BRANDING YOUR BUSINESS

When it comes to branding your business, there are so many factors to determine what makes up a brand as an entrepreneur. Branding yourself is one of the key factors that you would need to do in order to stand out in your business. But what about the logos and all the fun stuff that makes up a brand you might ask? Those things are important as well but there are some initial things that should be considered when establishing your brand.

In this post, you will learn tips on how to personally brand your business as an entrepreneur.

The first thing that you would need to do is to gain an understanding of what exactly does branding consist of as an entrepreneur. Outside of your logos etc, think about what makes you unique in your niche from other brands? 

For example, what are you doing that stands out from your competitors? What makes your brand more memorable to your target audience? Does your target audience at first glance understand your business with a clear message that is persuasive? Are you or your brand likable?

Also, considering technology updates and business changes in various niches, no matter what niche you are in, is it flexible and adaptable to change? The list goes on and on but these are important questions to consider when building a brand.

The next step is to determine your goal with your brand. Here are a few tips to consider:

Your Vision/Mission Statement– When it comes to your vision statement, determine your goals for your business. What are your inspirations? What is it that you want to achieve? What impact do you want to make? What is your why for your business?

Once you have come up with your mission statement, then it would make it a lot easier to then come up with your mission statement. Your mission statement should be a short description of what describes your vision statement for your business.

For example, my mission statement for my business is: “I help entrepreneurs start and grow their businesses.” Here are a few more examples:

Netflix: “We promise our customers stellar service, our suppliers a valuable partner, our investors the prospects of         sustained profitable growth, and our employees the allure of huge impact.”

Apple: “To bringing the best user experience to its customers through its innovative hardware, software, and services.” 

Amazon: “Serve consumers through online and physical stores and focus on selection, price, and convenience.” 

Core Values

When it comes to your core values for your business,     it is important that your business has integrity, honesty, trust, accountability, and commitment to customers, etc. There are so many values that are important in order to build a brand. What core values stand out the most for your business? The values you come up with should be a full priority when building your brand.

Brand Proposition

Your brand proposition is a statement that communicates to your customers the benefits of your business, products, and/or services, etc. You should consider what are the values that you will provide to your customers as a benefit.

Your Target Audience

Who are your ideal customers? When you created your vision/mission statement, who is the message directed to? What is your customer’s avatar? For example, what age group are they in? Where do they hang out at? What is there gender? These are some of the questions that will help you determine and narrow down who your target audience is. 

When building your brand, it is important to have an understanding of who your target audience is which will allow you to create marketing campaigns that are specific to your audience.

You also want to make sure that you understand the importance of branding yourself first as your personal brand as an entrepreneur. 

At the end of the day, no matter what product or service you are selling, the reason why people do business with you vs. your competitors is because of you. As an entrepreneur, without you being physically present, you cannot build your brand so it is best to establish yourself and your credibility as you are building your brand. Here are a few tips to consider as well:

• Show Your Personality – Even if you represent a particular company or you are a sales representative selling a particular product or service, it is important that you stand out by branding yourself. Creating your own personal blog or website represents and brands you. At the end of the day, people buy and do business with people that they know, like, and trust, so focus on showing your personality by showing your photo vs. your company’s logo, etc. Instead of putting all of your marketing efforts into a company name or product that you sell, brand yourself first because who is to stay you will change companies or products? If you build yourself into your brand first, you will have the versatility to sell whatever you want and be with any company you want. Building you as the foundation of your business is very important. This is the first step into Attraction Marketing. 
• Position Yourself As An Authority In Your Industry – Show your confidence and position yourself as an expert by providing valuable content to your target audience. You can also show your personal experiences and share your story and journey with your audience.
• Stay Consistent – It is important to stay consistent with providing content to your audience. You can provide content with blog posts, videos, and email marketing, etc. You can always also share new tips that you learn as you go with your audience.
• Create Valuable Offers For Your Target Audience – You can build rapport with your audience by creating lead magnets in order to get leads for a valuable offer that you can provide. Your offer can be in the form of a cheat sheet or free training etc that can provide a solution to your target market’s problem they may have.
• Stay Connected With Your Prospects – When you receive a lead from your lead magnet, you can provide something valuable that will help your target audience in your niche. Getting their contact information will enable you to build a solid relationship by continuing to consistently provide valuable information. You can send content in regards to a recent blog post or you can communicate a promotion or training you may have etc

As you can see, branding yourself and positioning yourself as an authority in your niche is key to building rapport with your audience and branding your business.

Once you come up with those important factors than it would be best to transition on the visual aspect of your brand such as your logos etc

Now for the fun part, the logos and the collateral, etc. There are so many directions to go with when it comes to the branding visuals but I will point out a few simple things to get started.

Canva– Canva is a great tool to use to create your own logo as well as pretty much anything you need from banners to social media graphics etc. I highly recommend it and it is used by many entrepreneurs. There are so many advanced graphic designing you can take advantage of including videos. Get creative.

Vistaprint– This is a great website to order just about any type of marketing material that you will ever need. You can order business cards, car decals, banners, t-shirts, you name it. The great thing about it is that it is inexpensive. Check it out, it is a great way to get started with marketing material for your brand.

Fiverr – Not the creative type? Hire someone to create your logos and marketing materials for you! Fiverr is a great place to hire someone which is normally very inexpensive. In some cases, you can get a logo done for as little as $5. You do have to do your research. Nowadays those $5 gigs are hard to come by but you never know what kind of great deals you can find.

As you can see, it is not just about your logos and designs of your business that builds your brand, but it is about branding yourself as well as a combination of different factors that go into building a brand. Ultimately, throughout the lifeblood of your business, your goal is to build, engage, and to sell to continuously build your brand.