Imagine you have to purchase a present for your chocolate-loving friend. Would you prefer Reese’s or a generic brand? Personally, Reese’s is a no-brainer due to its more prestigious worth as a household brand.
Brands are the soul and heart of your company. It is responsible for influencing your audience’s perception, bringing advocates to your company, and distinguishing you from the competition. Many eCommerce entrepreneurs aren’t sure how to develop an image that is appealing to people.
The truth is that creating an identity isn’t simply about choosing the perfect logo or choosing the most appropriate name. Successful branding results from various interconnected factors designed to transform how people perceive and feel about your business.
Today, I will teach you how to build an image that keeps customers returning after their first purchase.
What Is a Brand, Anyway?
A brand is the culmination of everything you employ to distinguish your business and attract the attention of a particular audience. It’s not just about visual assets like your logo, website design colors, branding colors, and business cards. Still, the tone you use to communicate your business goals and your values and mission.
If something influences your customers’ perception of your company, it’s probably an element of your branding. Let’s take Apple, for example. Apple sells technology and computers similar to other brands. What is the thing about Apple that makes customers line to the curb to get one of their latest offerings? It’s the name.
Apple’s branding is all about simplicity as well as innovation and modernity. Apple distinguishes itself by its minimalist approach to design, from the sleek white stores found in the real world to the elegant Apple website.
Apple also creates its brand through:
- Continuously creating new products and innovations to ease the lives of customers.
- Utilizing phrases such as “Think Different” to highlight its uniqueness
- Collaboration with market leaders to create powerful marketing campaigns
Apple’s branding’s forward-thinking and innovative design makes customers enthusiastic about the company.
How to Brand Your Business in 8 steps
Now that you are aware of what a brand Let’s take a look at the steps to build the first one.
1. Identify Your Audience
When it comes to building a brand, It’s essential to understand whom you’re trying to reach.
You should think about the kind of products you’ll offer and to whom they’ll be sold. Be specific in the type of customer you’ll be targeting. For example, instead of focusing on “dog owners,” a pet accessory company could concentrate on dog owners who are new to young dogs or those who train dogs to compete in shows. Picking a particular niche means that you’ll have no competition.
Knowing who your customers are will aid in choosing your brand’s voice, style, or even the best marketing strategy to reach potential customers. You can increase your understanding of your target audience through:
- Analyzing current customers: Do you have any customers you have already purchased from, and what do you already know about them? What is their age, location, and what are they enjoying regarding your company?
- Analyzing your competitors: Find out what kind of customers other businesses like yours target? Are there areas that aren’t served of the market that you can aid with your offerings?
- Making buyer personas: Consider the ideal customer you want to be, and then develop an outline of their age and gender, demographics, preferences, and behavior (such as the way they prefer to shop on the internet).
As you build your eCommerce brand, you’ll be presented with many opportunities to gain knowledge about your customers through the analytics tools and surveys of customers. In addition, adding to your personas of customers as you go helps to ensure that they’re up-to-date.
2. Develop Your Brand Position
The process of gaining a depth of knowledge regarding your target market will also provide you with an insight into your company’s place. It’s impossible to be a fashion brand and a budget-friendly business in the same way. It would help if you decided where you’re planning to go in the market.
The easiest method to accomplish this is to create a positioning statement. You can use a couple of phrases to define your company’s identity and what you’re offering. For example, your brand positioning statement could be: “We’re a home accessories business that sells unique, hand-crafted products to customers throughout [region] ].”
When you establish your brand’s position, Think about what you can do to differentiate your company from the rest. In the above example, the most significant difference lies in the “hand-made” aspect of the products. If you know your positioning and selling points, you can start designing marketing campaigns and branding content that appropriately appeals to your intended customers.
For example, a company that makes hand-crafted items is likely to have a warm and friendly voice.
A company that sells high-end luxury items will require a more sophisticated and artistic voice.
3. Pick a Business Name
You’ve got your target market and what you’d like to present your brand. Now is the time to select the name of your brand. That is crucial.
This is among the most crucial aspects of your company’s name. A good title should be able to distill everything that your potential customers must be aware of in one word.
If, for instance, you’re a clothing retailer determined to create something unique for your customers, you could come up with a name such as “Vision Clothing.” The crucial factor to be successful is choosing a catchy word that has words that convey the right feelings or concepts to your customers.
Other types of names are:
- Names that describe: Titles representing the company such as “Florist.”
- Emotional name: Names that trigger emotional reactions like “Innocent Drinks.”
- Names of origin: These are names selected to represent where the business started or for the person who initiated it, for example, “Ford.”
- Names with compound names Names that mix words, such as “Facebook” or “FedEx.”
- Acronyms, initials Simple to remember different versions of long names, such as “BMW.”
Your brand name will also define the URL/domain for the online shop. Make sure to conduct some studies to determine what options are available before deciding on the name. Please read our guide on selecting the perfect name for your business or use these generators for business names to find some names for your brand.
4. Outline Your Brand’s Story
The story of your brand is your “why” behind your organization. Every business should have a mission (beyond just making money). It would be best if you thought about why you set out to have a business in the first place and how your product or service can positively impact the lives of others.
