsewhere for the types of products you sell or services your provide?

The way customers think about and feel toward your company is your brand, and it’s your most powerful ally in attracting and retaining customers.

If you’ve never given thought to what your company’s brand is, this article will help you define it.

What is a Business Brand?

A business brand certainly includes your company logo, slogan, and marketing, as well as the products or services you sell, but it also goes deeper. 

Your brand is the reputation, identity, and promise of your company. It is what your business stands for.

Your brand’s reputation is how others perceive your company, and it’s built over time through consistent service, product quality, and social interactions.

The visual elements that identify your company make up your brand identity, and they should evoke the kinds of emotions you want customers to feel when thinking about your business.

And your brand promise is the value you pledge to deliver to every customer. That might be offering quality products, low cost, speed, and/or convenience.

Why Branding Matters

You can just cobble together a little logo and be done with branding, right?

Wrong. Your company’s brand is what makes it stand out in a sea of competition. If your product or service is identical to others in the marketplace, it may only be how people perceive the brand that helps you win new business.

By spending time carefully considering how you want people to view your brand, you can ensure that it aligns with what your target market wants and needs.

How to Build Your Brand

Whether you want to focus on personal branding (ideal for solo entrepreneurs like consultants or designers) or you want to create a brand for a larger business, the steps are the same. 

If you’re a solopreneur, consider hiring a branding consultant to help you navigate these steps. If you have an internal marketing team, they will be essential in the process.

Start with What Your Brand Stands For

Why are you in business? What do you want to give your customers? What’s your company’s mission?

These are all excellent questions to delve into your brand’s purpose.  Spend some time brainstorming on why you started (or bought) your business to identify what makes it unique.

Listen to Your Customers

Now, turn to your biggest source of inspiration, your customers. How do they see your brand? You may think they buy from you because you offer quality products, but in fact, it may be your stellar customer service that keeps them coming back. It’s important to see things from their perspective as you develop your branding.

Also, pay attention to what drives them. Are they motivated to make purchases based on price? Or do they look for a brand that offers loyalty perks?

Where do they spend time online? These may be the best places to invest in advertising and marketing. For example, if you cater to retirees, TikTok may not be the place to reach them. You might, instead, consider advertising in publications like AARP.

Not sure what your customers think? Send a survey to find out answers to these and other questions.

Look at the Competition

You can get great ideas for your brand by seeing how your competitors are branding themselves. Also, identify gaps in the marketplace that your brand can fill. Maybe several competitors offer low prices, which you know you can’t compete with. However, perhaps no one offers free, fast delivery. By providing it, you can fill a need in the market and make this service part of your brand offering.

There’s nothing wrong with taking notes on how your competitors brand their companies! Observe their website design and functionality, as well as where and how they market their products, and use those notes to build your own strategy.

Identify Your USP

Your brand’s USP (unique selling proposition) is what sets it apart. The brainstorming you did in the first step may help you identify this, as will observing what’s missing with the competition.

Make a list of characteristics and features that no one can compete with. Here are some examples:

• We offer free 2-day shipping
• We offer a no-questions-asked return policy
• Our prices are the lowest
• Our products are of superior quality
• Our products are handmade by blind nuns in the Alps

Remember: your USP should be the benefit that customers get, not what you think is great about your business. Customers care about what’s in it for them, and you should, too.

Give Your Brand a Personality

Now it’s time to personify your brand! Imagine it as a person. Is she sassy and modern? Traditional and Old World? What colors does she wear? How does she talk?

This exercise is designed to inspire how you’ll design your visual identity and write branding messages. 

Make a list of adjectives to describe your brand, like:

• Hip
• Friendly
• Warm
• Professional
• Mature
• Elegant
• Funny

As you work on your brand messaging, keep these adjectives and the brand personality in mind, and aim to stay aligned with them.

When it comes to communicating, use the brand personality to lead. If your brand is young and witty, your marketing messages should use modern slang and be short and to the point. On the other hand, if your brand is regal and traditional, the language should be more formal and professional.

Focus on Design

If you bought a business and have changed things so that the company’s visual identity no longer aligns with your new branding, it may be time for a refresh.

Working with a designer, explain everything you’ve come up with in these branding steps so that the logo, website, and marketing materials all align with your brand.

Remember: colors matter. Every color creates a reaction or emotion. For example, blue can signify trust, while red indicates passion. Choose your colors carefully to shape how customers perceive your brand.

Keep the visuals consistent across all channels, including your product labels, website, emails, and social media. 

Allow Your Brand to Evolve as Necessary

Once you establish your brand, pay attention to how customers respond to it. If you’re rebranding an existing brand, expect some pushback at first. Any time a well-known brand reveals a new logo, some people are unhappy with the change. Over time, however, the dust settles, and they accept the new design.

Remember that your branding doesn’t need to stay the same forever. Pay attention to trends and the changing desires of your customers, and tweak your brand as needed.