On the 7th day of Christmas JCK revealed their hand and told me how to develop my brand

Although you may think to develop and to maintain a brand is simple, there are several fundamentals which will make your brand effective.

Remember, your brand lives with your business every single day and with every single customer interaction. We all know how important a part a brand plays in the big consumer markets (think the fashion industry!) but actually if you can get it right within your world the impact it will have on your bottom line is huge. Your brand is your company personality, and the reason companies will buy from you – can you hand on heart say yours reflects what you want your customers to think of you.

I have come up with what I believe to be the top 6 most important factors needed within a Brand

1. Whats your one thing? You need to ask yourself a few questions. What is your organisation all about? Are you only selling a product, or do you stand for something consumers can relate to? Consumers like to know that your company has a passion, and is not just trying to make a quick buck off them. This is your USP (Unique Selling point) and something that most business’ struggle to convey.
2. Think about other industries and compare yourself to them This is quite a good thing to do, if your firm was a supermarket which one would it be? Tescos? Sainsburys? Waitrose? – Once you have aligned yourself with one, get yourself a list of words that describe that supermarket… you’re bound to find a few that relate to your business. What does the supermarket stand for? how do they market themselves? what colour and fonts do they use? Do this a few times with other industries (cars / clothes etc.), and you’ll soon get a picture of how you want your business to be conveyed.
3. Continuity is everything. Regardless of how you ‘touch’ you clients or prospects you need to maintain your customer experience as people like to know what to expect. Whether it’s how you answer the telephone, write pages on a website, or how you handle a customer support issue, it’s the experience that will keep customers coming back for more. If the experience is in-congruent it initiates a feeling of mistrust, so be consistent – always.
4. Your Brand logo reflects your values. This is the face of your brand and should only be created once you know what your brand value is. Your logo will become the one symbol that your clients will recognise you by, so make it a good one. Choose your colours and fonts carefully; they do make a difference. Consumers will make a judgement (even if they don’t realise it) on your logo. If it looks homemade, then perception will be that everything else about your business is also cobbled together.
5. Position your company and brand as a leader. Once you have identified what it is that your business stands for, actually the rest of it will roll. Once you know how you can differentiate yourself from your clients then form a tag line, to enhance all your literature with the correct wording and images will become simple, and consumers will start to get an emotional attachment. Seriously, take the time to understand your competitors and work out what it is that makes you different.
6. Stick to the guidelines. This again comes back to consistency, once you have spent the time and energy creating your visual brand (colours, fonts and images) for goodness sake don’t start introducing more. Leave your logo alone, stick to your font and colour palette and make sure every employee in the company knows what they are so that the whole company is consistent. Be compliant with your brand!

That is all, it is quite simple, now go and get yourself a big jug of Christmassy mulled wine (we find it helps with creativity!) and get the process started – what is your one thing??