Once you’ve come up with a business idea, you’ll be itching to get plans off the ground and turn your dream into a profitable venture. In this article we share the Steps You Need to Take to Build a Brand for Your Startup: Our Guide for New Market Entrants.
Whether you’ve dipped your toes in business before or you’re a total newcomer, establishing a brand for your startup isn’t something that will happen overnight. You’ll need to put in all your blood, sweat and tears to make your startup successful and get people talking about your products or services.
With the right branding strategies, tools, and knowledge, you can soon be on your way to building a recognisable and profitable brand. If you’re not sure where to start, read our guide below, which is sure to serve as inspiration for new market entrants.
Table of Contents
Begin With Your Story
First and foremost, you need to remember that you’re the heart of this startup. This is your passion and dream that you may have had for many, many years. To build a successful brand, you need to figure out your story first.
This involves noting down who you are, what you’ve done, and how you’ve got there. Other questions include what has happened in your past that led to you launching your business. Also, why does this idea mean so much to you?
As you begin putting the pieces together, the story of your startup will emerge. In every culture, storytelling is a longstanding tradition. We all enjoy hearing stories as they capture the essence of other people, events, and places in a recognisable and relatable way.
Stories can also trigger an emotional response. If you outline your story and get consumers emotionally invested, you’ll find it much easier to develop your brand.
Find Your Values and Mission
Once you’ve got your story covered, it’s time to look for keywords or ideas within the narrative that capture what inspired your startup. Jot down any words that spring to mind linked to your business, and pick out a few that best showcase what your business is about. These will be the key points that support the rest of your brand.
Now is the best time to define the mission of your company. Make sure it’s clear, concise, and straight to the point. Think beyond the products or services you sell.
You need to explain your hopes and what you want to achieve with your customers. The values and mission of your brand should tap into a feeling from your audience base. Look for values that closely align with those of your target demographic.
Establish Your Niche
Before launching a startup, it’s vital you establish a niche. The last thing you want is to go into a field that’s oversaturated. If you do, you’ll have real trouble standing out from competitors and getting any notice.
It’s important to put lots of research into the market and compare your brand with others. Take a look at what similar companies are doing and try to come up with ways to do things differently.
Coming up with ways to make your brand logo design stand out and choosing an angle that you can use for your brand that no other company has thought of is the best place to start.
You will want consumers to take notice of your brand from the offset and be curious to find out more. This is a crucial brand-building step for any startup.
Use the Latest SEO Strategies
All successful brands have a prominent online presence. Whether it’s through social media, blogs, or their website, you will want your brand to rank highly on search engine ranking results.
No one is going to page 3 or 4 to find what they need. We simply don’t have the time for it! For your brand to come alive and get noticed, you’ll need to use the latest SEO strategies.
If you aren’t an SEO wizard, you may wish to enlist the help of bigsurfdigital.co.uk. They are an SEO agency that can help you with your efforts, create relevant keywords, and most importantly, get your website and blog ranked higher.
When you learn the basics of SEO and put certain strategies in place, this will be a big help in getting your brand up and running.
Make Your Brand Memorable
To make your mark in the business world, your brand needs to be memorable and roll off the tongue. Firstly, come up with a memorable name that sticks in your head.
You shouldn’t opt for a name that’s too long or difficult to spell. Instead, create one that gives your customers a solid idea of what your company is about.
You will also need to develop a distinct tone of voice. Your brand needs lots of written content for your website, blog, and social media posts. Be careful with how you address your audience.
After all, they are the ones who are going to invest in your brand and make it a success.
Your business logo also plays a huge part in making your brand memorable. The logo should be an easy identifier of your brand. Make it something simple enough to remember and pleasing to the eye. Try not to go for anything too striking as this may have the opposite effect.
Get On Social Media
Social media is an incredibly powerful tool. Billions upon billions of people from all continents log onto Facebook and Instagram each day. For that reason, you need to get on these platforms yourself and create business pages.
This will give your audience a place where they can go to find out more about your brand and what makes you special and unique.
Social media marketing is what will elevate your brand and propel it to stardom. Make sure you’ve got a dedicated social media team in place who can man your pages.
When you respond quickly to customers’ comments and project a professional, friendly tone, this will be excellent for spreading brand awareness and boosting traffic to your pages.
Provide Incentives
Let’s be honest, we all love a freebie! When launching a startup, you’ll want to do anything you can to impress potential customers and get them talking about your brand.
One way to do this is by providing incentives. This may be in the form of getting money off their first purchase when signing up to your email newsletter.
There are other incentives you can provide for customers too. These include hosting social media competitions and giveaways. Once you’ve worked out who your target audience is, you can come up with incentives that align with your brand.
If you use social media for a competition, make sure there is an option for users to like, comment and share it. This will create a domino effect and get more and more people talking about your brand.
Building a successful brand doesn’t have to feel like an impossible feat. With the right mindset and determination, you can use the strategies above and put them into action.
Before you know it, you’ll create a recognisable brand that your audience will fall in love with. Make sure to stay committed to your startup and do everything in your power to get noticed by the masses.
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