Introduction Building a strong Brand plays a key role in the development of every successful business.
A strong brand will not only get you noticed but will also help to differentiate your business from your competitors, helping to attract new customers & increase sales – here’s how to create them…
If your brand is not working for your business or you need to communicate a change in direction, then investing in building a new brand can be an effective strategy. It is important to be very clear about your reasons for investing in a new brand and what type of branding project is most appropriate for your business before embarking upon a branding project. This will ensure that you have a clear understanding of what you want to achieve with your new brand and, consequently, how it will help to improve your business.
Let’s Get Started This booklet, which is designed around a set of key questions, has been written to help you understand the basics of branding your business and to encourage you to think about the foundations of your business and, therefore, your new brand. Take time to consider your answer to each question carefully. If you have difficulty answering any of them, that may be highlighting an area that you have not considered – don’t ignore it – spending time working through it now will help you to reap the benefits in the future.
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hints & tips Creating a new brand for your business can help to communicate a new message or an existing message more effectively
Why are you creating a new brand for your business? The first step in creating a brand for an existing business is to ensure that you have a very clear understanding of why you want to create a new brand your business. The following are some of the most common reasons businesses invest in building a new brand. Change of direction. If you are targeting new market or introducing new products or services, changing you brand can signal that change to the market. You may also create product-specific brands. Change of ownership. Changing the ownership of a business is one of the most critical events that a business can go though. Done properly, re-branding can help this process by communicating the change of ownership to the market. Poor performance. If your business is not performing as well as it should and you have taken steps to improve its performance, then re-branding can be a useful way to communicate these improvements to your marketplace. Tired brand. If your brand no longer represents your business effectively in its current marketplace, a brand rejuvenation project can help realign it and make your business more relevant to your customers.
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What type of branding project are you undertaking? Having gained an understanding of why you want to invest in creating a new brand for your business. There are three basic categories: New Brand Creation is usually reserved for new businesses that do not have a trading history. It can, however, be a useful approach for an existing business when introducing new products or services that are to be branded separately. Brand Rejuvenation is the process of changing the visual elements of your brand, while leaving the brand/business foundations relatively untouched. Rebranding is the process of creating a new brand identity for a business that already has a brand. This is a serious step for any business to take and, to be successful, the reason for rebranding must be based on clear business needs and on a sound business strategy. Looking at rebranding as a ‘magic wand’ that will somehow transform an ailing business is a dangerous and potentially disastrous supposition to make. If you are unsure which type of branding project is most suited to your situation, it may be worth undertaking a Brand Audit before embarking on a new branding project for your business.
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What is it that you do? Your brand should promote your business, connect with your customer base and differentiate you from your competitors. In order to achieve this, you need to have a very clear understanding of what value your products/services add to your customers. Define what you do in such a way that existing and prospective customers understand exactly what you do and, more importantly, how what you do will benefit them. In order words, what needs of your prospective customers are satisfied by the products/services you offer? If your products/services do not meet the needs of the customers in your target market you should either modify them to meet those needs or modify your business model to target a more appropriate market. It can be useful to involve your existing customers in this process – ask them what they think that you do and what value your products/services add to them. This can be a highly informative process as you may find that customers are not aware of all of the products/services that you offer. It may also raise issues about quality of your product/service which you need to address. Lastly, it may raise opportunities to add new products/services that your clients would value.
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hints & tips Your statement of purpose forms the promises your business intends to make to its consumers and is, therefore, the basis for your brand values.
What is the purpose of your business? When the people in your organisation have a clear understanding of its main purpose they will be more motivated, make better decisions and, consequently, be more productive. It is, therefore, important for you to have a clear understanding of the purpose of your business so you can communicate it clearly to the people involved with your business. Do not confuse the purpose of your business with what you do. One way to understand what your purpose is, add “in order to” to your answer to the ‘what do you do?’ question and keep asking “in order to” until you get a statement that both clear and inspirational. Your purpose can often be used in its original form or in a condensed form as a tag line that can form part of your brand. For example, at BlueIce Brands, our tag line is “Creating Brands That Work”. This describes our purpose of creating brands that will work in the way that our clients want. This is why we put a great deal of focus on understanding our client’s business and their aims and objectives before creating their brand.
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What are your business’ aspirations?
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When creating a new brand for your business it is important set out your goals and objectives for the future. This effectively sets the destination for where you want your business to be at some point in the future. This is an important building block for both your business and for your brand because unless you know where you are going, you will not be able to make plans for the direction and growth of your business. Think carefully about the short, medium and long-term aspirations that you have for your business and categorise them as follows: Visit BlueIceBusiness.co.uk for more information.
Objectives – short-term, usually 1-3 years in the future Goals – medium term, usually 3-5 years in the future Vision – long-term, usually over 5 years in the future Please note that these three categories do not stand alone – they should to be linked to each other so that attaining your objectives leads to achieving your goals which, in turn, helps to attain your vision. Once you have set and committed to these targets you should put plans in place to take action to achieve them.
hints & tips Clear values supported by a strong culture will help to create a strong and sustainable brand.
