Entrepreneurs: Create a Powerful Brand

Your brand extends far beyond the design of your logo. Branding is one of the most important facets of any business — large or small, B2B or B2C. Launch your unique brand with these three business-branding tips:

What Is a Brand?

Branding and marketing go hand-in-hand, but they are not the same. Marketing is what sways potential customers to choose your product over the other guys. Branding, however, shows prospective consumers that your company is the only one that provides solutions to their problems. How? First, you have to understand the needs and wants of the consumers in your industry. Consumers have emotional connections with their favorite brands, whether it is sentimental or based on shared values. Unfortunately, you cannot establish a brand that everyone will like, so be sure to rein in your target audience and work to appeal to them by researching, defining and building the foundation of your brand.

Entrepreneur notes that culture is a living entity and its development and growth is never ending, so you must always be on your toes developing and fine-tuning your brand. Coca-Cola ranked No. 3 on Interbrand’s Best Global Brands list. It has had to make changes to its branding strategy over the years to adjust to market demands, such as young consumers’ desires for a healthier beverage.

Coca-Cola shifted its focus away from sweet, carbonated drinks to healthier alternatives to provide a solution to consumers’ requests.

Brand Values

Your brand is what connects customers to your business. It voices what they can expect from your offerings and it’s what distinguishes your company among competitors in your industry. When you take time to outline your brand values it trickles down from you to your employees and then on to your customers. Your core values help your employees see exactly how their roles fit into the mission and overall success of the company. With a strongly written mission statement and set of core values in place, you can inspire your employees to live and breathe the company message during customer interactions.

McDonald’s mission is to be a customer’s favorite place to eat and drink. The McDonald’s mission is straight to the point and it outlines exactly what the fast-food chain provides. McDonald’s values are listed on the company website and include statements like “We continually strive to improve,” “We give back to our communities,” “We are committed to our people” and “We place the customer experience at the core of what we do.” The brand values emphasize employees, growth and community, three factors that consumers care about and things that inspire customers to choose McDonald’s over its competitors.

Brand Consistency

Credibility and consistency are invaluable in the business world. Earn the trust of your customers by delivering a consistent brand message by keeping your logo, fonts, materials and product packaging consistent — it’s what makes you recognizable to consumers. Aside from your brand’s offline presence, you’ll need to be consistent online, too.

The authority in identity theft protection, LifeLock has established itself as a leader in the industry by providing valuable information and helpful resources that align with the brand’s image and values across multiple channels online including Twitter, Facebook and a regularly updated company blog. Apply these practices to your own brand strategy to create brand consistency and reinforce your brand’s identity.