Did you know that around 50% of all businesses fail within the first five years? Businesses often fail because they don't establish their brand or market to their target audience. This is why brand design is so important.
By creating a brand, you create a story and a goal for your business to fulfill. You create an entity that your target audience will want to trust and shop from. But where should you start with brand design?
How can you make sure you give your business a consistent brand? How will this lead to public acceptance and increased business success? Keep reading and learn more about how it works below.
Discover Your Target Audience
You can't create a brand project without starting with a target audience. A target audience is a group of people who will buy your products. While there are more than seven billion people on the planet, not all of them will be interested in buying your product.
You could market your products as much as you want, but only certain types of people will be interested. Suppose your business sells organic seeds for gardening. People who are interested in gardening and staying organic will be more likely to buy from you.
Since they are already interested in this product, it makes sense to market it to them. You won't have to market for as long or as intensely to get them to buy something. They are already in the market for what you have to sell.
This will be your target audience. It wouldn't make sense to market your product to those who are interested in automotive parts. You can market your product to them all you want, but if they don't have any interest in what you're selling, they're not going to buy from you.
This is why it is important to identify your target audience. Marketing to people who aren't interested in your product will be a waste of money.
Identify Your Ideal Customers
Advertising is expensive, and it also costs a lot of time and energy.
There is no point in doing this if the people you're marketing to aren't going to give you any business. But marketing to your target audience will set you on the right track. Marketing to your niche audience will make it much easier for people to buy something from you.
They are already on the verge of buying something similar to your product. Marketing your product to them may push them over the edge and persuade them to buy it. This will reduce your marketing efforts and the cost of advertising.
It will also help establish your brand. Think about what you want your brand to sell. Are you selling something organic?
Are you selling tools to repair a certain type of object? Are you selling artisan goods or homemade products? Asking yourself these questions will help you identify your target audience.
You can then narrow your focus to this audience and market more effectively.
Choose the Right Brand Name
Your brand name will give your customers a certain impression of your business. Many people don't realize how important it is to have a good brand name. They might think that the name is a decorative choice and not worth much thought.
But this is incorrect. If your business doesn't have a good name, there is a good chance that you won't get as much traffic as you want. This is because your brand's name will help form the first impression of your business.
First impressions are very important for customers. If their first impression of your business is negative, they won't want to shop from you. It doesn't matter if they have a negative first impression and then have a positive experience with it later on.
First impressions will always stick with a person. If your brand name gives people a bad first impression, you'll be out of luck. This is why you need to think long and hard about your brand name.
Once you choose one, it will be hard to change it. This is because people will start to associate your brand with that name. That name will be associated with a certain type of quality, a certain brand appearance, and so on.
Think about what kind of products your business sells. Does your brand sell food products or automotive products? Does it sell tools or home goods?
Once you have a solid understanding of what your business does, you can start thinking of names that might be related. Choose a name that represents your niche. Choose one that reflects what your brand is all about.
Narrowing Down Your Options
If you have a hard time choosing a name, look at other similar brands around you.
Consider fast-food restaurant brands. While many of these options sell the same food, they all have different brands and unique names.
Some are named after people, while others are named after fake people or characters like Burger King. Others may be named after the food they serve. All of these businesses are strongly associated with their brand names.
If one of them were to change their name, people likely would still call them by their original names. If you still have a hard time coming up with a good name, consider using an online name generator.
A name generator can give you some good ideas of what kind of names might be good for your business. You can input what kinds of words you might like to have in the brand's name, and it will give you a list of suggestions.
You can also lookup name ideas for certain industries. You can search for "names for a candle shop" and so on. This will help narrow down your options so that you can make a better decision when choosing your name.
Once you choose a name that represents your business, you'll be on the right track.
Identify the Main Themes of Your Business and Promote Them
Every business in the world has a select few themes that they represent. If you don't have a theme for your brand, it's not going to be identifiable or stand out. It will instead be vague and hard for people to remember.
Establishing your main theme is establishing your brand and what it stands for. You can identify your theme by thinking about the product you want to sell. Let's continue with the example of selling organic seeds and plants.
The word "organic" is a key term that a certain group of people will be interested in. These people are more likely interested in being healthy and taking care of the environment. They are green and want to follow natural practices for their lifestyle.
If this is the audience you want to target, then you should make sure that your brand fits the bill. You should promote the theme of being organic, healthy, and good for the environment. But many brands do this.
This is why you need to make your brand stand out. You can do this by adding additional themes to your brand. You shouldn't add too many, or your brand may become a confusing mess.
You can also create a brand story that makes your business stand out from the rest. Your brand's goal might be unique. You might aim to plant a certain number of seeds or trees in the world by a certain year.
Make Your Brand Unique
Have a goal that your target audience will appreciate and want to help you work toward. This will make people more likely to buy from you. Your brand will also stand out more from the competition.
This is in comparison to not having a brand story or theme. This would make your brand very bland and forgettable. You would have no chance of standing out among the competition.
People would rather shop from the competition because their brands have more flair and personality. This is a sure way to get your business to fail. If you have a hard time thinking about what kind of themes your brand has, think about what it sells.
Then compare it to other brands that sell similar things. You can get ideas from these other businesses and how they portray themselves to their target audience. Suppose you have a business that sells soap for men.
Your theme might be very masculine but natural at the same time. You might take a more rustic approach to your product so that it is readily identifiable from soap for women.
If your business sells clothes, create a theme that emphasizes how unique those clothes are. Are they made of sustainable fabric? Do they represent a certain style?
What makes your brand unique? You need to show why people should buy from you instead of your competitors. This can be difficult at first, especially as a new, small business.
But once you find your spot in your industry, it will be easier to build from there.
Give Your Brand a Certain Look
Every brand has a specific look. The appearance of your brand is important because people will start to associate your brand with that appearance. You can understand the power of a brand's appearance by looking at a McDonald's restaurant.
Any time you see the McDonald's colors on a building, you will expect to see this restaurant. This is also true with the golden arches on their signs. If you saw a building with the McDonald's colors and the golden arches but it wasn't a McDonald's, you would be very confused.
Big brands know every detail of their brand's appearance. They know how to make themselves recognizable to customers. They know what to do to make sure that everyone knows that their brand is theirs.
Once a brand is associated with a certain look, it will be very hard to change it. Suppose that McDonald's no longer used their classic golden arches for their signs. They instead use a different sign with different colors, such as blue and green rather than red and yellow.
No one would be able to recognize this brand right away anymore. This is because it would no longer fulfill what people expect to see when they are looking for this restaurant. This could damage the restaurant's sales and might drive its customers to competitor brands.
This is not what you want to deal with when choosing a look for your brand. This is why you should choose a good look and stick to it.
The Power of Appearance
The appearance of a brand usually correlates with its main theme.
If your brand sells organic items, it would be a good idea to use the color green for your brand's appearance. Green is a calming color since it is associated with nature. It also goes well with any brand that sells anything environmentally green, organic, natural, and so on.
Choosing the font for your brand is important, too. Try to avoid cursive fonts since many people find these hard to read. You can still use an elegant, swooping font as long as it's easy to read.
Consider how many colors you want to use. Using too many is not advised as it may make your brand an eyesore. Once you create an appearance for your brand, stick with it so people will start associating its appearance with your brand.
The Importance of Brand Design for Small Businesses
If your small business doesn't have a good brand design, it won't succeed. You need to specify your brand with a good name and appearance to make it stand out.
You also need to identify your themes and target audience so it is easier to market your products.
Do you want to start branding your business? A professional service can help. Check out what we can do to help you.