In the times of economic decline and corporate disappointment, a lot of people are turning their heads towards entrepreneurship, or starting their own companies. These people include disgruntled ex-employees, fresh-graduates or just people who oppose the idea of answering to someone with higher-authority than them. Fresh up-and-coming people with bright ideas or former workers with schemes to build a better business, all fall short if they don’t have a proper structure of said business. With the market ever-evolving and changing its ways, it’s hard to pin-point one exact viable way of building a business or brand. However, there are some rules and principals about entrepreneurship and brand building that remain constant, and are universal. We’ll take a look at a few of them and discuss how they can help you build your brand or business.

Name, Slogan and Logo

The first and perhaps the most valuable steps in your journey towards building a successful brand are business name, your brand’s slogan and the logo. 

• Name

According to Merriam-Webster, one of the definitions of brand is “a class of goods identified by name as the product of a single firm or manufacturer”. Your product will be recognized by the name, and the importance of a good name is one of the chief steps in building a brand. For example, some brands use the name of their founders (Dell, Giorgio Armani, Adidas) while others use what they do (Delta Airlines, Verizon Wireless) and some used random words and made it their own (Apple, Google, Microsoft). Whenever you think of these names, you think of what they do, that’s the power of a good catchy name. Your brand’s name will grow to define you, and it will represent your hard-work and dedication. Choosing a brand name can be challenging, but that doesn’t mean it’s impossible. The simplest way to find a proper name is looking at the core of your brand, and the services you’ll offer.

• Slogan

Just like the name, your brand’s slogan is just as important to cut through the chatter and deliver your brand’s motto or mission in a few words. The importance of a good slogan is that it will highlight the image of your brand and draw attention towards your product. To stand-out in a crowded world of digital market, your slogans have to motivate the customer. For example, Nike’s “There’s no finish line.” Why does it work? Because it’s positive and attracts the customer towards resilience and hard-work. Or Apple’s “Think Different” works because it makes even the average customer feel different.

• Logo

Look at Google’s logo, and you’ll think of search engines. Think of Apple’s signature logo and you’ll be thinking about iPhones, that’s the significance of your brand’s logo. Just like Nike’s signature check mark emblem will make you think of sportswear and shoes. You have to design a logo that plants YOUR idea of your product in the customer’s mind.

Create a brand – not a field to go over

Branding implies a very long action plan for the development of your company. No one will tell you exactly what it takes to create a strong brand for years to come. The only thing we know for sure is that such work is built on a few stages:

1. Brand positioning. It is at this stage that the brand is born. What niche it will occupy, and what the company will strive for. 

2. Brand strategy. At this stage, the analysis of competitors, their own company, target audience and other elements of the system should be taken into account to prepare a strategy. As a result, there comes an understanding of how the brand will be positioned in the future. 

3. Brand components. It implies the brand itself, how consumers will see it, its name, trademark, slogan and brand packaging. Inexperienced businessmen initially create a beautiful logo, and then begin to think where to put it on and for whom it was created.

4. Brand promotion. At this stage, a meticulous and accurate action plan is created to promote the mass of your brand.

Target Audience

In order to target your niche, you have to identify your market first. For example, if you plan on selling sport shoes, you can’t expect people from working class buying unless they’re actively participating in sports. In order to find your audience you have to identify the kind of people it will serve. Footwear for sports are best suited for sportsmen, athletes, and gym-goers. You have to put specific demographics in account in-order to accurately pin point your target audience, based on Age, Gender, Location and Occupation. But like mentioned earlier, you can’t sell sportswear to working class audience unless they are active in sports or physical activities. In order to identify that, you have to consider different psychographics, such as lifestyles, behaviors, and attitudes. Studying this will help you single out your target audience.

Competition

Correctly identifying your competitors is the flip side of the same coin as target audience. To sell your product and stand-out in a competitive market, you have to recognize your competitors and their specialties so that you may compete with said products. To achieve proper insight on your competition, active research such as their customer’s feedback through social media and other forums can be useful.

Professional Help

You require help from industry professionals for a proper launch-pad for your brand. You can’t expect your brand to sky-rocket overnight, but you can hurry that process by seeking help from professionals who are already helping other brands deliver. A few examples of professionals that you can seek are:

• Asset protection through the brand-lawyers that help you keep your organization’s secrets and trademark your specialties. 
• Hiring professional human resource agencies to help you build a proper base of employees.
• Software solutions to help you create your website, make your presence on social media and help you create an app for your brand.
• Brand Advocates that help and raise your brand by verbally endorsing and recommending your products.

Consistency

You can still fail to launch a brand even if you have the brightest idea that no one has thought of. Or even if you can put out a product that’s unmatched by the current market. Why? Because you lack in the matter of utmost importance, consistency. Consistency and persistence is the key to success for any emerging brand or organization in any and all markets.