Moovn goes head-to-head with Uber with new deal to reach millions of riders
July 9, 2017
How Business Professionals Can Unwind In Their Spare Time
July 10, 2017
The average startup success rate in the modern world is staggeringly low, with the majority of up-and-coming businesses failing to reach their second year, either succumbing to a lack of funding, poor leadership, and inadequate branding, or a combination of the three. In the competitive global market oversaturated with businesses and services frequently indistinguishable from one another, creating a unique brand identity is of the utmost importance.
Branding allows your business to portray a certain personality, elicit an emotional response within the industry, and secure its place in the competitive market by setting itself apart from the crowd and the noise. A strong brand identity should be well in place before the company ventures into the market, and here is how you can ensure exponential company growth and become a part of the successful few.
1. Establish your values, mission, and vision
The first step towards building a killer brand lies in the careful creation a brainstorming of your unique word cloud. A word cloud will help group together all of the words that represent your brand and showcase its worth. Start by brainstorming with your team, note down all of the keywords, and then begin to narrow the word selection down 5 to 6 keywords – any more than that, and your essence won’t be as clear and concise as it should be.
From those keywords, you will be able to derive your brand values. Values are essential for all future narratives, brand messages, and stories, as well as creating your unique and engaging mission and vision statements. Your brand values should be clear, passionate, and concise, devoid of any stereotypes, clichés, or negative connotations.
After you have established your values, you can proceed to draft your mission and vision statements. The majority of people fail to recognize the importance of a strong brand statement, and much like your values, your mission and vision statements need to be clear, concise and passionate imbued with powerful keywords you have defined earlier and of course, your brand values.
2. Create an engaging brand name
There are two ways you can approach this: intuitively or with a detailed plan. Some people come up with a brand name in a blink of an eye, while others like to take a more prudent, calculated approach. If you want to ensure long-term success, you want to prepare and plan for the creation of your brand name thoroughly.
A brand name cannot be something only you understand or feel an emotional connection towards, a brand name must be something people will easily connect with, a name that will easily instill your values in theirs. You can brainstorm the perfect brand name that will stand the test of time by analyzing the values and statements you have created earlier, combined with a calculated approach towards your target demographic.
Note down the age, predominant gender, and demographic trends, and combine those findings with your brand elements, and you will be able to derive a strong, meaningful name people will love and recognize.
3. Derive a brand narrative
With all of these elements in place, it is time to create the stories, messages, and your brand’s tone of voice. The way you communicate with your target audience will mean the difference between client engagement and disinterest, therefore it is important to establish an engaging tone of voice along with a set of emotional stories and messages.
These stories can easily accompany your products and services, infused in every part of your online presentation, accompanying your promotional merchandise, complete offline presence, and making their way into every part of your marketing and advertising efforts.
4. Build a killer visual identity
The last part of the branding puzzle entails the creation of a strong visual presence. Building an engaging visual identity comes last, as you will have to employ all of the aforementioned elements in its creation. Depending on your values, statements, and stories, you will be able to create a logo that clearly depicts and conveys your purpose to your customers. Remember, however, that beauty lies in simplicity, and if your logo is too intricate, it might have an adverse effect on your audience.
Finally, you can build a complete visual identity utilizing the colors, shapes, and patterns that correspond with your brand’s personality. Depending on your niche you will pick vibrant colors or stick to clean, minimalistic designs for a professional feel, just make sure that your online presence is transparent enough to provide easy navigation and transform a visitor into a loyal customer.
Ensuring your startup’s longevity in the modern, competitive environment is not a task taken lightly. Fortunately, with these straightforward guidelines, you can create a strong battle plan that will allow you to calculate your success with a unique and engaging brand!
Image: EdgeThreeSixty
