Building a strong brand is a bit like building a house.
Sounds scary, but people do it every day. We have billions of houses around the world. Some are small, some are huge, some are falling down and some are standing strong.
I built my house without foundations and it fell down.
I’d seen loads of houses, so I knew they needed bricks and windows with a few pipes, so I gave it ago. I wasn’t really sure where to start, how I should do it and what put inside. So I decided to just build it anyway. I’d build it and deal with any niggles afterward.
My self-built house lasted a couple of months, some cracks began to appear, I didn’t plan my roof properly, the windows fell out and we had 3 storms in a week! My house fell down.
I didn’t realise I needed foundations!
This is the same for branding. You’re building it, so it needs foundations laying before you do anything.
Here are my 5 foundations for building a brand:
1. Brand Discovery
Get stuck into your brand, like really stuck in.
What’s your business’s story? Look at the big picture, what’s the reason you’re in business, and who is the typical person that you have created your services for?
Who are your clients?
Define your place in the market, why do your customers prefer to buy your services over someone else?
What’s your brand’s personality?
What are your strengths and weaknesses?
2. Define your Brand Promise
Climb up your benefit ladder, what’s at the top for your clients. What is the ultimate goal you want to achieve for them?
Investigate these 3 key areas:
1. Your customer’s needs and desires – interview them, reveal and discover insights
2. Your competitor’s strengths – a behavior, a status quo, a product, the way they connect with people
3. Your business’s strengths – what are the things you’re good at? What do your customers say about you?
3. Values & Purpose
Underlying your brand promise should be a set of values that support your promise. These guiding principles can inspire and dictate your achievements, goals, how your business works, how it can grow and guide you and your people.
Imagine your brand as a person, what motivates her, what is her personality, what quirks does she have?
What is your business’s culture? How would you describe your business?
Knowing your purpose (your why) beyond making money inspires your plans and actions as well as your ideal clients. So ask yourself why you do it.
“People don’t buy what you do; they buy why you do it.” Simon Sinek
4. Brand Essence
What is the soul of your business?
The Brand Essence captures the very heart of your business. It summarises the most important center of your brand.
Once you have discovered your Brand Essence you can use it as a strapline for your marketing. Here are a couple of well known Brand Essences to inspire you, I won’t even tell you the brand, I’ll let branding work its magic!
There are some things money can’t buy. For everything else, there’s…
5. Customer Journey
Where do your clients discover you? How do they learn more about your services? What happens when they consider buying from you? Will they become loyal, buy again and recommend you?
Knowing the foundations of your brand is vital, it stops your brand from collapsing. It makes it strong.
Brand strategy is where the magic really starts happening!
This is exactly what my Brand Blueprint helps you discover. I will take you on a journey of clarity and then create an amazing identity for your business too!
Want to learn more about building a strong brand with a Brand Blueprint? Just fill in the contact form below and we can book a chat.