The Brand Development Process
What is brand development?
Brand development is the creation and maintenance of a brand. Brand development is an ongoing process of interacting with your target audience and target market.
Brand development messaging isn’t a simple task. When you hear “brand development strategy” or “brand positioning”, it’s easy to get overwhelmed. Of course, you know who you are as a brand and your values, but it’s important your audience and other businesses know too. Who you are should come to life on a website or ad.
Brand development is a never-ending process. J.O. believes your brand is your business’s identity. Subsequently, your personality is refined over time. The brand development process is no quick job but is instrumental to your business’s brand strategy. We want to share a few strategies that will help you hit the ground running.
Brand Strategy To Launch Your Startup
1. Building your startup’s brand story
Brand development and business development aren’t synonymous. When forming a new business you might focus on business objectives, buyer personas, market positioning, and financial logistics. Those are all invaluable in running a company, but without branding, there is no ground on which to form a marketing strategy.
Your brand identity is more than what you sell. Think about what motivates your startup. Why did you want to start your company? What impression do you want to give? Who do you want to attract? Once you find what drives you and what you want to represent, you’ll be able to explain to others why your brand exists.
2. Creating a company name
Transitioning your concept to a name is essential when you develop your brand. Customers care; if a name is engaging and accessible you’ll create a stronger brand. As you’ll notice, startups often build off previously developed brand strategies. Your brand voice bleeds into your brand name. Depending on what tone you went for when branding your voice, your target audience will vary. Brands don’t compartmentalize brand development components. For a brand to be a success, the brand development needs to include all components of the brand for effective brand positioning to take place. Decide who you are, and who your audience is, and make the right adjustments accordingly.
The name of your company contributes to brand positioning; it is how people recognize you and can attract potential clients. Whether it be in the form of traditional marketing, websites, search traffic, or other marketing channels, your name needs to reflect your brand.
3. Developing a logo
After you’ve established a name, you can develop a logo. A brand logo is a symbol, image, or drawing that creates a brand presence for your company. It directly reflects your value as a brand. Logos are a key aspect of a brand but aren’t the brand identity. A logo gives your target audience something to remember you by. The design, quality, style, professional nature, shape, and brand colors all contribute to how your logo is perceived. A solid strategy when creating a logo is to reflect on your story. Spacing, images, and color palettes offer endless opportunities to develop messaging.
What’s the value of a good logo? It helps you build your brand. Logos appear on your marketing materials, website, positioning statement, letterhead, business card, and office space.
The name of your company contributes to brand positioning, it is how people recognize you and can attract potential clients. Whether it be in the form of traditional marketing, websites, search traffic, or other marketing channels – your name needs to reflect your brand.
4. Owning your brand voice
After you are sure of who you are, you have to figure out your brand’s personality. There are multiple ways to differentiate yourself from competitors. The tone you use and personality you project when marketing shows potential customers you’re a strong brand. Determining your core message and brand attributes will make future marketing materials cohesive as your company grows. Brand voice communicates your company to your target audience and market through a positioning statement. It affects how a company is perceived and can influence how you interact with different marketing channels.
What’s the value of a good logo? It helps you build your brand. Logos appear on your marketing materials, website, positioning statement, letterhead, business card, and office space.
5. Honing in on the brand identity
Branding materials are great tools when conveying your brand message to businesses and the target market. Develop a style guide; this can establish your color palette, standard of quality, tagline, website guidelines, and point of view. Branding materials unify your brand strategy when planning business objectives. You want to make sure your guidelines and deliverables are memorable and give people a clear understanding of who you are and what you do. Make sure your brand guide is consistent when implementing new ideas.
A good way to consider your image is to think of your brand in terms of categories. What car would your brand be? What actor? What animal? What would your brand do for fun? Coming up with answers to questions like these can help in conceptualizing how to present your business to your audience.
A good way to consider your image is to think of your brand in terms of categories. What car would your brand be? What actor? What animal? What would your brand do for fun? Coming up with answers to questions like these can help in conceptualizing how to present your business to your audience.
6. Getting your startup’s brand positioning on track
Once brands solidify the basis of their brand development, they can focus on their service. Having a clear idea of who you are will help you grow. That being said, branding never stops. You can build a mission statement to pair with your positioning statement. You can continue to design branding materials. There are endless opportunities to further establish yourself if you have a strong foundation. J.O. has been entrusted with branding hundreds of companies, organizations, and services over the years; in fact, branding is where J.O. began. Call us at 817-335-0100 or contact us here.
J.O. has been entrusted with branding hundreds of companies, organizations, and services over the years; in fact, branding is where J.O. began. Call us at 817-335-0100 or contact us here.
In Conclusion
Brand development strategy should never be pushed to the side. Developing a reputation for your business is an uphill battle, it won’t always be easy. Having a solid brand to fall back on keeps a business resilient. It gives you direction and makes sure you don’t lose yourself. Aspects like website design, a tagline, marketing strategy, logo creation, and a style guide are just the start. Growth is a continuous process; growing your brand and company can be fun if you do it right!
Clare Moorman-Wolfe
J.O. Agency Intern
