(Unsplash)
Branding can be a difficult matter to approach. There’s a lot of brands out there, billions in fact, and most of them are going to be ones you haven’t even heard of. People with small businesses and brand names they’re trying to build up litter the high streets of your downtown area, and there’s going to be many ecommerce websites without a giant corporation to back them, aiming to make money off of a product they love and have crafted themselves.
Often enough, it’s these types of brands that make up the majority of the economy you live in.
But how do you fit in? How do you get your brand off the ground? You have a product, and you need to sell that product. Maybe you only have an idea for a product at the moment, but you want to know it’s going to sell once you manufacture it. Either way, you’ve got a brand to build, and you want to know how best to do it.
It’s something a lot of people ask on a daily basis: what’s the key to successful branding? If you’re an entrepreneur who has little to no experience in the business world, you’re definitely putting all your time and effort into researching a solution! So let’s try and help you out a little.
The Right Angle
Angles are everything in the marketing world. Whether you’re taking a photo or writing an article for your business blog, the angle you approach your subject from needs to be one that’s going to speak to the market in front of you. It needs to be something your customers and visitors and readers alike are interested in, and can relate to, and are not alienated by. All in all, you need to know your angle, and how it can boost the brand you’re trying to build.
Let’s focus on the images you use to advertise your product for a minute. To set something for sale on your website, or to put in catalogues people can buy from, or to put on the TV to pique interest up and down the country, you’re going to need someone to take photos. These are photos that are going to directly translate your brand; what it does and what it’s about. They need to be clear shots, perfectly framed, and maybe even with some symbolism in the background. Whatever the product you’re selling, it needs to be pictured in context.
You’ve got to be clever with the images you take and post. They need to be professional, yes, but they also need to be creative and eye catching. They need to have design elements to them – no one wants to see your product against a plain white background with no further information present for them! So be sure to hire a commercial photographer that can help you develop this process; a good one will work on the storyboard with you, and will have suggestions for you to follow. Make sure you listen in return!
The Right Market
If you don’t have a market, you’re not going to have a brand in the first place, so it’s definitely one of the biggest keys to the kingdom. You need a foundation for your branding, and that foundation needs to be the want and/or need for the product you’re trying so hard to advertise properly! And if you know your market, you know your customers, and you know the kind of money they’re willing to spend – and you know who you need to beat to make sure they spend that money with you.
Hopefully you did your market research before you even came up with the product you’re trying to brand, and hopefully you’ve made yourself some marketing personas to guide your advertising process. You want to have on hand some representations of the most common shoppers in the market you know you can fit into, to make sure you’re always keeping in mind the people who are going to buy from you and what they might want with a product like yours. A brand that keeps its customers in mind is one that’s going to build a loyal following, after all.
Always be aware of what your customers want from a product like yours. Forever innovate with the compliments and complaints they lodge in your review section, and never ignore the feedback you receive. When the positives mostly outweigh the negatives, and have done for at least a few months now, you’ll know you’ve found the right market to build your brand within.
The Right Look
Similar to the point we’ve already made above, you company needs to have the right look. But rather than just knowing your angles, and advertising your products with the right gallery images and TV spots, you need to have the right face for your company. You need to have one that’s instantly recognizable, and not hard to keep in mind – if a customer can instantly recall your brand name and face, it means they know what you sell and how you can be useful to them. That guarantees quite a few return visitors to your website.
The right look for your brand is going to take some time to come up with, and you’re going to go back to the drawing board at least three times before you settle on something you’re happy with. Even then, a few years down the line, you’re going to want to refine your logo and your company message even more, to fit with the changing times around you. Staying relevant is all about having an adaptable company image, and that means you and your brand stays in business!
Building your branding has a lot of elements to it, and the points made here are by no means exhaustive! But they’re definitely ones you want to start with, if this if your first foray into making a product and building a brand. Above all, stay aware of the market around you.
Want to learn more?
- Just starting out? CLICK HERE
- Been working in your business for two years or more? CLICK HERE
We’re here to help you to take action just like we’ve helped thousands of other entrepreneurs, business owers and creative professionals all around the globe.
Now is the time to let your passion SHINE.
Now is the time to Make Tomorrow Today!
To your success,
Vinh Van Lam & Stuart Horrex
