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What is a brand?

Your brand is the culmination of everything you do to distinguish your company and attract a particular target market. This includes visual assets such as your logo, brand colors and business cards. But it also includes your tone of voice and your company’s mission and values.

It’s possible that something is a part your brand’s perception of your company. Let’s take Apple as an example. Apple sells technology and computers just like other brands. What is it that makes customers line up to get a chance at one of the latest Apple products? It’s the brand.

Apple’s brand is all simple, innovative, and modern. Apple stands out with its minimalist aesthetic approach to aesthetics. This includes the clean white stores in real life and the sleek Apple website.

Apple also creates its brand using:

We are constantly innovating to bring new products to our customers’ lives.
Use phrases such as “Think Different” to emphasize its creativity
Working with market leaders to create influential marketing campaigns

Customers are excited about Apple’s forward-thinking brand.

8-Step Checklist on How to Brand Your Business

Let’s now look at what a brand is and how we can build it from scratch.

1. Identify Your Audience

It’s crucial to understand who your brand is trying to reach when building a brand.

Consider the products and customers you will be selling. Be specific about who you choose to serve. Instead of targeting dog owners, a pet accessories business can target new owners of dogs with young canines or those who train dogs for show. You will have less competition if you choose a niche.

Knowing your audience will allow you to choose the right brand voice, design and marketing strategy to reach potential buyers. By:

Analyzing your existing customers. Do you have any buyers? What are their ages, where did they come from and what do these people love about your business?
Look at your competition. What customers are they targeting? Is there an underserved market that you can reach with your products?
Create buyer personas: Think about who your ideal customer would look like. Then create a profile that includes their age, gender and demographics.

You’ll be able to gain more insight about your customers as you build your ecommerce business. It’s important to update your customer personas regularly to ensure they remain accurate.

2. Create your Brand Position

You can also gain insight into your brand’s position by gaining a deeper understanding of your target audience. It is impossible to be both a luxury fashion brand and a business that is budget-friendly. It is important to determine where you want to go.

This is best done by creating a positioning statement. These are just a few lines that you can use to establish who you really are and what your business is about. Your brand positioning statement could be, for example, “We are a home accessories business selling unique hand-made items to customers in [region]”.

Think about what will make your business stand out from the rest when you establish your brand position. The “hand-made” element of the products is what makes the difference in the above example. Once you have a clear understanding of your positioning and key selling points, it is possible to create marketing campaigns and branded content that appeals to your target audience.

A company that sells hand-made products, for example, is more likely than a business selling mass-produced goods to have a welcoming, warm voice. Here’s an example.

A company that sells high-end luxury goods should be more creative and sophisticated.

3. Choose a business name

Now you know who your target audience is and how to position your brand. It’s now time to choose that brand name.

This is the most important feature of your brand. Your name should be able to convey everything you want your customers to know about you in one word.

If you are a clothing company that is committed to creating something new for customers, you might create a word like Vision Clothing. The key to success is to choose a memorable word and use sounds that communicate the right emotions to your audience.

There are many other names for

Descriptive names Titles which describe the business like “Florist.”
Emotive Names: Names which evoke emotions, such as “Innocent Drinks.”
Origin names Names chosen to indicate where the business started or who created it.
Compound Names: Titles combining words like “Facebook”, “FedEx,” etc.
Initials, acronyms and Simple to remember versions of long names like “BMW.”

Your brand name will be the URL/domain for your online store. Do your research before you decide on a name. You can read our guide on choosing the perfect name for your online store, or you can use these business name generators to generate some ideas.

4. Describe the Story of Your Brand

Your brand’s story is the “why” behind your company. Every business must have a purpose beyond making money. Consider why you started a business, and how your products will positively impact the lives of others.

Warby Parker, an eyewear brand, was founded on the belief that high-quality eyeglasses can be delivered to customers around the world at a fair price.

On its website, the company shares its story about how it discovered a new way of serving customers without resorting to traditional channels. It was able to offer high quality eyewear at a fraction the cost of comparable products by engaging with customers online.

This narrative describes Warby Parker’s commitment to affordable fashion and identifies it as a customer-first company.

A compelling story can make customers fall in love and show respect for your company.

