In the past couple of years, with uncertainty, many people have aimed to start their own business and grow it into a thriving brand. Whether this is online, dominating new markets or even making the most of a bad situation, it can be a great way to earn some extra money. The problem with this is when people have tried to get something up and running, they have done it quickly rather than spending a bit of time planning it out.
Many people have tried running before they could walk and have of course failed. Branding is a hugely important part of your business as it is how people recognise you so it is vital that you do it right the first time as a rebrand can have adverse results for you if you don’t hire a professional.
Understanding your industry is essential when it comes to creating a business as you need to understand the whole landscape such as the competition, their mistakes, their strategic position as well as understand how you can solve these mistakes so you can implement them into your business.
Doing this is going to help you to differentiate your business. Creating a brand strategy first is an essential part of building a brand as this is what is going to help you with most of your decision-making. This includes creating your logo as there is no point in creating it before your strategy as you need to tailor the logo to your audience. This is probably the hardest part to get right so many turn to a branding agency Leeds based or Manchester for some of the best talents in the UK.
There are so many businesses out there that you wouldn't be able to tell the difference between them and their competitors. On a daily basis, we see an abundance of ads, whether this is through your mobile, the highstreets or on your computer, it's unavoidable. In order to differentiate from your competitors, you will need to create a brand message that is going to set you out from the competition. This means the logo needs to be unique and tailored to your audience with strong messaging.
This is what people are going to be remembering you with, so first impressions count. One way to look at it is that if you fail to differentiate your brand from others, customers will simply just look for the cheapest option. Creating brand differentiation shows the value of your business over others.
To make the most amount of sales, you need to connect to the correct audience for your brand. Defining your brand is not just the best design or what you like, or even what you think your audience may like, it should be tailored to what your customers actually want. To define your audience, there are a few things to take into consideration such as:
Many of your competitors have already established how they differentiate from every other business and have established a way in which they can communicate with their customers in a personal method. If you fail to do this, then you are going to struggle as you will be left in the dark which in turn allows your competitors to have a larger share in the market. If you are failing to connect to your audience, then you should ask your existing customers to see what they feel could be improved.
Due to saturated markets and globalisation, businesses are now turning to other markets to dominate and brand extension is something that can excite you once you have created a strong brand that people resonate with, so don’t do this too soon. It isn't the best way to meet as many customers as possible as you need to determine whether the business is there for it or are there better alternatives that already have a very good brand and product.
The likes of Virgin attempted this and created a multitude of extensions to their business but actually failed. Coca-cola did this correctly by adding other flavours and health benefits such as coke zero or diet coke.
