How to Activate Your Branding Strategy
Your brand is your business identity, and your branding strategy is the why and how of your strategic plan to share it with the world.
A branding strategy is the key to long-term success for both new and growing businesses. Many brands make the mistake of throwing their marketing dollars at everything and anything and seeing what sticks.
However, there are methods to brand in a strategic way so that not only do people recognize your brand, but you're able to build up authority in your field.
With this in mind, read on as we go over how to begin your brand awareness strategy from scratch!
Why Do You Need a Branding Strategy?
A branding strategy can help differentiate you from competitors because you'll have a clear business identity. With a cohesive strategy in place, you'll be able to make better decisions when it comes to marketing because you'll have a clear message in place.
You'll also be able to build brand recognition and brand trust faster because your branding will be apparent across multiple channels. From branded apparel to client interactions, brand consistency through a clear strategy is the key.
Determine Your Target Audience
Your brand strategy should become by determining your target audience. These are the specific people who will become your loyal customers. When you market your business, you should be marketing with this audience in mind instead of everyone in the world.
For instance, if you have a service-based business located in Jacksonville, Florida, it doesn't make sense to try and market to people across the United States. It's more likely that people in Jacksonville will become your customers!
We recommend answering these details in order to narrow down your audience:
- Age
- Gender
- Location
- Education
- Hobbies
- Challenges
- Martial status
The more specific you are about your target audience, the better.
Craft Your Mission Statement
Once you have a good idea of your target audience, your next step is to craft a mission statement. This helps communicate the purpose of your business for your audience in a simple and impactful way. Most mission statements are only one sentence long.
The best way to begin is to consider the challenges your audience is facing and how your business is uniquely positioned to help them.
Along with your mission statement, you'll also want to consider how you're able to differentiate yourself from competitors. Take some time to write a list of your business's values, qualities, and the benefits you're able to pass on to customers. The more you write, the more your brand will take shape into an identity that's wholly different than competitors.
Create the Visuals
Many brands often make the mistake of skipping straight to this step without considering their audience, mission statement, or unique selling proposition (USP). You can see how the more detailed you were with the previous steps, the more impactful your visuals will be for your audience.
The visual assets can include a style guide that goes into the color palette of your business, font choices, logo, graphics, and more. It can also dictate the style of photographs to use.
Visuals are one of the most important aspects when it comes to branding. Not only will they be used on your social media channels and website, but they can also be used for products, apparel, banners, and more.
Find Your Voice
Visuals aren't the only aspect of activating a purposeful brand. Your next step will be finding your personality and voice. Many people recommend creating a customer persona based on your target audience in order to make better marketing decisions–this is true of your business as well!
If your business had a voice and a personality, what would it be? If your audience is predominantly college students, you'll want a voice that's youthful, sassy, and fun. On the other hand, if you're offering legal services to people in their 60's, you'll want a brand voice that is knowledgeable, friendly, and respected.
Once you find a voice that works for you, this needs to be used in your blog posts, social media channels, and customer interactions. Even your call-to-action links on your website can be rewritten to suit your voice.
Putting It All Together
Last but not least, it's important to remember that a brand is all of the elements above working in tandem. We recommend starting out by creating a website with your visuals and brand voice in mind. Only use fonts, colors, and graphics that coincide with your brand, and refrain from using anything that wouldn't make sense.
When it comes to Instagram and Facebook, you'll want to treat these social media channels the same way you treated your website. Stick to visuals that match the tone of your brand. For instance, if you have a youthful brand that's exuberant and full of energy, consider using bright pops of color and modern sans-serif font.
As you keep updating your website with blogs and your social media profiles with content, you'll find that a following of your target audience will naturally grow!
Activating Your Brand Strategy Today
Starting a branding strategy may seem overwhelming, but it becomes easier if you take things step by step. For instance, don't skip straight to creating your logo or printing out business cards if you still don't know who your target audience is. You'll also want to create a mission statement that will keep your brand on track in the future as you grow.
It's also important to remember that brands are like human beings–it's normal for it to change over time. None of the decisions you make today are permanent, so don't let analysis paralysis hold you back from creating your brand from scratch.
Ready to create promotional products and more based on your branding strategy? Contact us today at Dynamic Designs for a free quote!
