Steps to starting a brand: Simplified guide

The workplace is broken. If you think that, you’re not alone. Only 15% of the global workforce considered themselves engaged with their work. They either hate their boss, hate their work, or both. So it’s only natural that many people desire to strike out on their own and be their own boss. You may have thought the same thing yourself.

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But before you start your business, you have to understand business branding. It’s essential to have brand consistency when building and running your business.

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If you don’t understand the importance of building a brand, your business risks being 20% of the small businesses that fail within a year. Keep reading to learn how to cultivate the right brand image for your small business. What Is a Brand? First, let’s define what a brand is. When you think of a company’s brand, you probably think of its name and logo. While that’s part of a brand, it’s not the only thing. A brand is how people perceive your business whenever they interact with it. This includes the impressions you can control and others. A business’ brand includes its logo, name, colors, fonts, and reputation. What Is Business Branding? Business branding is creating a comprehensive message for your business and your products and services. You do this through logos, copy, slogans, and names. Business branding should be considered before you officially launch your business. Launching with a strong brand will help ensure your chances of success. How to Build a Brand Before you start your business you need to think about how you are going to build your brand. Building a brand isn’t just for major businesses. Even home-based businesses need to have their own brand. Research Your Target Audience Before you do anything else, you need to research your target audience. You need to understand your potential customers, as well as who your competitors will be. There are a few different ways of finding your target audience: Do an online search for your product or service and check the results Shop how your customers would shop (online and offline) to get a feel of how they would buy your product Talk to those in your target audience and ask them what brands they buy and why Take note of what the most established brands in your market are, and why customers prefer these established brands. Choose Your Business Name Choosing your business name is a huge commitment. Your brand name will also affect your social media page names and website domain name. There are a few different ways of creating a business name: Create an acronym for a longer name Combine two or more words into one Keep it simple and literal Make up a new word Alter the spelling of an existing word You want a name that is unique and won’t get confused with other brands. Consider keeping your name broad – especially if you plan on offering multiple services or product lines in the future.

Choose Your Brand’s Look Once you have a brand name you need to choose your font and colors. These will be used across your website, social media pages, business cards – everywhere. Don’t just choose your favorite colors. You need to consider color psychology. Color psychology is the psychology behind how colors affect human behavior. For example, the color red can indicate love, strength, or excitement. Green can indicate nature or healing. Purple can indicate luxury or royalty. A little understanding of color psychology will go a long way. After choosing your brand’s colors, you need to choose what fonts you will use. You can use one font for headers and a second font for your body text. A few tips for picking your font: Choose fonts that are clear and legible Choose fonts that won’t tire the eyes Don’t choose fonts that look similar to other brand’s fonts Choose fonts that are flexible and work across all mediums Pick fonts that match your brand’s personality Look at what other brands are using for their font. What works and what doesn’t work? Design Your Brand Logo Your brand’s logo is one of the first things that customers will think of when they think of your brand. Your logo should be unique, scalable to multiple sizes, readable, and identifiable. Think of how and where you will use your logo. It may appear on packaging, as your Facebook page profile picture, in YouTube videos, or elsewhere. There are different types of logos to consider. A logo could be an icon, an emblem, your mascot, something abstract, or a combination of different types. File for Legal Protection After your brand’s look is established, you need to file for a trademark. A trademark will provide legal protection for your logo or name. If you have a product, you should also look into patents. Patents and trademarks are not the same and do not provide legal protection for the same assets. You can apply for a trademark or search to see if an existing trademark exists through the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) website. Apply Your Branding Everywhere Finally, it’s time to share your brand. You need to share your brand across all of your materials, website, and social media pages. Social media can be used to share posts and images that highlight your brand’s personality. Marketing campaigns can show off your brand identity through email newsletters or online ads. Your website or eCommerce page can identify your brand through the placement of your logo and the colors used. Have your logo on every page. Pick a theme that works with your brand.

