Your brand awareness is an important component to the growth of your startup. Many startups don’t know how to position their brand, stand out, and form a distinct identity. While most startups find a challenge in initial branding, this digital era has made company branding easy. If you want to create a winning brand awareness campaign from the onset, the simple question you must answer is, “what identifies my brand?” Once you understand what identifies your brand, you’ll be able to create a brand image that gives your business a competitive advantage. For your business to thrive, customers have to know who you’re and trust your services and products. Take a look at the following five essential tips that will enable your startup to stand out and form an identity.
What Identifies Your Brand?
In the digital era age, five elements define a brand and are vital to building a startup brand:
- Name
- StoryBrand (brand voice)
- Logo
- Website
- Customer Reviews
Business Name
A name has a massive influence on a business and a great tool for brand awareness. Your brand’s name is on your website, blog, email, business cards, and domain. When customers remember what you offer, they begin with your brand name. Nobody remembers iPhones without Apple or coffee without Starbucks. Your business’ name features everywhere you make contact. This is why the name should be easily memorable because it’s an essential first component of a brand. So, craft a good name that will allow people to remember your brand and its offers. Let people identify you from the crowd and reward you with a following.
A StoryBrand
A StoryBrand is a simple way to make your marketing message clear and precise to your target audience. A good story will attract the right audience to your website, capture their attention, engage them, and persuade them to buy the solution you’re offering to their problem.
A StoryBrand helps you tell a customer-centered story about your company and product/service on your website, blog, website, email, and social media. Everything is about the customer in the story brand, as demonstrated by different story brand websites. Every StoryBrand follows seven steps that’s simple for the audience to understand:
- A character — the customer
- Has a problem — internal, external of the business
- Meets a solution — your business/product/service/your mission
- That gives a plan — what your business/product/service offers
- Call the client to action — what should the customer do next (buying now, booking a call, taking a tour, etc.)
- End in success — the client solves their problem
- Helps them avoid failure — what would have happened if they didn’t act to the CTA
This seven-step process should take three to 15 seconds of the customer’s time. If you’re a startup, your StoryBrand should be clear before creating anything.
Business Logo
A logo is your brand’s symbol. It’s the image that will stick in your customer’s minds after they engage with your brand. If done well, you can use your logo in place of your brand’s name, like large businesses such as Apple, S0NNY, Google, Nike, or Tesla. Their images are instantly recognizable, and customers know what they offer. Beyond brand recognition, a logo will help any small business’ brand in different other areas such as:
- Your brand’s values: For example, Amazon’s A to Z arrow is a symbol that customers can get anything they want from Amazon.
- Continued brand impression: Approaching the Golden Arches reminds customers that there’s a McDonald’s close by.
As a new startup, creating your logo from scratch takes time to think about how your customers will recognize your logo and what impression it carries.
Utilizing a reliable logo maker can streamline this process, helping you craft a unique and memorable symbol that resonates with your brand identity.
Website
Without a website, your business will miss out on the engagement and possible sales you’d have gained. Your website is your brand’s basic online visibility agent. The website is your first palace to place your StoryBrand and offer value to the customer. It’s also where you’ll place all the types of content you want to share with your customers, such as products, reviews, blog content, call to action, and customer support. A website combines different aspects of your enterprise, including:
- The brand name
- Business logo
- StoryBrand
- Products and services
- Customer care and contact info, and
- Location
Make your business’ website easy to navigate and simple to interact with when designing your website. Consider factors like website speed, mobile-friendliness, and audience engagement. Use welcoming colors and friendly images.
Customer Reviews
Social proof is the idea of basic normative social influence, where people conform in order to be similar to, liked by, or accepted by the industry, society, or a particular influencer. When browsing your landing page, social media pages, and other communication channels, customers look for other people who’ve used your product/service and what they’re saying about it. These testimonies are your social proof, which can be:
- Customer testimonials
- Case studies with in-depth, data-driven product/service analysis
- Customer reviews
- Social media recommendations
- Data or numbers or customers served
- And more.
Social proof is a social-engineered referral program where customers, celebrities, experts, friends, or users recommend your service to others. As a startup, you can expand your reach by building a social media presence. Social media is a brilliant way to show your target customers the personality of your brand. Reviews influence consumers’ purchase decisions and strengthen your brand’s credibility. They encourage people to engage and interact with your business. Don’t worry if a customer leaves a negative review because you can use that response to improve your product or service.
Endnote
Establishing your startup’s brand is an important aspect of your business. You can easily achieve your startup’s objectives by getting maximum attention from your target audience. Make sure you can narrate your brand’s story in the simplest way possible, create a strong business name, design a memorable logo and create a website that is easy to use and interact with. Finally, use your customer’s reviews as social proof, and a means to improve your brand’s offer.
