Branding has always been an important part of business, but it wasn’t always a term used as freely as it is now. It was spoken about as your image or your reputation and was generally seen as something you earned by delivering on your promise and it may then be brought to life visually using visual tools like a logo to rubber stamp your professional approach and indicate the quality of your product or service alongside a good reputation.
At Sobold Marketing we work on branding projects with Hotel's and SME's
We are in an age when digital channels mean customers interact with your company 24/7 and you can’t be there to maintain your image or uphold your reputation all the time. Customers don’t always know your business, they visit online via your website, social channels, review sites and industry bodies and offline they may visit your business, read about you, get personal recommendations, and can find countless ways to interact with your company before you are even aware of them.
Your branding is more than a logo, it is an informed structure on how to tell your story and show the problem you solve and even how you deliver on that. Your brand is your identity and story and should inform your customers about what makes your business different to the competition and where you position yourself within your market. Your brand supports your sales efforts to lead the right customers to your door so to speak.
Simple?
It can be if you put the time in when you create or update it and clearly convey what you are about.
Let’s start at the beginning.
You find a solution to a problem and identify potential customers, maybe you open a pizza restaurant that offers great value for families, your new pub will have a traditional carvery that serves food 7 days a week, your App will help sales teams book more appointments with less work, you’re the handyperson who can in the Kildare area, you sell fruit and vegetables at a better price with a bigger variety because you specialise in fruit and veg and buy what the supermarkets don’t, (the bendy bananas and the too big apples for example, we have a great shop locally who does that).
You get your Niece to do a logo, your cousin sets up a website and away you go.
That is a great place to start but to save you time and effort can we suggest doing the following:
(being in the business will take over from setting up the business very soon so don't let branding slip down the list)
Establish who your customers are.
You may want to create Personas so that you are clear about who you are selling to.
Really get to know your competitors, find out their Unique selling points and what they charge. If you are opening a Pizza restaurant, go for Pizza, and experience their product if you can.
Complete a SWOT analysis, (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats,) If you have similar competitors do a SWOT for them also.
Good Branding comes from a strong sense of your market, understanding your position within that market and where the competition are.
Brand pack
Your visual branding will be informed by your position in the market, are you everyday, luxury, or practical? Don't jump into getting a logo unless you know what you are offering, we all love a logo and can become very attached to them.
Consider, are you selling to professionals in a B2B sense or B2C, are your customers young or older, are they international where language is a consideration?
Use the knowledge from your research to convey what you are looking for from a designer.
Decide how you want to present your company to the world, smiley happy, professionally reserved but friendly, fun, and creative, efficient and serious, what matches the business you have set up?
Get your Logo in multiple sizes and formats;
Square and landscape, colour and black and white, think about where you will be using it - Website, Profile for website pages, social profile boxes, Brochures, Business cards, Posters, signage for shop fronts, road signs, menus, and think of colours that will be able to be overlaid on images.
Get a font assigned for headlines and general text so that you can ensure all your material no matter who prints or creates it has a standard to follow.
Start building your library of images, get a few good images of you, your premises and/or your stock/products.
Decide on how you want people to communicate with you, what's app, email, social channels, phone whatever you can manage professionally and use your branding there.
Get templates for invoices drafted, receipts, proposals, business cards, and packaging.
Moving on from visual
Think about your communications and your teams’ communications, how you greet people is part of your brand so communicate that to your team in addition to all your material. You don't need to script everything but you do want your team to understand the tone of your brand.
When you have this in place you have a strong and clear foundation that will guide you as you progress your business. With clear well-researched branding, you can incorporate that branding more easily into service delivery, team training, customer communications, Advertising and in all sorts of different ways. This helps your message stay focussed on the customers you are targeting while you build your business in the sales cycle.
Best of luck and if you need some help, call us or email info@soboldmarketing.ie we love supporting our clients as they create or progress their branding so that it is aligned with their business strategy and ultimately supporting sales.
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