Branding is crucial to the success of any young startup. Having a strong brand allows consumers to be more easily attracted to your site and products, promoting customer loyalty. Building a strong brand that has very loyal customers also has many other benefits, like consumer generated content, positive reviews, etc. that all help promote your brand without you, the founder, having to do any actual work.
Strategy
Keep things simple and your message on point. There are so many crazy branding strategies out there, but often times all they do is confuse potential customers and scare them away. Clearly communicate what your brand is about, what it does, and reflect core company values.
Audience
You need to have a stronger following other than your social media accounts. The easiest way to do this is incorporating a blog into your website that you then promote on social media. This way, you drive consumers to your main site, where your product is located, and establish authority in your niche market. Plus, it helps out with any SEO efforts by building this into your site, which can drive even more traffic to your site just from a general search query.
Content
An audience needs something to consume. Above, I mentioned a blog is an easy way. However, podcasting and youtube videos are huge now. These are great ways to generate great content that consumers will love. Plus, listening to a podcast or youtube video is a passive activity, so as long as you can create it on a topic that will interest listeners, it’s a slam dunk.
Marketing
Marketing and branding go hand in hand. Without a solid marketing strategy, consumers won’t be able to find out about your products or services. Marketing should align with your branding strategy and promote company values and product benefits. Convey to the customers why your brand is unique and eliminate any pain points they may have along their buying journey.
Branding is such an important component of nearly all business structures. However, so many companies fail to properly brand themselves. This article gives some awesome advice on how to go about branding. Having a strong blog is definitely a solid way to brand your business. Podcasting and videos are also a great way to engage your target audience.
I agree, branding is vital to a companies success. It’s the face of the company, and the first thing that comes into the consumers mind when they think of your product/service. Awesome post!
I have taken Music Marketing with Professor Lewis, and in that class, we dealt a lot with proper branding and positioning for artists. While the industry is different, the mechanics that you mentioned are all the same. Proper branding is one of the most crucial aspects to any business.
Very great points made, though I think that it is important to remember that even once you think you have built a brand… you still have significant work to do in order to maintain that name and continue to grow it with the market. Startups or businesses that fail to build the strategy you mentioned will struggle to remain competitive.