Discovering your company's brand isn't as difficult as it may sound, but it is certainly important. Here, we go over some basic tips to help you find your brand identity.

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What is Branding?

Branding is more than just a name and a logo, although those are imperative pieces to branding, they are not everything. The complexities of branding come from it being both a rational explanation of your company, as well as an emotional, sensory understanding of your company.

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Defining your Brand

The primary goal of branding is to establish an identity for your company that portrays your company's position, values, and services. Here are 5 questions to help get you started.

1. How is your company perceived in your industry in comparison to your competitors for similar products or services you provide?

2. What are the origins or history of your product/service?

3. Who is your audience? How do you want their interaction with your brand to feel?

4. What values and beliefs does your company have, and what is it's mission?

5. What and how do you want your brand to be perceived as? If your company was a person, how would it look, act, and talk?

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Hire a Professional

Your brand is so much more than a name and a logo, so it is highly recommended hiring someone who has professional training in creating a logo and surrounding identity for your company. Remember, you will be living with this brand and your choices for a long time, so don't go with a brand concept that embarrasses you or that doesn't portray your company properly. Customers are smart, and they will be quick to judge your company and it's quality from the quality of your perceived branding.

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Be Consistent

Once you've come up with your branding, it's vital that it is used everywhere, and more importantly, that it all looks the same. Get new business cards, stationery, and more. The more consistent and unified your brand appears across all mediums, the stronger it will come off to your customers. Strong brands claim a greater market share and higher price premium with their customers.

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Develop Customer Loyalty

With a consistent and strong brand, your company can flourish as a provider of a unique experience that keeps customers loyal. The world's strongest brands don't simply have customers, they have brand evangelists, proud to champion their favorite brand through recommendations to their network. By leveraging social media in conjunction with your brand, you can help foster a bond with your customers and nurture the ones that are loyal, which in turn, will encourage them to want to share you with their friends.

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