Brand Basics for Beginners: Development, Strategy and Personality

Finding your voice, knowing your strengths, and outlining your goals are all crucial to brand development and knowing who you are as a business.

We live in a world of judgement: it’s human nature. We size up every business we come across and decide whether or not we like it - all within a matter of seconds. In this environment, it’s imperative to define your brand values and know who you are as a business. If you aren’t certain, then how will customers know who you are?

Establishing the brand personality of your business is quite easy …

Institute a mission and vision. Many new businesses skip the basics. Owners assume that their businesses will take on their own personalities – by osmosis - so they skip the creation of any official guidelines that define their business’ identities.

A business doesn’t take on its owner’s personality unless it works hard to do it. Employees and customers don’t know what you want for your business unless you spell it out; they are strangers. A mission statement lays out the objectives of your business and a vision statement outlines its purpose and values. By having these in writing, customers can decide if your goals meet their needs. Employees can also use these statements as rules to live by in the workplace. Your mission and vision set the tone for your business, so decide upon them early and consistently abide by them.

Identify your key differentiators. Knowing your business is partly comprised of knowing what makes you different. Your mission and vision statements might touch upon these differentiators, but sometimes you need to do a little homework on your competition to figure out key ways that your business stands out.

Do you promote customer service in an industry that lacks it? Do you have an exceptional product guarantee? Are your employees better-trained and therefore produce better results?
Each business should be able to sum up its key traits in approximately thirty seconds. You don’t need to list thirty things that make you different. Find the top two-to-four attributes that you are most proud of, and then run your business in a way that showcases and “owns” those features.

Live your brand. You have to be consistent, customer-focused, and know your key differentiators to live your brand. Your office environment should flow with your logo, and your logo should make sense with your promotional campaigns. Your business needs to live and breathe its personality if you want your customers to understand you. There’s nothing worse than when a business constantly shifts its focus; it confuses customers and pushes them away. The more you exist within your brand, the easier it will be for your customers to recognize you and set you apart from others.

Finding your voice, knowing your strengths, and outlining your goals are all crucial to knowing who you are as a business. If you can’t do these things, your customers will have no idea what you represent and what drives you. A little planning and branding goes a long way when it comes to defining yourself.