The word brand or branding comes up a lot when we talk about our businesses but what really is a brand? Put simply it’s the identity of the company.
A brand needs a personality that comes with a look and feel along with an emotional connection. For those of you just getting started in business, defining your brand is going to be integral to your success. If you do not have a strong brand that creates an emotional connection with people it won’t matter how good your product or service is, it will not sell.
For those of you who’ve been at it a while you’re not off the hook. Successful companies evaluate their brand annually if not more often to make sure that their product or service is still relevant. When it’s not, they implement a brand refresh. This is an important exercise for businesses as they mature to help them reach maximum longevity.
Strong brands are built with a clear purpose and goals. They have these components to aid in their success:
➡️ A vision
➡️ Purpose
➡️ Values
➡️ Visual identity
➡️ Emotional connection
➡️ Tag line(s)
➡️ Mission statement
➡️ Brand voice
With this list you can quickly see how a brand is not just your logo, colours, fonts and how it’s a whole entity with many working pieces. Just look at your favourite brands and see how all these come in to play and how they got you to become a fan of them.
Even if you’re the smallest of small companies it’s important to invest in your brand development and the good news is that you can do a lot of it yourself if that suits you. There are a ton of great group programs at affordable prices to help you with your brand story and all kinds of designers, copywriters and marketing folks who can help with the marketing.
If you’re new to business hit me up for connections, I know some great people who specialize in helping solopreneurs get clear on their brand and that my friends, will be the foundation of a successful business. We’re all here to share our gifts with others and we all deserve success!