Brand
building is an integral aspect of personal and business development.
It not only increases the voice and consumer awareness of a brand,
but it also gives it an identity and worth. The advent of
participatory and interactive platforms has given many businesses the
chance to enhance brand awareness and equity. If you have been
thinking of building a personal or business brand, then it is
important for you to know that brand
building
takes a great deal of time and resources. In the section that
follows, we shall define brand building and also look at different
types of brands and the steps to create a successful brand.
What Is Brand
Building?
There
is no one definition that actually captures the essence of brand
building
in its entirety. Many people think that brand building is all about
communicating
and exposing your brand. That is just one side of it. The best way we
can define it is that it is a
process of creating value to consumers.
It encompasses all things that consumers know, feel, and experience
about your business in its entirety.
Having
defined brand building, we shall now look at 3 popular types of
brands and what they stand for.
- Service brand- this brand is built on knowledge, culture, and experience that one has with the service delivering agency/company/people. Think of Geek Squad or Molly Maid.
- Retail brand- this brand is built on a mixture of products and service experience. Think of Chick-fil-a, Kroger, or KFC
- Product brand- is built on the experience that one has with a specific product. Think of Nike, Ford, or Sony.
Having
looked at the 3 popular types of brands, we shall now proceed to look
at steps involved in brand building.
1.)
Define Your Brand
The
first stage in brand building is defining your brand. This is a very
critical step as it ultimately determines what your brand truly
stands for. When defining your business brand, you should create a
checklist of its core strengths. Similarly, if you’re defining a
personal brand, you should look at the skills and expertise that you
possess especially those which stand out. On the same token, you also
need to know what your brand stands for and what is important for
your brand (brand values). Your values should in one way or another
show that you are contributing to environmental, social, and economic
well-being of consumers. You may not realize some of these important
aspects of brand building immediately, until you look at them
objectively.
2.)
Differentiate and Position Your Brand
Before
embarking on brand building, you have to take time to differentiate
it so that you can attract
attention
and stand out from competitors. To differentiate your brand, you
have to create a unique advantage in the mind of consumers not merely
getting attention by brand building colors or logos or other
superficial elements. Once you come up with a unique value
proposition, you should use a good branding strategy to position your
brand in a way that will help consumers see and appreciate the
greater value of your brand over competing ones in the market.
3)
Build and Expose your Brand
As
I indicated earlier, brand building is not a one off thing. Building
a unique and powerful personal or business brand takes time and
consistency. To build your personal brand, you have to keep
reinforcing your values and skills by taking up new roles and
assignments that will give you more exposure. Alternatively, you can
use promotional channels, blogs, forums, and social
media
(LinkedIn, Twitter
and Facebook) to create a voice for your personal or business brand.
When
building your brand, you should also endeavor to develop brand
personality (what people know, think, and say about you). This is
what drives or motivates people to identify with and engage with your
brand. The truth is; if you execute your brand
building
strategies consistently, then you will easily establish a pattern
that will forever be associated with your brand name.
4.)
Personalize your Brand
If
you want your brand
building campaign
or brand
to
be successful, then you have to personalize it. It is important to
give your brand an identity. Let consumers see and experience the
personality of your brand in its entirety. Look at your brand as
something that a consumer wants to identify with pretty much as they
would with their favorite cars, cellphones, or computers.
As
you engage in brand building, you should also invite customers to be
co-creators of brand values so that they can feel that they also own
it and relate with it. Top brands encourage consumer-brand
interaction by personalizing products to meet the needs and
preferences of consumers. When you personalize your brand, you give
consumers reason to participate and engage with your brand for a
lifetime.
5.)
Review Your Brand
Your
brand is not static; it will go through a range of motions in its
lifetime. Depending on your brand strategies, your brand will either
grow in strength, or remain dormant, or recede with time. In the
brand cycle, new events, changes, and circumstances bring challenges
and opportunities to enhance the value of your brand or re-establish
it. All these possibilities should give you the impetus to take
charge of your brand building activities.
As
your brand name grows, so do the responsibilities and expectations to
continue with brand building. The best way of ensuring brand growth
is reviewing your activities and evaluating your successes through
metrics such as levels of brand awareness and levels of engagements.
Regular reviews will help you seize and exploit new opportunities
while upholding your commitment to remain true to your vision and
brand strategy. It will also help you steer your brand in the right
direction and keep it relevant as you move into the future.
As
you can see, brand
building
is not a one off thing. You have to define your brand, differentiate,
present it, and review what your brand stands for from time to time.
It is very important to be clear about your branding strategies and
how you’re going to implement them. You should also adopt brand
strategies that will add value to your consumers and help them
develop the right impression of your company and what it truly stands
for.
