Branding

What is clear is that a new identity is not about a logo but rather a smart system–a visual language–that enables us, the users, to connect the dots across the online experience. Though the logo is the visual representation of the brand, and is the foundation of the brand, there is so much more involved in creating a well-known, reputable, brand.

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Determine your brand’s target audience.

The foundation for building your brand is to determine the target audience that you’ll be focusing on.

You can’t be everything to everyone, right?

When brand building, keep in mind who exactly you are trying to reach. You’ll tailor your mission and message to meet their exact needs.

The key is to get specific. Figure out detailed behaviors and lifestyle of your consumers.

Why Target Market Is Important in Branding Regardless of your brand mission, identifying and gaining the devotion of your target audience is the necessary means of reaching your brand objectives. You will find that knowing your target market inside and out you’ll have the information that you need to achieve your brand marketing goals. You can do this by conducting a market analysis. Depending on how much detail you put in the market analysis you have the capabilities of gathering enough data to learn what you need to know to reach your target effectively. Knowing your target audience, you help you in solidify your message and increase your confidence in the steps to take to connect with that audience. If you get one thing, get this – the power of your brand relies on your ability to focus and craft a marketing message that will convert prospects into customers. That is why defining your target market will help to strengthen your brand’s overall effectiveness.

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01 Why Branding Is Important

Customers identify with specific brands for a variety of reasons. Good products or services at a good price are common reasons, but what drives customers goes beyond that. For example, environmentally conscious consumers might be willing to spend a little bit more to buy from green companies that commit financially and otherwise to reducing carbon footprints.

Don’t lose sight of your primary focus. If you manufacture widgets, your company needs to be about manufacturing widgets, but you also can be about more than just that. Determine what that is, then communicate to customers why it is important to you. If it is important to them too, you might gain their business.

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02 How To Define Your Brand

By defining what your brand is you create the foundation upon which all other components are built. Your brand definition serves as your measuring stick in evaluating marketing materials and strategies—from what your office looks like to what your ad says to the color and font of your business cards to the design of your website.

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03 Determining Your Brand’s Objectives

Critical to effective brand management is the clear definition of the brand’s audience and the objectives that the brand needs to achieve. Ask yourself two key questions to help determine your brand objectives:

• What is it that you want your brand to do for your company?
• What do you want others to know and say about your products or services?

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04 Focusing on Your Target Audience

The power of your brand relies on the ability to focus. That is why defining your target market will help to strengthen your brand’s effectiveness.

The key is knowing who your target market is. Zero in on your target audience by asking yourself:

• How old are they?
• What is their income range?
• What are their occupations?
• What other interests do they have?

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05 Discovering and Crushing Your Brand Barriers

When creating your brand strategy for a product or service it is important to perform a careful analysis to spot potential barriers. These barriers also are known as market conditions, and they can keep your product or service from being successful.

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06 Brand Packaging and Identity

Branding is as identifiable to your customers as your face is to friends and family. It’s how people see you in the marketplace. Is yours saying what it should? Your company image is all about the appearance of your packaging. What is your company image saying (i.e., conveying) to the marketplace? If your packaging doesn’t uniquely represent your business, change your packaging.

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Branding = Purpose

Branding often is seen as confusing or not important to top-level executives because it’s difficult for them to see tangible benefits. Operating without a brand strategy is a recipe for accepting anything. Even for a small business, this can be dangerous. Without a brand, a business lacks an identified purpose. And without a purpose, a business can’t stand out from the competition.