The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Branding
Do you remember that day when you decided to just go with your gut, you run, one eye open one eye close, and you jump! As entrepreneurs, we’ve all had that moment, and the thoughts that race through your mind while you’re jumping are both excitement and joy. Yes you are your own boss now it’s time to conquer.
The rate of new entrepreneurs has increased nearly 15 percent over the past two years, translating to about 550,000 new business owners each month during the year. This is awesome, and it means that more and more people are realizing their passion and turning that into a profitable business.
However, once you take that leap into entrepreneurship, you start to learn that the grind and hustle is real and a lot goes into running and starting a business. How will people notice you? What sets you apart from your competition? Who do I target and how and It is at this moment you think uh oh did I make the right decision?
The answer to these questions all center around building your brand.
Branding is setting yourself apart from your competition, it’s how your audience and others view you, most importantly it’s being true to yourself and what you stand for and if you’re going to walk that walk, and talk that talk, you best to be sure that you’re creating a consistent and well-defined message with every aspect that will be visible to the public.
Let’s take a look at what it takes to start building a Powerful Brand.
First we start by Defining Your Brand
You need to have a pretty good idea of who you are, who your customers are and how will you target them. This all goes into the strategic planning and messaging. Start by defining the following
- Brand Promise
- Brand Positioning
- Mission
- Vision
- Tagline
- Target Audience
- Your Niche
Next we move on to the creative direction of your brand.
Logo and Brand Colors
Your logo is one of the most important creative pieces of your brand. It’s the visual representation of your brand that your audience will see before your products or services. This image is what they will associate your brand with so you want to be sure you put good thought into this part of your brand. A great logo is simple, memorable, relevant, adaptable, and timeless. See 5 Characteristics Of A Great Logo Design.
Did you know that the human mind is extremely responsive to visual stimuli, and colors play and important role in this response. The color you chose should capture and express the personality of your brand; resonate with your audience; and, help distinguish your brand from others in your (and related) industry. See Colors and their meanings.
After the creation of your logo, you want to follow that up with the rest of your brand’s identity. Download our FREE 72 Hour Branding Checklist Dat Way for Small Businesses.
Launching Your Brand
Your messaging, identity, branding marketing collateral are all done. It’s time to launch your brand and integrate your brand into every aspect of your business. As entrepreneurs and small businesses, this part is fairly easy compared to a big corporation with over 500 employees. You want to be sure everyone is trained properly on how to and how not to use your brand. Yourself and your employees are your biggest cheerleaders and promoters of your brand.
Lastly Dare To Be You. Be Consistent.
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen businesses where their communication is one way on their website, but in their branding collateral it’s something different. When they answer the phone at one building it’s one way and at another location, it sounds like you’ve called a completely new business.
Your communication should be consistent through out and in-line with your entire brand. A brand that is not consistent and changes up ever other day will only confuse it’s audience, and will loose all respect and loyalty of their market.
Branding is an important part of ensuring your brand is successful, and making sure that leap you took was worth it. If you are a DIY’er follow these steps above, and download our 72 Hour Branding Dat Way Checklist to keep you on task. Branding takes time and dedication, and for most people they spend on average 8 weeks getting their branding off the ground.
If you’re not a DIY’er 8393 Creative is here for you to ensure you have a Powerful Brand up and running with branding and messaging, positioning, logo, identity, marketing collateral, and a fully responsive website in 4 weeks. Do what you love, we create while you grow your business. We make that jump worth it! We’ve been there, so therefore we know and We Got You!