Branded Beginnings: 3 Branding Must-Haves When Starting Your Business
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Starting a business is an exciting and brave venture. Online entrepreneurs have been around for a long time but since the pandemic of 2020, we’ve seen an increase in e-business start-ups.
As more and more businesses sprout up, the competition gets more fierce and tighter as niche markets compete for the same audience. Your audience. And when you’re starting up a business, that can feel a little intimidating.
First impressions are everything when it comes to branding and how you show up matters for yourself and your desired audience. It's always a wise idea to establish and solidify your branding first for your business.
In this blog post, I’ll be sharing 3 branding must-haves you need to set your business up for success.
Clear Definition of Your Desired Audience
Side note: I like to use the term “desired audience” versus “target audience.” The concept of “targeting” someone and being a “target” myself doesn’t sit well with me.
You have an excellent product or service that needs to get out to the masses. While your offer may be for everyone, there’s a specific audience that will connect better with your brand. Having a clear definition of who your desired audience is will help you build your brand and show up how you’re meant to.
Here are some questions to ask yourself when it comes to you brand:
If my brand was a person, what would they look and sound like? How would I want them to look and sound?
What are their values?
What kind of personality does my audience have and what will attract them?
What’s my audience’s age, income, gender, etc?
What kind of hobbies or activities are they into?
Once you have clarity of your desired audience, this will help you better connect and meet the needs of your audience while also giving you ideas on how you would want your to be brand designed visually.
Strong Branding Visuals
Having strong branding visuals amplifies the first impression that you’re bringing to your audience. As your audience is being introduced to your offer, they’re going to see your logos, colors, and other branding visuals. You want your brand visuals to be memorable.
When it comes to branding, strong, memorable visuals is the difference between another burger joint down the street versus a large fast food chain. Everyone knows about the large fast food chain whether they see the logos or the colors individually or collectively. That’s what sets them apart from the others.
Every detail matters when it comes to your branding visuals in both digital and print form.
Part of your branding visuals will be your:
Logo Suite Variations
Colors and How They’re Used
Font/Typography Choices
Having a memorable brand for your business is a must-have and it’s important to learn all you can in how you can achieve one. However, I understand the frustration of not knowing how or where to go when it comes designing your branding visuals especially for the first time. You don’t want anything subpar or to make further mistakes.
To avoid all this, I’ve created a focused, in-depth mini branding course that will help you build and create a strong memorable brand in less than 7 days. Click the button to enroll now.
Optimized Web Presence
After nailing down your desired audience and getting your solid branding visuals together, it’s important to have an optimized website that is consistent with your branding visuals. There’s a growing notion that websites are becoming obsolete in today’s fast-paced world in technology but that couldn’t be further than the truth. Searches are still done on Google everyday and you want to make sure that your brand is seen.
Having an optimized website is considered a home base for your brand and gives in-depth, concrete information that social media may not be able to keep up with because of the ever changing feed/stories, metrics, and algorithm.
For a business building their brand, websites can be considered a significant investment, especially if you’re on a tight budget. Here are some other must-have alternatives to showcase your brand:
Start an Email List
Creating an email list through an email marketing system is powerful. Email lists are great in keeping your new subscribers and audience in the know while adding a personalized touch. You’re conveying your message about your brand to them as if you’re speaking to them directly.
Not only can you send newsletters to your subscribers, you can sell your products or services to generate income, create custom landing pages, create automated emails and email funnels which is a powerful and popular feature that saves you a lot of time. One powerful email marketing system and my personal system of choice is ConvertKit.
ConvertKit is more robust when it comes to email marketing. Virtually, everything that you need to build, grow, and automate your email list is here. I love the powerful features it offers such as digital product page creation, landing pages, and the wonderfully popular email automation sequences that’s user friendly for beginners or advanced for those who want to create lead/sales funnels. ConvertKit is a must-have essential for both my branding and my website.
Give ConvertKit a shot for your business like I did FREE for 14 days by clicking HERE. I guarantee this will be a must-have for your brand too.
Social Media
This alternative for your brand is no-brainer since most of your audience will spend their time on some type of social media platform. Facebook and YouTube are still considered royalty in the social media space with TikTok not too far behind.
However, the key is to find ONE social media platform that you like and can commit to being consistent with to showcase your brand. This can prevent social media burnout that most businesses face when it comes to their brands.
Having these 3 must-haves for your new brand will help you take the guesswork of having to navigate getting your brand out to the world alone. You’ll have a stellar brand with strong visuals that your desired audience will want to connect with avenues to reach out to them in an impactful and personalized way.
