6 Steps: Building a Brand from Scratch

Developing a brand persona is often the most overlooked element of setting up a new business venture. Your brand’s personality will urge customers to choose you over competitors. Building a brand persona is essential to thriving in the market for a long time.

You must start building your brand persona from scratch to make it unique and engaging. However, developing your brand’s identity from scratch is not easy. Here’s what you need to do to build a fantastic brand image.

6 Steps for Building Your Small Business Brand

1. Building A Brand Begins with Creating a Logo

A brand logo should be the first thing that comes to your mind while developing a brand from scratch. Remember that the logo will serve as the face of your company and remind people about your existence. It will be everywhere, from your website to your merchandise.

So, it’s important for you to choose elements like the colors, fonts or icons that represent your brand closely. When designing for a business, you need to be aware of the meanings behind logo colors. Besides elevating your logo’s appearance, the palette can also convey the feeling you want to communicate through it.

The symbol or icon is at the center of a branding strategy and is one of the first things that a business or startup should focus on in the beginning.

Logos are a specialty for the team here at Ablaze Media. Graphics aren’t just squiggles but they carry with them feeling and meaning. We can help you develop a logo that reflect who you want to be as a business.

2. Highlight the Personality and Focus of Your Brand

When it comes to building a brand persona from scratch, you need to pay attention to public perception as well. It’s how people may react to the message across digital or print mediums. Do they connect to visual elements on the website? This is where you need to highlight the personality and tone of your brand before setting up your business.

Start with concentrating on your value proposition statement. The brand positioning statement will answer two critical questions in the mind of consumers. It will define what you offer to the target market and how you are different from similar brands in the industry.

After that, you will have to find the voice that would be perfect for your brand on social media, creatives, and other written and visual content. The best way to find your brand’s voice is by using a few adjectives to describe it. You should also focus on identifying metaphors and concepts that best describe your brand.

3. Choose a Slogan for Your Brand

A brief and descriptive slogan that can captivate your target market’s interest is essential. You must be able to use the brand slogan everywhere, from your Instagram bio and business card to your website headline. Remember to select the words carefully because a few words can make a massive impact.

Just think about Nike’s timeless slogan, Just Do It. People across the globe can recall it instantly and think of the brand as well. A good brand slogan will help develop a solid first impression. You can make a strong claim or literally describe your brand name through the motto. You can also go creative and create a rhyming or metaphorical brand slogan.

Sit down with your marketing team to brainstorm a few ideas to best describe your brand using a one-liner. You don’t have a marketing team yet? That’s when you want to call in an agency to help. Marketing professionals, like those who work here at Ablaze, can help you work through your ideas and develop a slogan that is meaningful and memorable.

4. Leverage the Potential of Social Media

You should never underestimate social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram when it comes to branding. Use social media platforms to interact with your audience personally and increase brand awareness. With a solid social media presence and frequent interactions with followers, you will be able to acquire a vast base of loyal customers.

Social media helps humanize your brand, and customers feel that they are interacting with a person instead of just a brand. Develop a schedule for social media postings and stick to it to maintain consistency. Social media content will help your brand generate higher engagement.

Ablaze Media has a team of digital marketing professionals who can regularly develop new content for your business, post content to social media channels and even take out digital ads. As your budget expands, we can shoot video and develop content for print and broadcasting.

5. Develop Your Brand’s Vision

The vision of your brand indicates where you wish to take your business in the future. It’s all about developing a future image of your brand and projecting its long-term future. Keep in mind your brand’s purpose while developing the vision.

You should consider where you want to see your brand five or ten years later. Think about the audience, brand message and goals that you want to accomplish during that time. Brainstorm ideas with your team and develop a plan to expand or boost brand recognition. However, you have to refrain from creating a far-fetched vision of your brand. Moreover, you should not copy the visions of your competitors because every brand should have its unique long-term plans.

6. Work on Your Brand’s Mission

Your brand’s mission is an amalgamation of your vision and purpose. Your brand’s mission will aim to positively impact society and deliver on your promises for the future. Remember that the mission statement of your brand will bring you close to fulfilling your vision.

The mission statement should outline the promise that you are making to your target audience. Refrain from creating a vague mission statement that will be tricky for commitment or comprehension.

Final Thoughts on Building a Brand from Scratch

Building your brand’s identity from scratch requires time and patience. You will have to focus on a lot of elements, starting from an attractive logo. Taking inspiration from other brands while building your brand identity is a good idea. But never copy another brand’s image and focus on your unique characteristics to create a compelling brand persona.

Do you need help? We would love to get together with you for a free consultation.