investors that they can expect a respectable return on their investment.
When you’re starting a new business, you’ll be recruiting private investors, who want to see the following:
Clearly defined products or services that have a reasonable expectation of selling well and generating a profit
A strong management team with a track record of success or at least the knowledge and expertise to start and run a successful business
A solid business plan, showing how the business will pursue success
A clear and compelling brand story
A culture of innovation to drive future growth
Expanding into new markets
If you already have a brand and are planning to expand into new markets — in different regions of the country or in different countries — consider how your current brand will play in those locations and whether any adjustments need to be made. Certain colors might elicit different emotions depending on the culture, for example. You may need to hire a marketing firm in the location you’re expanding into to provide guidance on design elements and content.
Stepping Through the Branding Process
Although the approach to building and launching a brand differs depending on the brand type and purpose, the overall approach is pretty much the same and can be boiled down to ten steps. In this section, I lead you through the process. Subsequent chapters cover specific steps in greater detail.
Step 1: Creating something to brand
Before you can build a brand, you need to have something to brand or at least a concept for it: a business or other type of organization, a product or service, or yourself. This step involves the following activities (see Chapter 2 for details):
Deciding what to brand
Identifying a market niche
Formalizing your brand as a business (such as forming a limited liability company or corporation)
Coming up with the money to build your brand
Step 2: Positioning and defining your brand
This step involves clarifying in your own mind what your brand is, what it does, why it’s different, and why it’s better. It’s all about defining your brand identity in a way that differentiates your brand from competing brands or other products or services that may attract the attention of your target market. See Chapter 3 for details.
Step 3: Establishing your branding goals
In this step, you set goals for your brand, including the following:
Increasing brand awareness
Creating an emotional connection with customers and prospects
Differentiating your business, product, service, or self from the competition
Building credibility and trust
Increasing sales and profitability
This step also involves building a plan to meet your branding goals and deciding on ways to measure your progress toward achieving those goals. See Chapter 4 for details.
Step 4: Defining your brand’s customer avatar
A customer avatar is a fictional character that represents your target customers. Its purpose is to give you a sense of your audience that inspires you to create design elements and content that are likely to persuade customers to support and even promote your brand.
This step involves research and analysis to get to know the people who make up your target market, describing your avatar in your own words, and refining it to keep up with the times and any changes in your target market.
Step 5: Creating a brand style guide
One key factor in branding success is consistency. Every time someone encounters your brand, you have the opportunity to reinforce your brand identity in their mind. Think of your brand as being a catchy song that gets stuck in the listener’s head. A brand style guide is a rulebook that ensures consistency by governing everything that contributes to the look and feel of your brand, including the following:
Corporate guidelines, including mission statement, values, and targeted demographics
Colors
Typography (typeface, sizes, and spacing)
Logos
Imagery (photos, illustrations, and infographics)
Tone of voice (fun, professional, caring, and so on)
See Chapter 6 for guidance on creating a brand style guide.
Step 6: Building a branded website, app, and email account
Because so many people spend so much of their time on the Internet these days, creating a strong online presence has become an important part of branding. To begin to build an online presence, do the following things:
Claim a unique domain that reflects your brand, such as GirlGangtheLabel.com.
Build a website, blog, online store, or a hybrid of those three things in that domain. This site acts as your main hub. Then you can drive traffic to your main hub from other Internet sites, such as social media platforms and discussion forums.
