For every type ofbusiness be it large or small, retail or wholesale, branding is the mostimportant part. With the help of correct branding you can have an edge overyour competitors but what do you mean bybrand strategy? What role does it play for start-ups and small businesses?
A brand tells yourcustomers what they can expect from your services or products and how you aredifferent from the others in the market. A brand is an emotion; it will reflectyour beliefs.
Founder and CEO ofAmazon Jeff Bezos quoted that "Your brandis what people say about you when you leave the room"
If you canunderstand branding, it is not hard for you to apply the following steps. Beloware the steps that can be applied by every start-up or small businesses forbranding.
With theadvancement of the internet, having a website is very important because yourclients and investors will search for you. Not having a well-developed site cancause you a loss as your competition might have a better website.
In this era ofinternet, not having a web presence can give a bad impression. There are toolsin the market which you can use to build a good website for your businesswithout any programming and designing.
One thing thatseparates a successful business from the rest of the others is their definitionof brand. Having a clear and defined purpose is what makes the identity of yourbrand. Purpose of your start-up is what youbelieve to achieve from your product or services.
A purpose is apromise of a business to its customers to change their lives, influence andhelp the world to become better. This will create a loyal customer base foryour product and services. A well-defined purpose will help investors andcustomer to know what to expect from your business.
A logo is alwaysan important part of branding and it should be designed by keeping yourbusiness in mind. A logo will visually speak to your customers about yourbusiness. For example- the logo of Amazon shows an arrow which goes from A toZ, this indicates that a customer will get everything from A to Z on Amazon.
Most start-upsignore this aspect while creating a logo which can be a huge mistake. The useof fonts and colours creates a vibe of your brand which is important to attractcustomers.
A brand strategyis built to give your business a voice. In the last couple of decades, theimportance of branding has increased. Before the companies had to speak throughtheir commercials but now both brands, as well as customers, has endless waysto connect. With the arrival of socialmedia, the way the brand speaks to the customers has changed drastically.
Do notunderestimate the power of social media. To have a social media presence ondifferent platforms is very crucial in modern times. Most of the brands usesocial media as their prime tool for outreach.
Social media isinevitable now, as every person is available on social media platforms. You canuse it to connect with your targeted customer and get direct feedback whichwill help your start-up to evolve. Social media is perfect to build a brand forstart-ups.
Use Facebook andInstagram to connect with potential customers and LinkedIn to speak with otherbusinesses.
Conclusion
Branding is a wayto speak to your audience about your services and a product, to build a brandstrategy is to have that extra edge over your competitors.
