Start Your Own Brand: The Ultimate 7-Step Guide

When you start your own brand, you have to be prepared. Starting your own brand can be an exciting and challenging endeavor. Whether an entrepreneur or a small business owner, creating a strong brand identity is crucial to standing out in today's competitive market. In this article, we'll explore the steps to building a successful brand and the benefits of having a clear brand identity.

What is a brand?

A brand is more than just a logo or product; it's customers' perception of your business. It's the emotional connection they feel when interacting with your company, whether through your website, social media, or customer service.

Image taken from a Strikingly user’s website

Why is a strong brand crucial?

A strong brand is crucial for several reasons.

• It sets your business apart from the competition by creating a unique selling proposition and making you stand out in consumers' minds.
• A strong brand builds trust and credibility through consistent delivery, high-quality standards, and exceptional customer experiences, earning customers' trust. This trust leads to customer loyalty, as satisfied customers become advocates who support and recommend your brand.
• A strong brand enjoys better recognition and recall, making it easier for consumers to remember and choose your brand when purchasing.
• A strong brand also provides opportunities to command a price premium, attract top talent and valuable partnerships, and expand into new markets.
• A strong brand contributes to business resilience by withstanding economic downturns and industry disruptions due to its loyal customer base and positive reputation.
• To start your own brand and building it is an investment in your business's long-term success and sustainability.

How to start a brand identity?

To start your own brand identity, you must define what makes your business unique and identify your target audience. You also need to develop consistent messaging across all channels and establish guidelines for communicating with customers.

Step 1: Define Your Brand

Everyone knokws that to start your own brand can be a daunting task, but it all begins with defining your brand. This step is crucial because it establishes the foundation for all future branding decisions.

Mission Statement & Values

Your mission statement should clearly communicate what your brand stands for and what it hopes to achieve. Your values should align with your mission statement and serve as guiding principles for your brand's actions and decisions when you start your own brand.

For example, if you want to start your own brand of sustainable fashion, your mission statement may be To create fashionable clothing while minimizing our environmental impact. Your values may include sustainability, transparency, and ethical production practices.

Brand Personality & Tone

Your brand personality is the emotional and human characteristics that you want associated with your brand. Your tone of voice is the way you communicate those characteristics through language.

Think about how you want people to feel when they interact with your brand. Are you playful or serious? Traditional or modern? Friendly or authoritative?

Target Audience

Defining your target audience is essential to start your own brand and creating effective marketing strategies that resonate with potential customers. Consider factors such as age, gender, location, interests, and buying habits when identifying your target audience.

For example, if you're starting a skincare line targeting women in their 20s who live in urban areas and are interested in natural beauty products, you'll need to tailor your branding and messaging accordingly.

Competitor Analysis

Analyzing competitors can provide valuable insights into industry trends and best practices while helping you differentiate yourself from others in the market.

Research competitors' branding strategies, including their visual identity, messaging, target audience, and unique selling points. Use this information to identify gaps in the market that you can fill with your own brand.

Whiteboard filled with sticky notes for defining a brand.

Step 2: Choose Your Brand Name &

Logo

Choosing the right brand name and logo is crucial when you start your own brand. It's important to choose a memorable brand name that reflects your values and mission statement. Here are some tips for choosing a memorable brand name:

Image taken from a Strikingly user’s website

Tips for choosing a memorable brand name

1. Keep it simple and easy to pronounce - A simple and easy-to-pronounce name will help people remember your brand.

2. Make it unique - Your brand name should stand out from the competition.

3. Reflect your values - Your brand name should reflect your values and mission statement.

4. Consider SEO - Choose an SEO-friendly name so that people can easily find you on search engines.

5. Do some research - Research other brands in your industry to avoid any similarities or confusion.

Once you have chosen your brand name, it's time to create a unique logo that represents your brand identity.

How to create a unique logo

Your logo is the face of your brand, so it's important to create one that is unique and memorable when starting your own brand. Here are some tips for creating a unique logo:

1. Keep it simple - A simple design will make it easier for people to recognize and remember your logo.

2. Use colors wisely - Choose colors that reflect your brand personality and tone.

3. Make it versatile - Your logo should be able to adapt to different mediums such as business cards, social media profiles, etc.

4. Consider hiring a professional designer - If you're not confident in designing a logo yourself, consider hiring a professional designer who can help bring your vision to life.

