5 Branding Considerations When Starting A Business
One of the key factors to consider when setting up and starting your company is your brand. This is because branding in the early stages of your company formation is crucial to portraying your business in the right way. In this article we look at five points that are worth considering when it comes to branding your start-up.
1. Competition Analysis
Not only in terms of branding, but for many reasons, you should keep an eye on your market and competing companies. Try not to just see competitors as threats, as they can actually be a source of information for your brand and help you to see how you are doing, what you could be doing better and what makes your brand unique. There is no point in creating a brand that’s not distinct in some way – so make sure you do your research, focus on industry trends and differentiate your business from all the others.
2. Who Is Your Target Market?
Your branding will suffer if you are not clear on who your target audience is and what that market desires. The last thing you want to do is to neglect researching, understanding and focusing on who you are trying to sell your products or services to. That’s why it’s so important to figure out who your ideal customer is and create personas shaped around this – that way they will be at the heart of your business decisions and you can create a branding strategy that best connects you with your customers.
Three key questions to think about:
- Who are they?
- What are they looking for in the companies they do business with?
- What matters to them?
3. Define Your Brand Identity: What Is Your USP?
You will need to figure out who you are as a brand, to define your brand identity – but how do you do this?
If you’re starting a business you hopefully have something that makes your company unique and better than, or different to, others in your sector. As a result, you might want to define your unique selling point and build your brand around that. This is a great way to find a unique point of view. This won’t be easy and will likely take you a lot of time and effort initially, but will definitely be worth it. Consider these questions:
- What are the company’s core missions and values?
- What makes this company unique?
- Do we have a clear business proposition?
Having clarity on exactly what your business is and therefore positioning yourself as a unique force is the most important part of defining a brand that stands out to consumers.
4. Is Your Logo Important?
Logos can be great signifiers for a brand as they become recognisable and can signify something to a consumer, without the need for written words.
But almost every company has a logo that improves and evolves over time, so in the beginning, although it may be tempting, you don’t need to obsess over having the perfect one. Weigh up how much time, money and effort you are putting into logo creation and if it seems too much, then it probably is. A better focus initially may be your mission statement, slogan and elevator pitch.
Read more about how to create a logo that effectively represents your brand in our recent article.
5. Be A Customer-Centric Company
Ensure that your customers are the priority and that you base your brand around them through targeting your mission and, further down the marketing funnel, consider how you interact and provide customer service to them.
Your brand should resonate in people’s mind with a sense of a caring reputation. Customers love, want and need to be listened to, and often will forgive the occasional mistake or error as long as it is dealt with promptly and correctly.
Ultimately, the better you can make your customer experience, the more you’ll be renowned as a company that cares about its customers.
Looking To Form A Company?
Creating a brand is much more than just a name or logo; it is an ever-present part of your business identity, which can make or break a business. A strong brand that is transferrable across all of the channels you use and that is recognisable for the right reasons is one of the most important things to crack when forming a business.
In this article we shared five key branding factors to consider, but why not take a look at these articles for further business formation information and advice:
During this difficult time of uncertainty, please rest assured that Paramount Formations is still operating as normal. We are here to support your business formation needs in any way we can.
If you’re ready to run a company and would like help with setting up, take a look at our company formation packages or call 0800 0198 698 to speak to our professional team.
