How To Create and Strengthen Your Brand

Branding is the most valuable part of establishing and promoting a business from its infancy. From Apple, Amazon, Ford, and Telstra to ANZ, Samsung, and Woolworths, the list of businesses that thrive on their brand value is endless. No entity can survive without creating a well-recognised name that is positioned on top of the mind of its target audience. Many people think that setting up a brand merely involves designing a logo and a tagline. However, it goes way beyond creative brainstorming. A brand is the soul of the business that provides it with an identity and makes it distinguished.

Thus, aspiring entrepreneurs who plan to purchase a business for sale in Australia must work on developing a brand that is well-respected, trusted, and inspiring. Here is how you can achieve the feat of creating and strengthening your brand to develop its equity.

Identify Your Target Audience

The first step towards creating a brand is to find out the target market so that you can build a brand that meets their needs. The branding strategy will be focused on the customer, and thus, it is vital to create the profile of an ideal consumer or a buyer persona. You must have demographic and psychographic data of your customers to prepare messages that attract their attention through brand promotions.

You must be aware of the preferences of your customers, including the type of content they consume, the websites they browse, and their expectations from the product that you are selling. It will help you to prepare the branding material in the right tone and for the right channels.

Understand Your Brand’s Purpose

A successful brand is not built in a day. The entrepreneur, the marketing team and the advertising agency need to sit down and understand the purpose of creating the brand. The most critical questions should be answered by the purpose of the brand, such as - What is it? How does it help the consumers? How is it different from other brands?

Answering these questions will help the team to define the brand and develop its logo, tagline, colour scheme, messaging tone, and story. All of this must be aligned with the vision and mission of the business so that the consumers can identify with the brand. They should be able to associate a value with the name and feel connected to it. For example, the purpose of Amazon is that it is Earth’s most customer-centric company. The brand portrays itself as a company dedicated to servicing its customers. Similarly, Google’s brand purpose is ‘to organise the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful. Thus, they stand apart from others.

Create Unique Value Proposition

The most significant role of a brand is to create a unique identity for the business that is clearly differentiated from the competitors. To make the brand stand out, the marketer needs to develop a unique value proposition. For this purpose, you must research the marketing strategy of your competitors to make sure that you understand their strengths and weaknesses and find the gaps in their offerings that can be filled by your product.

Your brand-building tactics must make the consumers attach intangible qualities with the business that make it superior to others. For example, you can position your brand as a ‘safer product for the environment. It will automatically make the buyers associate the business with green solutions and eco-friendliness. A real-life example is Apple and their USP is that they provide ‘a lifestyle with its products’. Similarly, Telstra’s USP is that it is the largest and fastest mobile network in Australia.

Build A Standardised Brand Voice

Brands thrive on consistency, and it makes them stay etched in the memories of the consumers in the cluttered marketplace. For example, if you plan to keep your tone informal, personal, and friendly, you must stick to it. Do not start sending professional emailers when you are preparing direct messages in a casual tone. It can confuse the customers and they may not be able to associate the same qualities with the brand as it keeps deviating.

Thus, to make an impact on the target audience, it is necessary to follow the standard brand guide that must be prepared at the onset of the business. It must lay down the use of language, images, colours, tone, font, logo, and every other detail that helps customers to connect with the business. McDonald’s is identified by its yellow and red colour scheme as well as the use of the clown (Ronald), which is consistently used across the globe at all its outlets.

Develop A Brand Story

The brand story covers the entire journey of the brand, starting from its inception to its growth and biggest milestones. It includes the values, emotions, and feelings that are evoked by the brand in the hearts of the target audience. It must inform the consumers about how the business is moving towards its mission and what are the things it values. It helps in building a strong position in the community where you are operating as the people in the nearby area feel connected with the business.

If the business is working towards the betterment of the community, it should be made a part of the narrative to gain the acceptance of the people. For example, if the marketer is sponsoring the local football team, the community will appreciate it, and making it part of the brand story will help them remember the impact.

Include Branding in Every Communication

It is essential to contact the customer through various touchpoints – social media platforms, website, emailers, SMS, print ads, outdoor media, radio spots and TV commercials. Whatever advertising budget and channel of communication you choose to spread your message, you should not forget to use branding. Whether it is the stationery or merchandise, the brand logo, tagline, and colours should be omnipresent.

Brand building should never cease even if the business has established itself as a leading entity in the market. These days online presence is of utmost importance and the marketer must ensure that the company website and social media profiles are in line with the branding guide.

Conclusion

Branding is a prerequisite for every venture, and it forms the foundation that allows the entity to grow and prosper in a highly competitive environment. Thus, if you are planning to purchase a business for sale in Australia, you must invest a significant amount of time and effort in creating and building a strong brand.