Importance of consistent branding

Consistent branding is key when you start your own brand, and you want it to be successful because it helps establish trust with customers and creates recognition in the market. Consistency applies not only to the design of your logo but also to all aspects of branding, including messaging, tone of voice, and imagery. Keeping a consistent brand image across all channels will create a strong brand identity that customers can easily recognize.

Brewed Awakening logo featuring a coffee mug with steam rising in the shape of a brain.

Step 3: Develop Your Brand Voice

Developing a brand voice is essential when starting your own brand. It's the personality your brand will take on and should be consistent across all platforms. Writing guidelines for brand messaging can help ensure that all content aligns with your brand's values and mission statement.

When creating these guidelines, consider what tone of voice and language choice best reflect your brand. Are you aiming for a casual and conversational tone or something more formal? Will you use industry jargon or keep things simple? These decisions will shape how your audience perceives your brand.

Creating a style guide is another crucial component of developing your brand voice. This guide should include font choices, color schemes, and imagery styles that align with your branding goals. Consistency is key to building a recognizable and trustworthy brand.

Writing Guidelines for Brand Messaging

Your writing guidelines should outline the tone of voice and language choices that reflect your brand's personality. Consider the values you want to convey through messaging and how they align with your target audience's needs.

When starting your own brand, it's also important to establish guidelines around grammar, punctuation, and formatting to ensure consistency across all channels. This will help build trust with consumers looking for a reliable source of information.

Tone of Voice & Language Choice

The tone of voice you choose depends on the nature of your business and target audience. For example, if you're starting a children's clothing line, you may want to use playful language that appeals to parents' emotions.

On the other hand, if you're starting an accounting firm, a more professional tone would be appropriate to convey expertise in the field.

Language choice is also important in developing your brand voice. Using industry-specific terminology can help establish credibility with potential customers, while keeping things simple can make complex concepts more accessible.

Creating a Style Guide

A style guide is a document that outlines the visual and written elements of your brand. It should include details such as color schemes, font choices, and imagery styles to ensure consistency across all platforms.

Image taken from Strikingly Branding Guidelines

Having a style guide can save time and effort in the long run by providing clear guidelines for everyone involved in creating content for your brand. It also helps maintain a consistent brand image that consumers can recognize and trust.

Step 4: Build Your Online Presence

In today's digital age, a strong online presence is crucial when starting your brand. It's where your customers will find you and interact with you. Here are some important steps to take when building your online presence.

Choosing a Domain Name & Hosting

Your domain name is the address of your website, so it's important to choose something memorable and reflects your brand identity. When choosing a hosting provider, ensure they offer reliable uptime and good customer support.

Steps to Design Your Website with Strikingly

Strikingly is an easy-to-use website builder that can help you create a professional-looking website in minutes. Choose from their selection of templates or start from scratch using their drag-and-drop editor.

Importance of Mobile Responsiveness

More people are accessing the internet on their mobile devices than ever before, so it's important to make sure your website is optimized for mobile viewing. This means using responsive design that adjusts to different screen sizes.

Integrating Social Media & Email Marketing

Social media and email marketing are powerful tools for building brand awareness and engaging with customers. Ensure your website includes links to your social media profiles and offers an option for visitors to sign up for your email list.

Step 5: Create Quality Content

Creating quality content is essential to brand building. It helps to establish your brand's voice and connect with your target audience. Quality content can also help to improve your website's search engine optimization (SEO) and increase traffic to your site.

Importance of Content Marketing

Content marketing is a strategic approach to creating and distributing valuable, relevant, consistent content that attracts and retains a defined audience. It's a way to communicate with your customers without selling to them directly. By providing useful information, you can build trust with your audience and establish yourself as an authority in your industry.

Planning a Content Strategy

Before creating content, it's important to have a plan in place. Start by defining your target audience and understanding their needs and interests. Then, create a list of topics that align with your brand's values and goals.

Developing a content calendar can help you stay organized and ensure that you're consistently publishing new content. Consider the different types of content you can create, such as blog posts, videos, infographics, or social media posts.

Image taken from Strikingly Blog

Writing Tips for Website Content

When writing website content, it's important to consider the needs of both search engines and human readers. Use keywords strategically throughout your content but avoid keyword stuffing.