Keeping Your Brand Consistent Creating your brand is only the beginning of branding your business. Keeping your brand consistent is an ongoing process. It’s important to keep your brand consistent across all of your channels (website, social media, email campaigns, ads, etc.). Why? Because brand consistency leads to brand recognition. Examples of Brand Consistency You don’t have to look very far to find good examples of brand consistency. Just look to major brands. Odds are if they are successful, they have some brand consistency. Take Southwest Airlines, for example. Their planes are decorated in blue, red, and gold colors. Their logo also incorporates these colors and is in the shape of a heart. Southwest’s brand has been a people-first approach, despite being a budget airline. Their heart logo indicates that. Their branding extends even to the New York Stock Exchange – Southwest’s ticker is LUV. Another example of brand consistency is Coca-Cola. The Coca-cola font has stayed consistent for years, and its script lettering is instantly recognizable. Coca-cola bills itself as a brand that sells beverages that are refreshing and fun. The Importance of a Style Guide Part of consistent branding is having a style guide. What is a style guide? A style guide is a set of standards that defines your company’s branding. It includes the visuals, color, point of view, grammar, and other elements of your brand. A style guide ensures your brand is consistent. It enforces consistency across web pages, print content, and other mediums where your brand may be present. A style guide doesn’t have to be long, it can be only 4-5 pages. If you are a solo entrepreneur, it may be tempting to skip having a style guide. Don’t make that mistake. A style guide will help you stay consistent with your brand over time. As your brand evolves, you can periodically update your style guide. Furthermore, a style guide can help any future employees learn your branding quickly. Even if you don’t hire any employees, it’s possible you may want to hire a contractor in the future. Having a style guide to refer to can easily help bring your contractor up to speed and make their job easier and faster.

Social Media Consistency Your brand consistency extends to social media too. That could include social media ad campaigns or posting content regularly. Make sure to create business pages for your company. Meet your clients where they are at. That could be on Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, YouTube, or more likely, several of these. You should share content that aligns with your brand’s values. Some examples of content you could share are small business tips, local suggestions, or design tips. Social media is also a great way to highlight testimonials from satisfied customers. Let your customers show off and highlight your best work. Consistent social media branding means consistent engagement with your followers. That could mean asking them questions or replying to comments on your posts. Are You Ready to Start Your Own Home Business? Are you looking to start your own business? Do you want to be your own boss? You can start right now, and run a home-based web design business. You can set your own hours and generate recurring income. No technical skills are required. Our white-label platform will enable you to do your own business branding. Don’t believe us? Try our free demo and see for yourself why over 1,800 companies and organizations trust SiteSwan to power their business.

Before starting a brand, you need to know your business’s purpose and vision, your target audience, and your competition. Your brand identity is based on all this information.

When you start a business, you are probably thinking about finances, a website, and all that. However, one priority for small business owners or solopreneurs should be their brand.

There are so many moving pieces to a business brand, and a new business owner might not be aware of all of them. It’s essential to inform yourself and simplify the process so you don’t get overwhelmed and give up halfway.

That would be a problem because a great brand induces customers to trust it over its competitors and thus improves profitability. Our branding strategies below will assist.

What Is Your Purpose and Vision?

Every successful brand begins with a clear purpose. Ask yourself why your brand exists and what problem it solves. Your vision and mission statements should reflect where you want your brand to go in the future.

It will take a bit of time to craft this purpose and vision, but that’s exactly it. Once you have your purpose and vision, nothing can divert you from your business goals.

Who Is Your Target Audience?

Understanding your target audience is essential. Who are you trying to reach? What are their needs, preferences, and challenges?

The more specific you can be, the easier it will be for you to create a brand. For example, a business that targets tweens is going to have a very different brand identity from one that targets seniors.

Who Is Your Competition?

Your competition has already done the work for you. They have already chosen to go in a certain direction. Look for gaps in the market based on their feedback.

This research helps you identify opportunities to differentiate your brand. Instead of copying others, focus on what makes your brand unique and how you can offer something different.

What Is Your Brand Identity?

Your brand identity is how your business presents itself to the world. This includes your:

Name
Logo
Colors
Typography
Overall visual style

The most important thing is consistency. You don’t want to use some brand colors when you are emailing customers, vs when you are on the streets chatting with potential leads.

Tools like the logo generator from Adobe Express can assist you in creating all of the brand identity pieces that you would need to begin marketing to customers. Use these accessible design tools to get started right away.

Starting a Brand Isn’t Easy

When you are starting a brand, it can seem overwhelming to think about all of the branding strategies you have to learn. However, with accessible design tools online, you will be able to create all the pieces easily and quickly.

Use our brand launch tips above and keep reading through our website for more on this, so you can be well on your way to a successful business startup.

With the right foundation and ongoing effort, your brand can grow into something meaningful and impactful over time.