For every type of business be it large or small, retail or wholesale, branding is the most important part. With the help of correct branding, you can have an edge over your competitors but what do you mean by brand strategy? What role does it play for start-ups and small businesses?
A brand tells its customers what they can expect from its services or products and how you are different from the others in the market. A brand is an emotion; it will reflect your beliefs.
Founder and CEO of amazon Jeff Bezos quoted that "Your brand is what people say about you when you leave the room"
If you can understand branding, it is not hard for you to apply the following steps. Below are the steps that can be applied by every start-up or small business for branding.
Develop a website
With the advancement of the internet, having a website is very important because your clients and investors will search for you. Not having a well-developed site can cause you a loss as your competition might have a better website.
In this era of the internet, not having a web presence can give a bad impression. There are tools in the market that you can use to build a good website for your business without any programming and designing.
Clear your purpose
One thing that separates a successful business from the rest of the others is its definition of brand. Having a clear and defined purpose is what makes the identity of your brand. The purpose of your start-up is what you believe to achieve from your product or services.
A purpose is promise of a business to its customers to change their lives, influence and help the world to become better. This will create a loyal customer base for your product and services. A well-defined purpose will help investors and customer to know what to expect from your business.
Design a Logo
A logo is always an important part of branding and it should be designed by keeping your business in mind. A logo will visually speak to your customers about your business.
For example- the logo of Amazon shows an arrow which goes from A to Z, this indicates that a customer will get everything from A to Z on Amazon.
Most start-ups ignore this aspect while creating a logo which can be a huge mistake. The use of fonts and colors create a vibe of your brand which is important to attract customers.
Speak through your start-up
A brand strategy is built to give your business a voice. In the last couple of decades, the importance of branding has increased.
Before the companies had to speak through their commercials but now both brands, as well as customers, have endless ways to connect. With the arrival of social media, the way the brand speaks to customers has changed drastically.
Use social media platforms
Do not underestimate the power of social media. To have a social media presence on different platforms is very crucial in modern times. Most of the brands use social media as their prime tool for outreach.
Social media is inevitable now, as every person is available on social media platforms. You can use it to connect with your targeted customer and get direct feedback which will help your start-up to evolve. Social media is perfect to build a brand for start-ups.
Use Facebook and Instagram to connect with potential customers and LinkedIn to speak with other businesses.
Branding is a way to speak to your audience about your services and a product, to build a brand strategy is to have that extra edge over your competitors.