Brand development can be an overlooked, but is a necessary stage in the process of starting a new business. Many companies with great ideas underperform because the necessary steps in developing their brand has been under-developed and they fail to present themselves appropriately to their consumers. Here are a few guiding principles to assist you in the development of your brand.
Do
Don't
Do
Do make a connection with your consumer through developing core brand values
To develop an effective relationship to your consumers you must connect with them. By developing a core set of values you can communicate these messages to meet the concerns of your consumer and connect with them to build their relationship to your brand. Uniquely enough some of the best ways to connect with your audience are found in your business plan. Identify and communicate your core-brand values (the things that guide your decision making) and the story of your development or your purpose (lifestyle connection). These should be concise, believable, and obtainable and should be the guiding principles of your brand.
Do understand the needs and concerns of your consumer
People choose to have a relationship with and integrate into their lives brands they can connect with. Through appropriate research methods you can better understand how your consumers connect with your brand. Proper research will inform you of the needs, desires and behavior of your consumer. These factors can assist you in developing brand communications that deliver on the expectations of your consumers.
Do integrate a consistent marketing plan to better understand your community, industry and consumers
Creating a complete marketing and communication plan can assist in projecting, defining and understanding the issues facing your company, the industry you work in, and the composition of the consumers in your geographic region. This helps in understanding the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats facing the factors that will impact your brand and can assist in identifying what communication efforts you will need to plan and budget. This document should be an ongoing development and should be evaluated and revised annually as part of your strategic planning process for budgeting.
Do manage the character of your brand
Identifying the character you would like your consumers to perceive in your business will guide you through the development of your brand communication. Shaping the perception of your brand is a continual effort. Some things like social media communication, customer surveys, blog posts and public relations efforts can be developed to manage communication through daily operations. When used on a continual basis these things will assist in communicating the character of your brand.
A great Brand Manager will develop systems and processes to shape this perception over time. Taking a proactive role in developing a complete brand message at the front-end may save you from having to take a reactive role later.
Simple business practices in analyzing your business effectiveness to the needs of the market can be developed from the start to ensure you are not establishing a business that is going to drown in an already over saturated market.
Don't
Do not ever assume your brand has finished evolving
While you may be going through the process of developing the characteristics of your brand, you must understand that your brand is a living, breathing, evolving entity. Your brand must be managed over time. The qualities of your audience (needs, desires, behaviors) change over time, therefore, the message you are communicating about your brand must evolve. No matter how much you may communicate about your brand, your consumers are the ones who define the meaning. This meaning is defined based on their experiences (emotional connection) with the brand and how they perceive the value of the product or services (rational evaluation). Therefore, all communication must be integrated together to communicate a consistent clear message.
Do not underestimate design in the process of developing your brand
Many people underestimate the power of design because they misunderstand design as being just the visual aesthetics behind their brand. Because of this many new and existing brands do not properly plan or budget for adequate design development. While the visuals may be a component of the branding process, it is not an adequate definition of design. Branding is the expression of the business both verbally and visually.
An established design firm and brand strategist will work with you to identify the process that needs to be developed for your particular business. They will partner with you to develop the verbal and visual components of your brand. A well-trained designer has the innate ability to work with you through this process and knows the difference between assigning just a visual to the brand and design as the development of the systems and processes of which they can develop visuals. The latter has the experience of defining, redefining and managing brands.
Working with experienced designers to strategize the development of your brand should keep you focused on the attributes of your brand and should have a greater impact on brand recognition and communication.
Do not ever make decisions that conflict your core brand values
Once you communicate your brand values you need to follow through on those promises you are making to your consumers. While it may be tempting to make some decisions that are cost saving, if they conflict with the messages you are communicating about your brand, this can alienate you from the connections you have made with your consumer and result in loss of sales which may be more costly.
Before making these decisions consider the consumers that are connected to that aspect of your values, the volume of potential sales loss and the profit margin of those products or services. Proper risk management will assist in making those difficult budgetary decisions. When doing so, revise your values statements and brand communication to reflect your ideals so you don’t break the trust in gaining new potential consumers. Miss communication is easy to do and difficult to change once the perception of your business has changed.
Do not expect immediate results
The narrative of your brand is a cultivation of endless experiences and encounters within your community. The delicate balance of communicating the exact messages that resonate with your audience can be challenging, but rewarding. Results of your efforts can seem dismal at first and can be difficult to track but through using a diversity of methods you will deliver your brand communications throughout your community effectively.
Summary
Through all your hard work in developing your new business, establishing a well- defined brand that communicates and connects with your consumer is a necessary component. Consider working with design professionals that can assist you through the process of identifying and communicating your core brand values, the story of your brand, and your brand’s character. In all of your efforts these will assist the most in making lasting connections to those much desired consumers.
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