Branding is much more than just a snappy logo or a pithy tagline, and it’s more than just an overall look or color scheme.  There are four basic beginning steps that need to be followed in order to craft your successful brand image.

Step 1: Study the Competition

The more important step for creating your successful brand image is to disinguish yourself from your competitors and colleagues.  You should try to understand how consumers view your competition. You should also try to understand your competitors strategy to differentiate themselves in their market and industry.  Finally, you should study and note your competitor’s strengths and also their weaknesses. Your business will benefit from having this information by capitalizing on their weaknesses, and also applying that knowledge by differentiating your business with strengths in your competitors weakest points.

Step 2: Identify Your Strengths

Now that you understand the weaknesses of your competition, you can begin to play up your strengths. Complete a target market analysis, learn from it, and use it to your advantage. This is a useful tool to identify your company’s strengths and what is also important to your target market. Once you’ve strategized the strengths of your business, and understand what you have to offer which would be important to customers, you can think about ways to successfully market and promote these and include them in your overall branding campaign.

Step 3: Understand Your Customer

Try to learn everything you can about your current and prospective customers.  Examine their buying habits.  How often do they buy? Do they buy mostly during sales or promotions? Do they buy a variety of different products and services or just a small sampling?  These are questions you have to ask and understand to better market to your customers. Also, study your customer’s lifestyles, needs, mindsets, and attitudes. Knowing and working with these personality traits are also key to marketing success.

Step 4: Be Your Brand

Make sure your company truly conveys and presents how your brand identifies you. For example, if one of the values your brand stands for is customer service, be accessible and available and offer fantastic guarantees and return policies.  Take action to ensure all of your employees from the help desk to the CEO (you!) needs to live your brand.

Where do you feel you currently are with your branding and what do you struggle with? I’d love for you to leave me a comment and get the conversation started. In return I”ll put your last blog post in the limelight! :)

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