Brand Building looks like an interesting job. When we think of it, lot of colors, graphics, visuals come to your mind. In fact, I have seen lot of graphic designers trying to become brand experts which is a very welcome idea. And also lot of start-ups tend to take up initial brand exercise on their own pertaining to budget deficits and in some cases lower confidence level.

Remember, you need to understand the purpose of a brand prima-facie, the reason for its birth and principal function. You must know – How the brand is defined before you take up Brand Building.

Whoever takes up – brand building must know the following points and shall work on each of them to reach to a desired output.

Identity

Yes, your Brand identity should be the USP for which your brand is known for. Identity should be something which replicates the offering. You must know in a word or 2 or maximum 3- what your brand stands for. How it shall be inferred as – among your target segment.

How many times have you heard this – Let us go and have burger! I am sure mostly you have heard – Let’s go to Mc Donald.

 

Similarly, we all have become used to of listening, Can you please get a Xerox of it. Not many say, Please get a photocopy.

Now this is the kind of impact – an identity shall have. Your identity must replicate the offering, the USP.

What goes into your Brand?

At 30TH FEB, we usually do a Brand Identity Prism to reach a Brand Identity. But when you are building a brand, you must have an idea about the following features,

Positioning – How you want to position what you are building. Will you like to position it based on the USP or the target segment. Do you have a competitive feature like value added services or pricing or quality or revelry to position loudly?

Image – What should be the look & impression of your brand. Young, Experienced, Colorful, Vivacious are some of the brand images we created. And how is reached to it – is what went into designing it.

Market – You need to analyze the market & the market situation. What may have worked last year may turn obsolete now, the competition, the new entrants all exist in the market and you need to know them all.

Customer- It is important to know your customer, their profiles, their preferences and the contact. You must know the right touch-points.

Naming your Brand:

What’s in the name? Naming a brand is one big task. Many a time my clients tend to look for their aspirations in a brand, the dream they have brought forward to this stage. One should rather emphasize on brand benefits, target customer and the ease of recall.

While choosing a name, one should keep the following points in consideration –

1. Keep it simple & easy to pronounce.
2. Easy to communicate – in marketing campaigns & packaging.
3. Should not carry double meanings.
4. A name which complements the core values of your company is a welcome idea.

Just think, what makes Google and Yahoo so special.  What makes you remember ‘Mom & Me’ store when you want to buy for the infant. What makes ‘Nano’ a cute car? These are the names which add meaning to the brand and the offer a marketer makes to the customer.

Positioning your Brand:

Positioning is everything. A positioning strategy typically helps you identify the target segments as per their expectations from you. How you position, defines how you are understood by the consumer.

I would recommend 5 points for positioning your brand –

1. Truth & Relevance – It is very important that the customer finds both in your brand communication.
2. Watch out the promise – Make sure that the promise you are making is well guarded and the benefits are delivered.
3. Do Not Loose the Focus – A brand with many messages often ends up losing focus. You must avoid that. Keep your message straight & stay focused.
4. Sell Genuinely – Your brand communication shall sell genuinely. You must think as a consumer and ask yourself – will I subscribe for it?
5. Think Sustainable Ideas – In this Internet generation, the consumer is informed & conscious so we must try to think of sustainable ideas and use them in positioning and brand communication.

So, here we covered some Essential brand Building tips. We shortly share some more tips on Positioning Prompt and Some Common Branding Mistakes.