You are an entrepreneur with an amazing and original idea. You did your homework and got everything you need to execute your idea and turn it to a profitable business. You probably know who your target audience is too. So, what’s next? If you’re planning to figure out a catchy name and design a creative logo and call it a brand, then you’re mistaken. First, you need to know what ‘brand’ is.
What is a brand?
A brand is an experience that one lives when seeing, hearing, touching, or even smelling, any part of your business. The brand name and logo is part of the experience, but is that it ?! When you walk into Starbucks, you get a Starbucks experience. The Barista welcoming you, the music, the aroma of the roasted coffee, the design, and the taste are all parts of an experience that they work hard to communicate.
Offer a unique experience
Here is when you think strategically. You will need to research the market, find out the segments that will like what you offer and specifically the ones that are not very happy with your potential competitors. Never copy what you competitors are doing as this will significantly weaken your brand.
Pepsi, for example, was copying Coca-Cola for years. They had a similar strategy, logo and even target audience. They failed to the point that Coca-Cola didn’t even bother about them. Things changed when they decided to deliver a new experience. Coke is classic, so Pepsi decided to be the young and energetic brand.
Pepsi delivered the Pepsi experience throughout their logo, slogan, bottle’s size, pricing, and lively events. This proved to be extremely successful and made Coke go out of their minds.
Your brand needs a soul
The soul of your brand is what will make it alive. It allows it to communicate with its audience, build relationships, and tell a story. In order to give your brand a soul you need to think of it as a real person. But can a brand act as a real person?
A brand can have a personality, Tiffany is sophisticated, Coca-Cola is genuine, Apple is smart, Nike is active, and Toyota is practical. A brand has an age too, Mercedes is in its 60s while Audi is in its 30s. You can also feel that Batelco is more mature in terms of age than Zain, one is on its late 30s while the other is on its early 20s.
You can also communicate the brand’s beliefs by supporting certain causes or social responsibilities. Automobile brands support environmental causes while Fast food chains have funds to support children (to tell us they are part of the family).
A brand personality makes a big difference. For example, you can’t trust a financial adviser that is too young or too humorous (Banks), or can’t relax in the hospitality of a very rigged and serious person (Cafes). When deciding your brands personality, think of the relationship that your target audience will build with your brand.
Finally, The Name and Logo
Once you’ve decided on your target audience, the relationship you aim to build with them and the brand personality you want to portray, you are then ready to create the visuals of your brand, starting with the name and logo.
Thinking strategically and taking all those factors into account will help you set the bar very high to your competitors and will make build a solid foundation of loyal customers.