For example, the eyewear brand Warby Parker is built on the need to provide high-end glasses to consumers worldwide for affordable prices.
The company can tell its story online of how it came up with a novel method of serving customers by not using traditional channels. Connecting directly with customers through online media has allowed it to provide high-quality glasses at less than the usual prices.
The story identifies Warby Parker in its role as a first-to-customer brand and outlines its commitment to providing customers with fashionable and affordable clothing.
A compelling story can cause customers to become enthralled by your company and create an appreciation of your business.
5. Establish Your Brand’s Look
Making your brand’s identity clear involves deciding how you’ll make it easier for customers to recognize your brand instantly. For example, what type of packaging do you plan to utilize to package your items? What will your customers see when looking at the parcel they receive when purchasing products from your online store? What will they see as they browse your site and browse for products?
The most crucial elements of your brand’s appearance are:
- Colors for your brand The colors you use for your brand are a selection of shades that you’ll apply to all of your branding assets, like your email, website, and packaging for your products. Colors have an emotional impact on customers. For example, red can be intense and passionate, whereas blue is calming and reliable.
- Fonts: Much like your brand’s colors, your choice of fonts can significantly impact how your clients feel about your company. Sans-serif fonts are typically more contemporary and inviting, while serif fonts are classic and strong.
- Imagery: What kinds of pictures, images, and images do you employ for your website, products, and ads?
When you’ve got the different elements needed to create your brand, you can develop guidelines for visuals to guide your staff and the designers you collaborate with.
6. Create a Logo
Your logo is a crucial factor to consider when learning how to create the process of creating your brand. Your logo will be among the first things customers recognize when they see your brand alongside your name.
A good logo should be memorable and straightforward to comprehend. Apple’s iconic apple picture with the bite removed from it does not require explanation. The best way to make sure your brand’s logo can create the desired effect is to collaborate with a professional designer to capture your brand’s visual appeal.
A designer can guide you through the various types of logos that you could look at, for example:
- The brand emblem: A brand’s logo is an image placed within the form of a shield or circle in most cases. Emblems sport a modern and classic look. An excellent illustration could be Starbucks’ Starbucks logo.
- Mascot logos: Mascot logos usually focus on a specific persona like Wendy’s logo. They can be a way to personalize the company by giving it a distinctive appearance.
- Letter marks: Letter marks can transform an acronym into a visually appealing logo. IBM’s IBM logo is a beautiful illustration of this.
- Icon: Icon logos use simple images to identify the brand, such as that of the Twitter bird. They are great for adding attention to your image as a brand.
- Wordmarks: Wordmarks are an elegant font that transforms your brand’s name into your logo. They are great for making your brand name more memorable.
- Combination mark: Combination logos are used to bring names of the business and a picture together, such as Taco Bell’s logo. Taco Bell logo, for example.
7. Write Your Slogan
Although a slogan is an optional element of building a brand, it’s worth contemplating if you’re trying to increase your brand’s reach and visibility. A tagline can help your customers know what your business is and the things it can do for them.
The type of slogan that you choose to use is contingent on the goals you intend to achieve. Redbull employs the phrase “Redbull gives you wings” to remind people to increase their energy level through the beverage. Nike uses “Just do it” to display its motivational brand image. The most effective slogan should tell your customers something they must be aware of about your company and will give you a unique feature to build your brand’s identity.
In learning to create your brand through an appealing slogan, make sure you utilize your distinctive brand voice to help make your brand stand out.
8. Integrate Your Brand Everywhere
Once you’ve developed your brand, you’ll need to promote it to others.
Businesses must show their image in everything they do to make themselves memorable. Everyone in your team must understand the way your brand should appear and sound. The most effective way to accomplish this is with a style manual for contractors and employees.
Think about ways you can promote your brand through different channels. For instance, your logo should be prominent on your:
- Ecommerce store: Select an appropriate theme to reflect your brand’s personality and use your company’s colors. Be sure to highlight the logo across every single page, and highlight your brand’s voice in the content on your website.
- Social media: Social media is an effective tool to build the brand’s image. It is possible to share posts that showcase your personality, upload pictures representing your brand, and invite people to share your company with their acquaintances and family members.
- Marketing campaigns: Your name should be evident in all marketing campaigns, whether sending out email newsletters or interacting with your customers through podcasts. Every marketing effort conveys your brand’s image and voice with consistency.
Consistency is a must when building an effective brand. If you are more harmonious with your brand’s image and your brand’s identity both on and offline, the more familiar your business will appear to your customers. It also helps make your brand seem more solid and stable.
Final Thoughts
A well-established branding is essential for any business operating in today’s business world.
If you don’t have the correct branding, connecting with your customers emotionally isn’t easy. This means that any potential customer is likely to leave your business once they locate an online store that they connect with.
Creating your brand’s identity will give your customers something to connect with. It’s what keeps customers returning to return, sets you apart from your competition, and transforms clients who aren’t customers into brand ambassadors.