What are your business’ values & culture? A business and, therefore, its brand is like a person in so much as it is made up of beliefs and values which determines how it behaves in different situations. When building a brand, it is, therefore, crucial to have a clear understanding of the values and ethos that will guide your business. Consequently, it is important to establish a set of values that act as the moral compass that guides your business as it grows, creating a stronger business with clear direction, as well as helping to define your corporate identity. If you already have a strong set of values, then it can be useful to ensure that they are clearly understood and followed within your business. The culture of your organisation (which is driven by its values and ethos) plays a critical role, not only in shaping your new brand identity, but in building the reputation of your brand over time. It is important to ensure that the culture of your business supports and communicates your values. As new people are employed and others leave there is a risk that the values and ethos of the business are diluted or even changed over time. These changes can result in a disconnect between your brand promise and the product/service delivery which can have an adverse effect on your brand’s reputation. It is, therefore, important to takes steps to ensure that your culture remains consistent as your business grows. Remember, clear values supported by a strong culture will create a strong brand.
7 Research your market connect with your customers
What is your target market? Your target market is the group of customers that your marketing efforts are aimed towards. The more clearly you understand your target market, the more your marketing materials will appeal to the people in your target market, thereby generating a better response rate. Consequently, a well-defined target market is not only a critical element of your marketing strategy but also plays a significant role in developing your brand and your business. Target markets tend to be defined by market segmentation including geographic, demographic, psychographic (attitudes, values, and lifestyles), product-related, etc. Your product/service will determine your target market and vice-versa. Having identified and defined your ideal target market, compare it to the markets in which your existing customers operate. If there is a discrepancy between your actual market and your target market, think carefully about why that is the case and how you will transition from one to the other. The next phase in your brand and marketing strategy is to determine how your new brand will differentiate your business from your competitors in your target market(s). Your differentiation strategy will be an important factor in developing your new brand. When done well your brand can become the key differentiator in your marketplace.
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What makes an ideal customer for your business? Before you can describe your ideal customer you first have to have a clear understanding of what makes an ideal customer for your business. This will vary from business to business and will depend on many factors so there is no ‘one answer fits all’ solution.
Ideal Customer
Look carefully at your current customers and identify the ones that are ideally suited for your business, both now and in the future. You may, for example, look at how much they spend, how profitable their business is to you, are they repeat customers or one-off buyers, can they provide introductions to more customers, what are their ethical standards, etc. Remember the elements and factors that make your ideal customer will be unique to your business so the information that you consider will be specific to your business. Once you have identified the factors that make up an ideal customer, look at how many of your existing customers fit that criteria. If that number is high, consider how you can attract more of the same. If it is low, consider why your marketing activities are attracting the wrong type of customer and what actions you can take to rectify it.
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What do your ideal customers look like?
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What should your new brand identity look like?
Once you have a clear understanding of what makes an ideal customer for your business, the next step is to describe what they ‘look like’. Giving your ideal customers ‘personas’ will help you to gain a clear picture of your target audience and will enable you to better understand the needs, wants and concerns of your existing and prospective customers.
Your visual identity generally comprises of your business name, a logo and a colour scheme. These are the visual elements of your brand and are what people see and, therefore, most associate with your business. It is, therefore, important to get this right by creating a visual identity for your business that is in keeping with your goals and values and is supported by your brand foundations.
This, in turn, will help you to develop a brand with associated visual elements that are designed to appeal to your target audience. It will also help when developing marketing materials since you will be able to create designs and write copy aimed specifically at your ideal customer.
When creating the visual elements of your brand there are a number of questions that you should consider. For example: Do you want a logo to represent your brand or simply the business/brand name? If you want a logo, what shapes best represent your brand? What colours best represent your brand? etc.
To create these personas, gather information about your best customers and then describe them in as much detail as you can. The exact nature of the information you need to consider will depend on who your ideal customer is. For example, clients of a large professional services firm will have a totally different persona to those of a local hairdresser. Remember that your ideal customer may well be a company rather than an individual. In this case you can consider what it would be like if it was a person and thereby give the company a persona.
All of the work you have done to this point has been laying the foundations for your new brand. The information that has been gathered should form part of your Brand Design Brief. This will help your brand designer create a strong visual identity that is aligned with your business goals and values and is focused on your target market.
Resource For a FREE Brand Design Brief Template, visit our website and search for “Brand Design Brief” or e-mail BDB@BlueIceBrands. co.uk with the subject “Brand Design Brief”.
What’s next?
Why BlueIce Brands?
Once you have worked through this process you should have a clear understanding of the foundations for your new brand identity. This will include clearly defined goals, values, ethos and target market for your business.
BlueIce Brands specialise in all aspects of corporate branding. Our aim is to always create brands that work for your business. To achieve this, we have assembled a team with expertise in business strategy, marketing, graphic design, and intellectual property rights. We have the expertise and experience to give your business a competitive advantage.
The good news is that by this point you have already gone a long way to defining your brand identity and you will also have created a clear direction and focus for your business. The final step in creating your brand is to pull everything together and to work with a brand designer to create the visual elements of your new brand.
Need Help? BlueIce Brands can help with all aspects of your branding project from idea generation to business and brand strategy to logo design. Contact us now to set up a Free consultation and start laying the foundations to your new brand.
newbrand@blueicebrands.co.uk T: 0141 356 2242
What sets us apart is our commitment to ensuring that all of the brands we create are not only visually stunning, memorable and relevant but are also aligned with your company’s vision, goals and values and are integrated within your company to reflect your corporate identity. This means that your new brand will work in your target markets, with your existing and prospective customers and, critically, inside your business. The result is a strong, unique brand that is ready to start working for your business from the day it is launched.