6 Steps to Building your brand

Building a corporate brand is like building a reputation. Your company must prove itself over and over again to gain the trust of the market. You are developing loyalty among your customers and while this may seem daunting a process, if you take the steps you took to build your reputation in your circle that may make it a bit easier to undertake.

Know your Brand – Be clear on your what your brand stands for. This helps you communicate the brand message clearly and precisely. For example to say that your brand is innovative is not only cliché, it is too broad to clearly state what customers would be getting from using your brand.

Know your competition – Keep an eye on your competitors and what they are doing. This is not to copy them but to know where your company fits into the market. Studying the competition shows where there are gaps in the market that can be serviced by your company. It also helps to know what the competition may be doing wrong so that you can avoid those pitfalls.

Separate yourself – Once you know what the competition stands for and what they are doing and the space that is available then you can clearly determine and communicate how your brand is better, different and value that you are bringing to the market that your competitors are not. Again don’t be cliché or vague saying things like “we give great service” or “are the most qualified”. Be clear and specific about how your brand differs from the others in your sector.

Draw attention – Find ways to package your product and company that will attract the attention of your target. Plaster your brand’s look everywhere you can: on your car, on Facebook, Twitter, blog, even ask your friends to plaster their cars with your brand, the more the merrier. Keep your brand and a consistent image in your target’s vision at all times.

Stay committed – Building a brand is a lot of work and it’s easy to give up when you may not be seeing any results. That’s why it is important to embrace the fact that it is a lot of work to build a brand and remain dedicated to doing whatever it takes for as long as it takes to get that brand established.

Monitor your progress – It would be a shame to spend time, money and effort on building your brand in channels that are not working the best way to avoid this is to continually monitor the progress of each avenue you use to build your brand. Once you have your results don’t be afraid to change from what is not working to a course of action that is working. If you have to scrap everything and start fresh then work with a clean slate.