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When you first launch a business, there are so many things to think about, so many decisions that have to be made, and, honestly, it can be really overwhelming. From developing a business plan to securing a product or defining your services to building a website, there are so many essential steps you must take before you make it official.
One thing that often gets overlooked? How to create a brand.
Why Is Creating a Brand Important?
Creating a brand isn’t just determining your colors and fonts, and logo–although these are important visual aspects of brand building!–a brand is so much more than that. A brand is how you define yourself in the marketplace, how you choose to set yourself apart, and how you communicate with your potential audience. A great brand leaves people feeling good and encourages them to take an action that usually leads to more sales. Without putting the time in to create a brand, you are missing countless opportunities to grow your business.
Chances good that there are already competitors in your marketplace, regardless of your industry. Creating a brand is what gives you a leg up on the competition; differentiating your business in a way that not only stands out from the crowd, but that also really connects with consumers.
What Makes a Brand Great?
There are many different aspects that go into making a brand memorable. Like any good recipe, it takes more than one ingredient to create a delicious dish. The recipe that I use in my approach to branding focuses on your messaging and how you are presenting yourself to your target audience. In order to do this well, your brand will have to define:
Mission: Your mission statement is formal summary of the goals and values of your business that serve as a compass for all of your brand decision-making
Brand Values: Your brand values are the beliefs that you, as a collective company/organization, stand for. These values should guide how you create a culture around your brand, both internally and externally.
Audience Breakdown: It’s essential to create different profiles for each of your target audiences in order to better understand what they are struggling with, what their values are, and how you can better serve them as a business.
Value Propositions: Your value propositions are your unique business offerings, or, why people should spend money with you vs. your competition. In other words, your value props explain to your target audience what’s in it for them.
There are lots of other elements that go into building a strong brand, including your brand story, elevator pitch, positioning statement, and brand voice or personality. But without the four ingredients listed above, there’s no way you’ll be able to complete the recipe.
How Can You Create a Brand That Connects?
While it might seem like a big undertaking to create a brand as you’re also building a business, you won’t regret making the investment with both your time and your money. Creating a defined identity for your brand will help with so many different aspects of growing your business, from increasing sales to hiring new employees. And since I am a huge brand nerd, I’ve created a new course, Branding from the Heart, that aims to help businesses of all sizes access what they need to create the brand of their dreams.
The course gives you access to my approach to branding, complete with bite-sized video lessons, emails, and worksheets with exercises that will walk you through exactly how to craft your brand strategy. By the end of the course, you will not only have a complete understanding of all the different components that go into creating a strong brand strategy, but you will also walk away with all of the messaging you need to go out into the world and attract more clients, generate more leads, and close more sales.
Go check out Branding From The Heart: How to Build an Authentic Brand That Connects With Your Audience and get started on creating a brand that connects today!