5. Establish Your Brand’s Look

The first step in establishing your brand’s look is to decide how customers will identify you company. What packaging will you use for your products, for example? What will customers see when they place orders through your ecommerce shop? What will they see as they browse your website looking for products?

The most important element of your brand’s look is

Brand colors: There are a few colors you can use to represent your brand, such as on your website and emails. Customers can be affected by color choices. Red, for example, is strong and passionate while blue, is reliable and relaxing.
Fonts: Your chosen fonts, just like your brand colors can have a significant impact on the perception of your brand by your customers. Serif fonts can be more formal and authoritative, but are more contemporary and friendlier than serif fonts.
Imagery: What images, illustrations and photos do you use for your website, products and advertisements?

Now that you have all the elements, you can build your brand image with span style=”font weight: 400 ;”>, and create visual guidelines to guide your team members and any other designers.

6. Make a logo

The logo is an important element of starting your own brand. Your logo, along with your name will be the first thing your customers see in your brand.

A great logo should be memorable and simple to understand. Apple’s iconic image of an apple with its bite removed from it is easy to understand. A professional designer can help you capture the essence of your logo and make it stand out.

A designer can walk you through the various types of logos that you have to choose from, including:

Brand emblems: An image that is placed within a circle or shield is called a brand emblem. The Starbucks logo is a great example. Emblems are elegant and classic.
Mascot logos: Mascots are often centered around a particular character, such as Wendy’s logo. A unique logo can humanize a company and give it a personality.
Letter marks: A letter mark transforms an acronym into a visual logo. This is evident in the IBM logo.
Icon: Icon logos are simple images that use an image to identify the company, such as the Twitter bird. These icons are great for adding a memorable visual to your brand’s image.
Wordmarks: Wordmarks are a way to make your brand name and logo stand out. These logos can make your name more memorable.
Combination marks Combination Logos combine the name of the company with an image, such as the Taco Bell logo.

We have a post about the best free logo designers to help you create your logo.

7. Write your Slogan

Although a slogan can be an optional part in brand-building, it is something you should consider if your goal is to increase brand recognition and reach. Your customers will be able to understand what your company does and why it is there.

Your goals will determine the type of slogan you choose. Redbull uses the metaphor, “Redbull gives your wings”, to show people that the drink can boost their energy. Nike’s motivational slogan “Just do it!” is used by the brand to display its positive attitude. Your best slogan will inform your audience about your business and give you an additional element to enhance your brand identity.

Learn how to Build your brand with a sloganspan type=”font-weight 400 ;”>, and use your distinctive brand voice to make it stand out.

8. Integrate your brand everywhere

You have now created your brand. Now, it’s time to share it.

To make their business memorable, they must show their brand through everything they do. This is easiest to do by creating a style guide for employees and contractors. You need to make sure that everyone in your organization knows how your brand should look.

Next, consider how you can draw attention on different channels to your brand. Your brand should be visible on:

Ecommerce store: Select a theme for your store that best suits your brand and incorporate your company colors. Make sure to display your logo on every page. Also, highlight your brand voice through your website content.
Social media: This is a great way to build awareness for your brand. You can post posts that reflect your personality and include graphics and images representing your brand.
Marketing campaigns: Every marketing campaign should clearly display your brand, no matter if you are sending out emails newsletters or connecting to customers via podcasts. Every advertising campaign should reflect your brand’s voice and image.

When building a strong brand, consistency is key. Your audience will be more familiar with your company if you are consistent in your online and offline brand identity. Your brand will also appear more reliable and stable if you are consistent.

Conclusion

Strong branding is essential for any business to succeed in today’s highly competitive marketplace.

You can’t build emotional connections with customers without the right branding. Customers will leave your company if they don’t find an ecommerce store that resonates with them.

Your customers will feel connected to your brand identity when you create it. It is what keeps people coming back, sets you apart, and turns clients who aren’t regular customers into brand advocates.

Don’t underestimate the importance and value of creating a brand.

Summary – How to Create a Brand From Scratch in 2023

Identify your target audience
Position your brand
Select a business name
Share the story of your brand
Establish your brand’s look
Create a logo
Create your slogan
Integrate you brand everywhere

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Author: Adeel Qayum

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