Businesses that present their brand consistently across all platforms can enjoy a boost in revenue by up to 23 percent, according to research presented by Lucidpress. In fact, multiple studies have highlighted just how important a brand is to businesses – both new and existing.
Consumers are more likely to support brands that resonate with their personal beliefs. And with 75 percent of people shopping online at least once a month, getting your business online branding right is more important than ever before.
For a new business, online branding helps to garner exposure for your new business and is a great way to build interest in your business in the market.
In today’s largely digital market, building your business’ brand online is not just about creating a business website. It is about optimizing your business’s social media marketing, choosing the right brand-building platforms, and ensuring your brand resonates with all the right people.
Bring Your Brand To Life With A Unique Name And Logo
When it comes to building a brand online and offline, aesthetics play a large part.
A great brand name and logo is the beginning of the differentiation of your business from others in the industry. It forms a key part of your customers’ first impression, and will also be a constant inclusion in your branding efforts across all platforms both online and offline – on social media accounts, in ad campaigns, and even in your website banners.
A great tip to help you devise a strong brand name for your new business is to connect it to your brand ethos, mission statement, and business plan.
Creating a vision for your business first helps you to answer a few defining questions like where your brand would ideally sit in the market, the target audience, the image and tone you want to portray, and what traits are most meaningful to you.
If you lack the talent or budget to get this done in-house, you can also outsource it to a naming agency, which can help you with the research needed for things like memorability tests, domain availability research, and reaction studies to judge the appeal of potential brand names and logo designs.
You want a brand name and logo that will appeal to customers but remains true to your business’ values.
In particular, the use of custom branded tote bags with your imprinted brand logo or any similar branded merchandise item is a great way to promote your offerings. You can gift them as a token of appreciation for loyal customers, giveaways during trade fairs, or freebies for new customer orders upon meeting a certain price point.
Create A Different Content Strategy For Each Social Media Platform
There is no denying that social media is now integral to a business’ brand building online. By 2025, the number of people using social media is set to increase to 4.41 million, with 90 percent of markets saying social media platforms like Instagram are their most important platforms for trends like influencer marketing.
However, for your social media branding efforts to resonate, you must adapt your content strategy according to your users – which can vary drastically according to the social media platform.
For instance, statistics show that Instagram has over 1 billion users, but 500 million of them are users of Instagram stories – a key brand-building opportunity for new businesses. Alternatively, the most used content type on Facebook is links, which accounts for 44 percent of all posts on the platform.
Before creating your social media content strategy, get to know your users and their demographics. This way you can adjust your strategy to better suit their preferences and ensure your brand is seen in a positive light.
Determine the demographics of your audience by using an all-in-one marketing suite. This tool includes a customer relationship management feature, a content management system, and digital marketing tools powered by data analytics and related technologies.
Devise a social media content strategy that considers the latest trends. For instance, young audiences love to watch video clips, and brands targeting Gen Z can take advantage of this. They can create brand-specific video ads by collaborating with popular creators and influencers or even loyal customers.
Capitalize On Your Local SEO
Did you know that 93 percent of online experiences begin with a search engine? In fact, 57 percent of markets claim that SEO generates more leads than any other marketing tool. As a new business, increasing your visibility can help you get your brand name out there and begin to build a reputation. An easy way to do this is to increase your visibility on a go-to customer site: the search engine.
However, you can also go a step further than this, and focus on boosting your brand’s visibility to people close to your business. Around 72 percent of customers who did a local search ended up visiting a store within five miles of their location.
The easy way to do this is to create a google my business account (Google accounts for a majority of search engine searches), encourage customers to leave reviews online, and add a location page to your website or social media accounts.
To create a Google business account, create a business profile by entering the name of your business. Select your business category and the physical address of your business. Next, enter your business’s service area and your contact number.
Once your business profile is verified on Google, you can start engaging with potential customers. They can find your Google business profile upon completing the verification process. So don’t forget to choose a verification option when creating your business profile.
Finally, remember to synchronize your designs across all your online branding platforms. Uniformity goes a long way in creating a strong brand impression and helps customers connect the links between your social media account and your website.
In today’s market, new businesses do not just need to build a strong business: they need to build a strong brand too. You get brand building right, and you can nail the customer attraction and marketing game.
Keep in mind that brand building does not happen overnight. It takes constant revision, market research, and adjustment as the conditions change. But if you are at the beginning of the process, these three areas are some pretty great places to start.
