Business Branding Basics
Branding is the way you convey an idea or an image about your company to the customer.
Branding can be an exciting part of the creative process when starting a new business. Consistent professional branding can attract your target audience and gives them a way to become familiar with your company and recognise your brand.
People are really visual, and first impressions go a long way. Having the right branding can give you an edge. This is especially useful to stand out from your competitors.
This guide will show you how to start branding a business and how to build a brand from scratch. Our business branding tips will help you set your company’s tone, appearance, voice, and essence.
Why it’s important to brand your business.
The right brand can give your prospective customer insight into what sort of company you are. Setting the right image and tone, especially when a prospect looks at your website or marketing materials can have a massive effect on whether or not they will purchase from you. We cover how to brand a startup so you can get started on the right foot.
A poorly branded business can give your audience the wrong impression.
Elements of branding
Your company’s branding should be able to give a customer a general idea about:
- Who you are
- What you do
- What you are about
This can be expressed by picking a business name, creating a catchy tagline, picking a
How to get started with branding
You may have some ideas of how you want your brand to look. When starting the branding process, you want to first get into creative and decorator mode. Start thinking about options for names, taglines, colours and styles.
Step 1 – Business Name
If you haven’t already decided on a name for your business, this will be the first step.
You can name your business after, what you are (e.g. virtual assistant), what you do (e.g. content creation), what problem you solve (convert readers to customers) or your name/ initials. You can also name your business something which does not include any of that information.
The name you decide can be something to do with the nature of your business.
Example – I provide P.A. support to busy entrepreneurs, so this business is named Prime Personal Assistant. I added an adjective (the word Prime) which is a descriptive word for extra effect.
This can be made even more effective by adding your niche as a descriptive word.
Example – Admin Personal Assistant or Marketing Virtual Assistant.
This is an example if you are a virtual assistant and Admin or Marketing is your niche.
Including your niche in your business name will enable more customers looking for the service you provide to find you easily. They will recognise what you do immediately just by seeing your business name.
This is especially useful for your SEO as your business will be positioned closer to the top of search results. This means you would be seen by more potential customers when people directly search for an Admin personal assistant or Marketing Personal Assistant in Google and other search engines.
It is very possible to build a successful brand with a name that doesn’t include your service. This works well if it is catchy, as it becomes more memorable. This can also be the case if you are an entrepreneur/
Naming your business after your name is also a great way to create a following, especially when it comes to social media. It has been observed that personal profiles generate better engagement and get more followers and likes etc.
You probably have a few ideas floating around, and it’s time to get them down on paper.
Brainstorm a list of names. If you want more ideas or you are stuck for names, try this business name generator. It will give you a list of new business name ideas. The results are pretty impressive. This will help you to find the perfect name or find inspiration.
Asking others for their opinions and feedback is also a great way to see what others think of your business name and what message and idea it conveys to them.
When you have picked your business name, you will need to do a bit of research to make sure it is available for you.
First, check if it’s already in use. You want your business to be unique, and I am sure you want to avoid legal issues.
The name could be in use at the moment, or it could have been in use previously.
Suppose you find that a company already existed in that name. You could discover they provided a similar or the exact service as your business. A little research into the company can help you make a better-informed decision about whether this business name or domain name could potentially bring you clients in your target market. Or whether it would harm your business as the company name may have a negative reputation or reviews that could hinder your success.
Check the company name against the companies house database and also on Google, as only ltd companies will be listed on the companies house database.
Now you need to check if your chosen business name is available to purchase so that you can use it for your website address. This is known as your domain name. This is the address that you give people that take them directly to your website.
Example –
If you search on Companies House and the business name is not in use, this does not mean that the website address is available. You will need to do a separate search for the domain name. Someone may have purchased the domain name and may just be holding on to it for future use or may have forgotten they even own it.
If the domain is available and you have decided on the business name, you will need to secure it before someone else does.
You can check domain name availability and purchase a domain here.
Step 2 – Create Tagline
A tagline is a short sentence or statement used to convey a message about your business.
Creating a unique and catchy tagline will make you more memorable. This can be done easily with a simple short sentence that informs the company of what you do.
Create a tagline using the same brainstorm and feedback process as before. Create a list of ideas and ask for feedback. From the feedback, use that information to determine if the tagline conveyed the right message.
The tagline or slogan should be letting your customers know – either what you do, the problems you will solve, or how you will solve them.
Step 3 – Create a logo.
Have you got an idea for a new logo in mind already? Great, then sketch it.
You don’t have to be the most incredible designer to sketch out a few design ideas yourself.
If you have no ideas or inspiration, get started by researching people offering similar services and check out their branding style.
Start by checking out your top competitors and see what they have in common regarding their brand? Do they all use a specific type of font, are there certain colour themes or layouts that the most successful competitors are using?
Researching this can help you make an informed decision on which way to go with branding.
Remember when getting ideas and inspiration that your company’s brand should be unique and reflect your business.
When it comes to the creation of your logo, you have two options.
1. Create a logo yourself. You can create a basic yet beautiful logo for free using Canva.
2. Hire a professional logo designer. Check out Fiverr cheap gigs starting at $5.
Step 4 – Marketing Templates:
Your brand should be present and consistent through all your marketing materials. One of the aims of your branding should be that your customers should recognise you no matter which avenue they reach out to you, whether that be on an e-book, email or through social media.
So take your time to create your templates and headers in advance and incorporate your brand throughout. Be sure to stay consistent in all your marketing channels.
Being consistent with your branding is key – A stable consistent brand will tell your customers that your business is also stable and consistent. Changing things up too often and too drastically can be negative.
