7 Steps to Branding your Organization
If you’re in the startup community, you’ve probably heard about branding and marketing.
It’s a buzzword that gets thrown around, but not many really understand what it means. Here are seven steps to branding your own organization:
- Select and Research.
Before you begin to write your brand story, you need to know who your audience is, what they want from you, and how they expect to interact with you. Your target market should always be the most important consideration when creating a brand.
- Craft Your Mission, Vision and Values Statements.
Your mission statement defines why your organization exists in the first place; it’s the reason why people should care about your business or brand. Your vision statement outlines what kind of company you are trying to build and how it will be different from other companies in the same industry; it’s why people should buy into your product or service in order to achieve their goals. Your values statement describes what kind of company (or person) you want to be; it’s what makes customers loyal enough to spend money on products or services from this company over others in their industry. These three statements serve as the foundation upon which everything else rests: all customer interactions, marketing campaigns, social media posts and more must fall within these clearly defined parameters if they are going to have any impact on the business at all!
- Assess Your Current Brand Positioning.
Your brand positioning is the one thing that you, your management team and your customers all agree on. It’s the reason why people buy from you (or not). If there isn’t a strong brand positioning, then you need to develop one that is clear, concise and easy to understand. Think about who you are as a company and what makes you unique as an organization – this will be the basis of your brand positioning statement.
- Develop Your Brand Strategy
Your brand strategy is the overall direction of how you plan to grow your business in the coming years, based on the needs of your customers and marketplace. It should include how you want people to perceive your brand while also explaining why they should want to do business with you or have some kind of relationship with you in the first place (this includes why they would choose competitors over your organization).
- Create a Customer Profile
A customer profile is simply an outline of all of the different types of customers who will be using or buying from your organization in various situations during their day-to-day lives (such as at home or while they’re out on the job). It should include details such as age group, income level, household size, etc
- Define Your Unique Selling Proposition (USP)
Your USP is the one thing that sets you apart from your competitors, and it should be a short, punchy statement that explains why customers should choose your company over others. A good example of an effective USP for a small business would be: “We are the best car repair shop in the area!” This simple statement appeals to many different people — mechanics and auto enthusiasts, for example — and it also makes it clear that the business is focused on providing excellent service at a reasonable price.
- Determine the Core Elements of Your Brand Strategy
Once you have identified your unique selling proposition, now it’s time to figure out how you’re going to differentiate yourself from your competitors in terms of brand positioning, messaging, design and tone of voice. For example, if your target audience is women between the ages of 25-40 living in New York City who like to travel but aren’t looking specifically for a skincare brand, then creating a campaign around “the best skincare line for women traveling alone”. It helps reaching targeted audiance.
While branding may seem overwhelming, breaking it down into these essential steps is helpful!
Now you know what goes into branding. You know how to do this yourself, or you will know where to start looking for someone more experienced to help you. The best advice is to start right away. Get in contact with The Triump and create a look and feel that represents your business. Do not wait till the last moment to get this going, it will take time and planning.