Creating A Successful Brand

A successful brand is the marriage of your own strengths with what your customer base wants.  That’s why it’s essential that you don’t rush into any kind of business before you decide what your brand is all about.So what exactly is a brand?Put simply, a brand is essentially something that you can offer to your customers that no one else can.  They say there’s nothing new under the sun, but you need to find a fresh spin on something that is already being offered by other people.  Think about the difference between the brands of Pepsi and Coca Cola, for example.  They are both unique, very different brands for a very similar kind of drink, but most people would agree they look for one or the other when they go shopping to buy that drink.So you need to start with what you want to sell, and research that market thoroughly.  What can you offer that isn’t already being done?  It may be a specific way of selling the product.  It may be a unique recipe or way of presenting the product.  It could be the fact that you supply a free gift with each purchase.  You might decide to market your offering in a different way, to reach a slightly different audience.All these factors can influence how you create your own brand – and they are just the beginning.A brand can also relate to how your product or service is perceived visually.  Think about all the big name companies in the world… and how recognisable their logos are.  A logo can strengthen your brand and make it more familiar, which is essential to your long term success if you are selling a consumable product which you will want people to come back and buy more of.A brand can also include a slogan of some kind, which encapsulates the things that make you different from your competition.  Together with a logo these aspects can form a very strong marketing base to work from.The key to creating a successful brand is to research the market you want to enter, to decide how you can make your own mark.  Don’t try to copy what is already out there – apart from getting yourself into trouble you won’t succeed that way.Be daring and do something different.  Make your brand stand out for all the right reasons, and remember it’s essential to put in the time to create a strong brand in the first place.If you do this, it will pay you back many times over for years to come.