Nine Tips To Develop Your Brand

While these nine tips were published in our Manufacturing Marketer last week, they're important enough to repeat again for those that missed them.

 

A brand is the power of you on paper or on screen.  It is the extension of yourself that your marketing materials attempt to project. Brands work the same whether large of small. The brands that succeed are the ones that are unique, but they're also the ones that are authentic.  A brand must come from the heart. It must define who you are. A brand is a direct representation of you as well as your promise about what you will deliver to your customers. With this in mind, let's examine a few key insights into how to develop a brand.

 

1.  Determine your vision and your purpose. Ask yourself one question: "What is my business really about?"  The goal of a successful brand is almost always to make something happen first and foremost. So what is it that you want to make happen?  Answer this question honestly and thoroughly, then write down in the fewest number of words possible.

 

2.  Determine your target market. Ask yourself who is the most profitable segment of market that is likely to purchase your product. Once you've answered this question...you may then craft your strategy to attracting these prospects. You must be clear on who you are targeting and how to attract them.

 

3.  Determine who your competion is.  If you're stuck on what your brand should be, the best way is to study what the competion is doing. It could be that there's something specific about their brand that might help you to shape your brand. Maybe you perceive a shortfall on the part of the competition's brand -- one that will fit nicely into your brand message. Maybe from a survey into your target market, you determine a flaw in something the competition is doing. That's something that you may use to your competitive advantage.

 

4. Remember the three C's for branding. The three C's for branding are Clarity, Consistency and Constancy.  With regard to clarity, you want your brand image, purpose and message to be unassailably clear. When prospects see, think about, or learn about your brand, you want them to know immediately and exactly what you stand for. Consistency is a matter of keeping your message uniform.  You can't present your brand in print differently than you do in person.  Constancy is a matter of getting the message out there to the point where it is most ever-present.

 

Tune into my next blog for five more compelling tips.

 

By R. Kay Green, IKG Marketing Solutions