Expert Opinion: Create8’s top four branding tips

Stockport-based creative, digital and marketing agency, Create8, share their top four tips for building a successful business brand.

At Create8, we are constantly asked about branding. We suppose it’s the world we live in. We see the brands we adore so frequently, and because of social media, we feel closer to them than we ever have before.

It seems as though the term ‘brand’ is a modern phenomenon, but the truth is branding has always been one of the most important facets of a business.

When it comes to driving sales to your business, your branding is largely responsible for whether those potential customers choose to purchase or move on to new pastures. At Create8, we’ve built a reputation for providing thought-provoking branding packages and breaking the norms with business and customer relationships.

When it comes to your branding, there are countless details you should be thinking about for your branding. That’s why we’re here, to help you along the way a little. It’s time to start thinking about the consistency of your brand, whether or not your business is recognisable and how you could improve what you’re already doing.

In a world where you can be anyone, be yourself

Potential customers avoid an insincere business like they do a bad smell. There will be countless reasons buzzing around your head as to why you started your business. Well, you need to continue to prioritise those reasons.

Yes, it is undoubtedly easier to become a sheep, agree with the masses and simply do what others are doing. But then what’s the point? You are the reason you’re here today, and your business will have plenty of your beliefs and aims at its core. Remain true to all of these things in your branding; it’s noticeable, believe us.

Honesty and consistency

Secondly, your business should also prioritise being honest and consistent. To be a great brand, and hopefully one day a household brand is a brilliant target for anyone in business. However, your brand will falter at the first hurdle if it isn’t honest, especially in the coming year.

As a nation of consumers, we have felt trapped for the past year whilst constantly being fed false expectations. So now is the time we need honesty more than ever. When we say honesty, we mean merging your brand and its ethics together. We mean clean and honest marketing where you sell yourself because you’re a great company and not because your competitor isn’t.

As for consistency, this should be something that you champion until it’s second nature. Once you no longer have to think about your tone of voice or the way you use colours in your marketing, that’s when your brand is truly consistent.

Consistency stands for way more than just graphics and tone. It also includes how you respond to complaints, how you engage with your clients and how you present yourself to others.

Understand your audience

What really sets your brand apart from those around you is how well you understand your audience. Knowledge of your demographic sounds like it should be a given, but honestly, it’s far less commonplace than you would imagine.

Once you understand what your customers want and further down the line why they buy your product, you’ll begin to understand their behaviour. Your audience’s behaviour is essential to your brand on countless levels. It will help you judge the success of a new product and even help you understand when you should reduce your prices or push special offers.

The term brand can be loosely attached to anything you do as a business. However, it’s pivotal that you understand whose opinion forms your brand identity. Jeff Bezos said it best when he said, ‘Your brand is what other people say about you when you’re not in the room.’ Therefore you must show people what you’re all about, show, don’t tell. What you think about you, just isn’t that important.

Walk that walk and talk that talk

Our final branding top tip would be…Be your brand ALL of the time. Once you build a business, you can’t detach yourself from that company whenever you feel like it. You’ve got to walk that walk and talk that talk. You should always think about what’s best for the brand. Far too often do we see businesses where owners have made errors that have come back to affect the company.

If you want to be the best, you’ve got to think like the best. As difficult as it may be, strive to live
and breathe your business.