Before we get start, understand first that a logo is not a brand. Nor is your brand the compilation of your letterhead, envelope, and matching folders. Got it? Good! Let’s move on.
Building your brand, whether personal or for business, means establishing and growing your reputation in a good way. It means creating a must have, can’t live without service or product that people will not only but they will ultimately recommend to their family and friends.
Let’s face it, building a brand isn’t rocket science but it isn’t exactly boiling hot dogs either. It takes effort, time and constant and consistent marketing. Your marketing efforts have to stay why your service or product is needed, what problems it provides a solution for, and they have to identify you as the source supplying that need or resource.
To some degree, brands compliment lifestyles. People will buy what you sell them if it compliments, or adds to, what they are trying to achieve in life. For example, Harley Davidson doesn’t sell motorcycles. It sells a way of life – a lifestyle – and one that embraces a rebellious theme flanked with the freedom of an open road to go wherever you want to go whenever you want to go. Some experts deem Harley Davidson as the one of the initial social brands before we ever began to consciously call it social branding. Nevertheless, for someone buying a Harley Davidson motorcycle, they bought a lifestyle of freedom, one of living on the edge and do it their way.
How did they do it? How does someone create a brand, a brand that transcends generations, remains timeless and one that nearly everyone can identify with?
Again, it’s really simple but it’s so simple, it’s often difficult to do. Here are 3 easy ways to build your brand. They are the sum of branding building strategies that I’ve noticed among some of the most notable companies. Deploy them and you’ll be on your way to building your brand so that it too will stand on its own and make you a household name.
Step 1: Fill a need: identify and solve a problem.
What do you want to be known for? What do you want your company to be known for? Sure, you can pull something out of a hat and try to create an environment around it. But, it will be a lot easier for you to start by identifying a need or a problem to solve. The brands that have the greatest staying power are those that effectively solve problems and provide relief for their consumers. People identify with you better when you help them. And, they will be glad to recommend you to others. Some, as in the case of Harley Davidson Motorcycles, will even tattoo their bodies with imprints of your logo and become a walking billboard for you.
Step 2: Keep it simple.
While we live in a world where more is great, the saying still rings true: less is more. You don’t have to overwhelm people with fluff. You don’t have to accessorize what you offer. Most people, particularly ladies, like to accessorize for themselves. All in one solutions are great but sometimes, a lot of times even, they provide some end product that the consumer doesn’t want or may never use.
Step 3: Stay consistent.
Spinning off from keeping it simple, it’s tempting to always want to change up or dress up your product or service offerings. In doing so, some have, in effect, ruined a great product. Stick with what caught everybody’s attention in the first place. It’s OK to innovate but innovation is no longer innovation if you end up with a completely new product.
Stay true to what you do and you’ll go a long way in building a following, growing your business and building your brand.
[Note: Logos, brands, photos displayed do not represent endorsement of the product or vice versa.]