7 Strategies for building your brand

7 strategies for building your brand

7 strategies for building your brand

It’s best to build your brand with intention, instead of by accident, because accidental brands carry a lot of baggage you may not want later.

Here are 7 strategies to consider in your brand building – none of these are new. However, one of the secrets to success is to implement them in your business, because most people struggle to action them effectively:

👉🏼 Stay in tune with your target audience

👉🏼 Add value to your value proposition

👉🏼 Make your brand messaging compelling

👉🏼 Confirm your brand identity is up to date

👉🏼 Choose your communication channels wisely

👉🏼 Work with experts to accelerate your business growth

👉🏼 Measure, monitor and evolve

Of course, not all roads to success take a straight line and you may need to focus on two or three of these strategies.

1. Always start with your target audience

The success of your business relies on making and developing strong connections with your target groups. Here are some tips to consider:

  • Listen and ask questions at every opportunity, so you always have up-to-date feedback from clients
  • Do your own market research with customers – test ideas, ask for feedback, accept that some ideas work and others don’t
  • Read relevant research reports on your market and consider which trends may be relevant to your customers and what they want
  • Consider trends in other market sectors – are there any trends that may apply to your sector too?  For example, during COVID-19 lockdowns and restrictions many people made changes to their lifestyle. Some of these changes have endured beyond lockdown. How will these changes impact on your business and brand messaging?

2. How can you add value to your value proposition?

Double check your products, services and experiences with the eyes of your clients, and remember to benchmark against your competitors. What have you discovered?

  • Can you add more value to your most popular services or products? What could make them more exciting or interesting? What is the transformation provided and the results clients experience? How does this make their lives better?
  • Is there potential to increase prices as you add more value or create two-tiered packages?
  • Could you remove some of your products or services? And maybe make some ‘final’ offers to customers before you ‘retire’ them?
  • Are there opportunities to explore adding new products and services? What gaps do they fill?
  • Check how customers experience your buying process – could you make it easier, faster or smoother for your clients?

3. Make your brand messaging compelling

Once you’ve improved your brand value proposition, you’ll want to review your brand messaging.

  • Have you got a ‘big creative idea’ that drives your messaging?
  • Is your brand origin story and brand purpose – your brand ‘why’ – presented in a relevant and meaningful way?
  • What other brand stories are you using? Can you tap into stories of sourcing, quality, people or places?
  • Are your brand messaging pillars aligned with your core products and services or is it time to fine tune them?

4. Confirm your brand identity is up-to-date

Your brand identity comprises a lot more than your logo, font family and colour palette. These do matter and need to evolve over time. However, also consider the key elements of your brand personality:

  • Making your brand human contributes to your ‘know, like trust’ factor. Is your brand acting in alignment with your brand purpose and values?
  • Is your brand style and imagery contemporary and relevant?
  • Does your brand voice – the tone and vocabulary – need to evolve as times change?

Read more about your brand personality in this blog ‘How to create your brand personality’

5. Choose your channels wisely

The move to online trading has been accelerated by Covid-19. Many websites need an upgrade, so check this out from your customers’ perspective. Consider your communication strategy and the respective role of each chosen channel for brand building and activation.

Review these core questions.

  • Is your advertising targeted where your clients can see it?
  • Do you have a presence on the social media channels that your customers use?
  • Could you add or drop any social media channels?
  • Are all your ads and posts consistent with your brand style and voice?

6. Work with experts to accelerate your business growth

Identify the gaps that you and the people in your business cannot fill. Work out your priorities and the expertise you need first and then draw up the criteria for each specialist. Here are some considerations:

  • What type of support do you need? Is it a coach or mentor or consultant?
  • Are you looking for someone to stimulate your thought processes? Or to show you what to do?
  • How can they help to raise your energy levels or improve your approach?
  • How will they help you stay on track? Will they help you define success for your business at his stage in the journey?
  • Do they share similar values and beliefs?
  • Could they work within your investment budget?

Working with ‘best fit’ experts will help you define your goals, hold you accountable to achieving them and help you achieve your goals faster.

7. Measure, monitor and evolve

Once you’ve identified the vision and goals for your business and know the standout brand you want to be, it’s vital to track progress. However complex or simple, you’ll need to develop the discipline and willingness to measure and monitor achievements – great ones and learning experiences too.

This is because your brand cannot stand still. Your brand must evolve because everything changes, all the time. Change is always with us. Some changes are more rapid than others – like the global pandemic we’ve all experienced in 2020-21.

Be prepared to evolve, whilst staying true to your brand purpose and values. And remember – not all roads to success take a straight line.

Read how a brand review can identify key changes to get your brand back on track for growth – Brand Review and Refresh

Or book a short Zoom call to discuss your specific brand needs – Book Your Call

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Thank you for taking the time to read this blog. I hope you've enjoyed it and found it useful. I work with coaches, consultants, creatives, therapists and experts, often ex-corporate. Together we get to the heart of what makes your brand distinctive and different, so we can communicate your value proposition effectively. You'll have a standout brand you love and your clients adore, with a brand personality and image that makes you feel proud of your work, and gives you the confidence and focus to accelerate your business growth.
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