Building a new brand from scratch is a difficult, time-consuming process. Imagine spending months in therapy to learn everything about yourself and then attending all the big parties in your area each weekend, talking to every person you can find about how great you are…for the rest of your life.
That’s a fairly good analogy for building a brand. You need to understand exactly what your brand is all about and then communicate that clearly, consistently, and continues to every single person you can reach. It isn’t easy, but the dividends it can pay are extremely high.
What Are the Initial Steps of Brand Building?
Before you can begin to truly build your brand you need to do your homework. Don’t worry we won’t grade you. But your customers might.
Your brand defines everything about your organization, so it’s critical that you gain a deep understanding of who you are. To do this, focus narrowly and then gradually expand your scope.
Start with Yourself
It’s all about you, right? So, put on your narcissist hat and take a deep dive into what makes your brand tick. You want to define your values, your goals, and your motivations. You want to write down your story in as much detail as possible.
Expand to Your Customers
Once you’ve finished gazing lovingly at yourself in the mirror it’s important to define your ideal customers. Defining your customers focuses on your efforts. It’s impossible to be all things to all people, so ask yourself which demographics are most likely to be interested in what you have to offer. Then decide how you’d like those customer groups to perceive you.
Include Your Competition
You know you’re better than the other guys, but how do you convince your audience of that? As a final step, expand your scope out to the competitive landscape. Define your differentiating features, your specific niches, and the things you do that your competitors don’t.
Once you’ve fully defined these three views of yourself, you’ll be ready to start the hard work of sculpting that understanding into a cogent, consistent, and engaging brand.
What Is the Role of Social Media in Brand Building Today?
When working on a new brand it’s important to meet people where they are, because brand recognition is built by repeated, meaningful interactions across as many platforms as possible. According to Emarsys, there are currently 3.2 billion social media users worldwide, which amounts to 42% of the world’s population. If you’re looking to connect with your target audience, there simply isn’t a better way to find them.
Social media is also one of the few two-way marketing platforms that allow you to connect directly with customers, and receive instant feedback. As you’re building your brand and trying out different strategies, personas, and voices you can use the proliferation of social media platforms to pull meaningful responses and get immediate answers to pressing questions, and quickly discard unsuccessful brand elements.
What Are Some Powerful Brand Building Strategies?
Unfortunately, building a brand isn’t a formulaic process like, say, building a pizza. There isn’t a recipe you can follow that will assure your brand has a perfect crust, chewy center, and just the right ratio of cheese to sauce. Personally, I like extra cheese, but hey, that’s my personality as well.
However, there are a number of strategies that can be adapted to the specific requirements of your brand. As long as you focus on your goal and are brutally honest with yourself, these strategies can help create authentic brands that speak to your customers and make them listen.
- Write your brand manifesto. Become a brand revolutionary! Create a master document that declares who you are to the world, what you offer, and why you’re the best choice. Be bold and pull no punches. Don’t apologize for what your brand offers your customers. Viva la Revolucion!
- Talk to your customers. How you want to be perceived is only part of the equation. Equally important is how you’re already perceived by your customers, as well as what they want you to be. This shouldn’t be ignored. If you build your brand in a vacuum there’s a good chance your customers will reject it.
- Treat your brand like a person. Your brand identity and its personality can be transferred to a hypothetical person to help in the visualization process. Imagine everyone you knew in high school. Which social group would your brand have been a member of? What sorts of things might it have been into? What’s important to it? If you had a conversation with it, what sort of voice would it speak with? What celebrity best encapsulates the vibe of your brand? Thinking of your brand as a person can help flesh it out.
How Does a Brand Build a Cult Following?
Stay away from the white robes and lotus flowers…
If you want to build a cult following, there are no shortcuts. Building passionate brand loyalty takes time and constant, consistent brand care. Your message needs to be solid, it needs to connect with the right people, and it needs to drown out the competition. Pair this with quality offerings and industry-leading customer service and you’re well on your way to cult-level brand devotion.
If you need some help building your brand, contact us today. We can help demystify the process. No Kool-Aid refreshments here.
