Your brand is the foundation of your business. It forms the building blocks that ensure your business is stable and heading for success!
As a new business, your priority is most likely to drive sales, increase profit and generate new leads. However, whilst this is important in order to become a successful business, it is just as crucial to invest in building a brand, especially online, to increase your opportunities and reach out to new business. Building a brand online does take time, and it’s likely you won’t see results overnight, but if you get it right, the rewards will be worth it. Here are 6 easy steps to building a brand online:
If you want to stand out online and become recognisable, it is important to create a unique brand name that not only grabs your audiences’ attention, but also shouts what your brand is about. Your brand name should be either clear about the service you provide, or intriguing enough to make people want to find out more.
Along with creating a unique brand name comes designing a recognisable logo. Again, your logo needs to take into consideration the identity of your brand, including colour schemes, styles, composition and personality. Your logo is what your customers first encounter when viewing your brand, so a strong design helps them to understand what your business is about. Colour and an inspiring logo design can increase brand recognition by up to 80%, so make sure your visual branding stands out.
As our digitised attention spans get ever shorter, your logo must spark the interest of your customers almost immediately to convince them to look further.
There’s no point in having a great brand name and logo if they can’t be seen online. Your website is your digital real estate, and is a vital positioning tool on which customers can find out more or make a purchase. However, when it comes to building and designing your website, it must be clear and easy to navigate. A poorly designed website that is cluttered and difficult to explore will push potential clients away.
Another great step to building a brand online is to share your content across different social platforms. This increases your visibility; your organic reach, and gets your brand name noticed. Sharing your website and the products and services you offer will lead potential customers to your website, therefore increasing your chance of new sales. However, it’s important not to spam your following with self-promotion at all time, especially as 45% of consumers unfollow brands who don’t provide valuable, engaging content, and only self promote their own brand.
With so many brands competing for attention, customers can feel like they are being bombarded with information all at once. To make sure that your brand is not being overlooked, building an email list is a great way to let your customers know when you have something new to offer. Email marketing does have a high conversion rate and generates traffic, so it is important to focus on building an email list as early on as possible. However, with new GDPR regulations in force, it is vital that your email list isn’t bought but instead developed, and consent to marketing is obtained, through legitimate means.
Finally, if you really want to start building lasting relationships with your customers from the get go, then genuine engagement and interaction is your answer. Although it can be time consuming, social media has made it easier than ever to connect with customers, and is the perfect opportunity to give your brand a true voice. It’s also important to stay active online to make sure your brand is remaining visible, and to continue sharing content and improving your brand awareness.
Whilst building a brand online seems like a lot of work, it really does have the ability to take your business to the next level. It’s one of the most important things you can do in order to get new business. It’s very easy to focus all of your attention on the products and services you are offering, but as the consumer industry is changing, it’s now vital to ensure you’re putting energy and effort into your branding.
For more information on how to build your brand, why not call our team on 01462 262020 for a no obligation chat, or email us at hello@focus7int.com