Ensure your writing is clear, concise, and easy to read. Use subheadings, bullet points, or numbered lists to break up long paragraphs into more manageable chunks.

Finally, ensure that all of your website's information is accurate and up-to-date.

Utilizing Strikingly's Blogging Features

Strikingly offers powerful blogging features that make it easy to create quality content for your website. With Strikingly's simple drag-and-drop editor, you can easily add new blog posts or update existing ones.

You can also use Strikingly's built-in analytics to track the performance of your blog posts and see which ones resonate with your audience.

Step 6: Establish Your Brand Story

Your brand story sets you apart from your competitors and helps you connect with your audience on a deeper level. Sharing your brand history is a great way to establish credibility and build trust with potential customers.

Crafting a compelling brand narrative involves using storytelling in marketing. Storytelling allows you to convey your message in a way that resonates with your audience. It also helps create an emotional connection with them, making them more likely to remember and recommend your brand.

To create a brand narrative, identify what makes your brand unique. Highlighting your brand's unique selling points is essential in differentiating yourself from the competition. Once you have identified these points, craft a story around them that showcases how they benefit your customers.

For example, if you're starting a sustainable clothing line, you could tell the story of how you were inspired by fast fashion's negative impact on the environment and decided to take action by creating clothing made from eco-friendly materials.

Remember to keep it simple and avoid overthinking. Your story should be authentic and reflect the values of your brand.

Step 7: Monitor & Grow Your Brand

Once you've launched your brand, it's important to monitor its growth and reputation to ensure its success. Here are some tips for monitoring and growing your brand.

Tracking Brand Mentions & Reputation

One way to monitor your brand is by tracking brand name mentions on social media and other online platforms. This can give you insights into how people perceive your brand and what they say about it. You can use tools like Google Alerts or Hootsuite to track these mentions.

Monitoring your online reputation by responding to customer reviews and feedback is also important. This shows that you value their opinions and are committed to providing excellent customer service.

Measuring Brand Success

Measuring the success of your brand is crucial for its growth. You can measure this through metrics like website traffic, social media engagement, and sales revenue.

By tracking these metrics, you can identify areas you need to improve and adjust your marketing strategy accordingly.

Staying Relevant with Trends & Updates

Staying up-to-date with the latest trends in your industry is key for keeping your brand relevant and competitive. This means keeping an eye on what's happening in the market and staying informed about new technologies or changes in consumer behavior.

You can also stay relevant by updating your branding materials regularly, such as refreshing your logo or redesigning your website.

Using Strikingly's Analytics Features

Strikingly offers a variety of analytics features that can help you monitor the performance of your website and track visitor behavior. With Strikingly's analytics tools, you can see which pages on your site are most popular, where visitors are coming from, and how long they stay on each page.

This information can help you make informed decisions about improving your site's user experience, which pages need more attention, and what content resonates most with your audience.

Quick Tips When You Start Your Own Brand

Starting your brand can be overwhelming, but it doesn't have to be. Here are some quick tips to keep in mind as you embark on this exciting journey.

• Keep it simple

When it comes to branding, simplicity is key. Your brand name, logo, and messaging should be easily understood and memorable. Avoid overcomplicating things or trying to be too clever with your branding.

• Don't overthink

While it's important to put thought and effort into your brand identity, don't get bogged down by perfectionism. Remember that your brand will evolve over time and that it's okay to make changes as you go.

• Take calculated risks

Building a successful brand often requires taking risks and trying new things. However, ensure these risks are calculated and aligned with your brand strategy.

• Have fun!

Starting your own brand should be an exciting and enjoyable experience! Don't forget to have fun along the way and infuse your personality into your branding efforts.

Image taken from Strikingly Templates

Conclusion

To start your own brand involves defining your mission statement and values, identifying your target audience, choosing a memorable brand name and logo, developing your brand voice, building your online presence, creating quality content, establishing your brand story, and monitoring and growing your brand. You can successfully launch your brand by following these steps and taking calculated risks.

Strikingly offers an easy-to-use website builder with customizable templates to help you build a professional online presence when unsure how to build a brand. With features like mobile responsiveness and analytics tracking, Strikingly can assist you in creating an effective digital marketing strategy.

Don't let fear hold you back from starting your own brand. Take action today by following the steps outlined above and utilizing resources like Strikingly to help bring your vision to life.