The views of this article are the perspective of the author and may not be reflective of Confessions of the Professions.
It’s important to build a strong foundation to ensure success. In business, your foundation is your brand. It’s your business mission, what makes you stand out from the competition, and attract customers. If you are an entrepreneur who’s just starting up, it’s important to take a step back to ensure that you have a solid brand in place before you move forward. Here are five important things to consider when you are building your brand online and off.
What’s your name?
Choosing a business name can be a challenging process. Rather than screening long lists of names with friends and family, it’s a good idea to obey one rule of thumb: keep it simple, yet memorable. The best business names are short, with simple spellings, and meaningful nuances for both owner and customer. Apply the 3 second rule: if your customers are unable to guess what you do (or at least land in the ballpark of the services you’re trying to offer), consider other names.
When you are developing your business mission, there are a couple things that you should consider. The first is why you came up with the idea for your business in the first place. What do you love? Your mission statement should reflect your passion for your subject area. It should also spell out how you can solve your customers problems. What is their pain point and how can you provide a solution? If your mission statement effectively conveys your commitment to helping others in specific ways, they’ll be attracted to your products and services.
What’s your voice?
Your voice should do two things. It should reflect who you are; you want your voice to be authentic and recognizable to someone that knows you outside the context of your business. It should also speak to your target customer demographic. Chances are your voice would be different if your target customers were C-Level Executives versus college students. So decide whether your business voice will be casual, formal, quirky, feminine, authoritative or {insert any appropriate adjectives here}. And stick to it. Use that voice for all of your content and marketing materials. Style guides and brand guides can help you convey that voice to employees, partners, and content providers.
What products do you offer?
In all likelihood, if you’re starting up a business you already know what products and services you’re planning to offer. But can you explain why they are valuable to your customers? What is the benefit of your products? How can your products make your customers lives easier? Explaining why your products create value for your customers is a key component of building an effective brand. The best product descriptions identify customers pain points and solve their problems.
Brand messaging is closely related to brand voice. Basically, voice is the tone you are using to convey information, and messaging is the actual information you’re sharing. Essentially, your messaging tells your brand’s story to your customers. What information do you want to communicate to customers? There are a few best practices for crafting an effective message: avoid using industry jargon; keep it simple; and be direct.
There are a number of things you need to consider when you’re starting up a new business. Most importantly, you want to ensure that you have a strong foundation in place to help start you off on the path to success. By asking yourself these five simple questions, you can begin to build a strong brand and craft a message that will really resonate with your customers.
About the Author: When Lucy Wright isn’t writing about Icon ID sign solutions, she’s consulting small business owners. She has worked in marketing and advertising in Chicago for the last 5 years. Lucy has 2 daughters and loves to teach them about the great big world around them.
