You did it! You followed your dream, perfected your craft, and created a business model. You’ve got your
, you know how you’re going to sell (online, in person, or a little bit of both?), and you’ve got the materials and inventory on-hand. You’re ready to launch and profit off of something you absolutely love.
But before you set up your first sale, there’s a very important thing you need.
2. Nail Down a Name (Or Several)
Naming your business can be as simple as using your own moniker à la Jane Doe LLC, or as abstract as an applied theory, like Quantum Crystals, Inc. You do you. But there are a few basic best practices to consider when thinking up your brand name.
Names can be very literal (We Sell Soap Co.) or aspirational and inspirational. Generally speaking, B2B sales tend to be a bit more literal, while B2C companies look to evoke emotion and inspire. There are of course exceptions to this, but that’s a guideline to consider. What do you want people to think about when they see your brand name? Do you want to make them ponder its meaning and how it's applied, or would you prefer it to be very clear what you do? Both are right, neither is wrong.
Next, consider whether you’re going to be a local, regional, national or international company. Why? Because certain words and names have different meanings or connotations depending on the culture you’re operating in. Steer clear of anything that may be considered offensive, insensitive or alienating to any culture (that’s good practice in general), and be wary of words that translate to negative meanings in other languages.
Once you nail down a shortlist of names you’re comfortable with, it’s time to check for copyrights, trademarks and URL availability.
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office is a great place to start to determine whether your potential name is already in use, as well as a basic Google search to see if anything comes up. Next, check URL availability (there are a number of free tools available for this, including
name.com or
whois.com). Even if YourName.com is taken, there are often variations that still make it possible to get an intuitive domain name.
Taglines or slogans are a natural extension of brand names, usually serving the purpose of providing additional context to your name and further explaining who you are to your customers, or what they get when they purchase from you.
Finally,
register your company name to protect it. You may decide to give individual products or product lines their own child brand, which would necessitate this process for each brand name you decide on.
3. Develop Your Brand Personality
Identifying your audience and coming up with a company name will guide you in finalizing your brand. Your next step is to identify your brand personality. Much of this comes from your company’s mission, vision and values, which speak to how you want to operate and can be translated into a brand voice.
Your brand voice is how you communicate with customers, prospects, vendors and partners. It is consistent, meaning you don’t have one personality when you’re talking with a customer and a completely different personality when you’re talking with investors. You may be more formal or more personable with one audience (these are called your brand tones), but your overall voice is constant.
Come up with a few words that describe your brand voice. Think descriptively: are you conversational? Enthusiastic? Scientific? Empathetic? How do you want people to feel when they read your website or see an ad? Write down the five to seven words that best describe the personality you’d like to convey, and then a sentence or two that explains it. Consider your buyer persona(s), their motivators and the needs you are filling for them.
Here’s an example. If you are selling a balm that eases muscle aches and provides aromatherapy, one word that may describe your brand voice could be “supportive.” You could document it as such:
Supportive: We believe our customers work hard every day and deserve to feel pampered. We strive to provide a product that soothes aches and pains while relaxing the mind, to be ready to take on whatever’s next.
And then use that word to guide how you write your website copy, social media posts, advertisements, emails and thank you cards. For each adjective you use to describe your brand voice, you should be able to look at any given piece of communication and double check it against those words.
5. Document It
You’re almost there. The last step is to make sure all of your brand development is well documented in a
Brand Style Guide. The style guide serves as a written reference for all aspects of your brand and usage guidelines.
Getting it all down on paper reduces the risk of a fractured approach to marketing and communications, which can muddy your brand’s reputation or perception to the market. Brand style guides are great tools for onboarding agencies and employees, providing packaged materials to partners for promotion, or for your own internal reference.
Once you’ve completed these steps, you’re ready to introduce yourself to the market and start promoting your business!
A brand.
A brand is simply how you present your company to the outside world and how you differentiate yourself from competitors. That means a unique visual identity and personality that people can tie to your organization, products and/or services. It comes in the form of a name, logo, colors, packaging and other identifiers that cause people to automatically think of your business.
Is it that big of a deal, or can you just slap a name on a product and call it a day?
Well, yes, a well-thought-out brand is a pretty big deal. First and foremost, it’s the way people refer to your product when talking to their friends and family (see: word-of-mouth sales). It’s also a way to build trust, so customers know what they’re getting anytime they purchase something with your name on it. Brands also create legitimacy, particularly in new businesses, that show people you’re not a scammy or unreliable company.
Here’s an example. Say you have created a product that customers adore, and they happily use it and tell their friends about it. What are they going to tell them?
- “I found it at a pop-up stall at the festival last week. It was a nice local artisan selling them at a table! I think it was called Cutie Co.?”
OR
- “I found it at a pop-up stall at the festival last week. Let me check the label… OK, so it’s called QWERTY Co. and you can order straight from their website — or look for this cute designed packaging!”
Scenario B is going to lead to a lot more awareness and sales than scenario A.
Building a brand doesn’t have to be a huge lift, but it does take some purposeful planning and investment. Let’s break it down into five steps.
1. Identify Your Audience
It’s helpful if you start the branding process by identifying who your primary (and possibly secondary or tertiary) audience is. Having a good idea of who you’re talking to and what motivates them to purchase will be a major aspect of all of your branding and marketing decisions.
Creating a buyer persona is a great way to pinpoint and organize the characteristics of your target market. A buyer persona is just a fancy term for a fictional person — with a name, age, occupation, and full identity — that best represents your audience. To figure out who this “person” is, you can start with asking yourself a few questions, such as:
- What does my ideal customer look like? “Everyone” isn’t an appropriate answer here. Get specific (i.e., they are college educated, interested in holistic health and wellness, care about visual art, etc.)
- What need does my product or service fulfill? No one purchases without having a need, which can even include things like, “Having an emotionally stimulating space,” or “The desire to feel calm and at peace.”
- How do I want my business to be perceived? This is an important question. Presumably, you’ll want to be authentic in your brand personality. That said, your brand personality may only resonate with a certain percentage of the population. Identifying this early on will help you focus your marketing efforts to audiences that will be drawn to your brand.
Next, you’ll want to conduct a bit of market research. This can be as simple as sending out a survey to current customers (if you’ve already begun selling or sampling), or surveying people in your life who you feel meet the criteria of your “ideal customer.” Ask questions like:
- Where do you prefer to do most of your shopping (online, at a brick-and-mortar store, at festivals and markets, etc.)?
- What motivates you to purchase from a particular brand?
- What three words would you use to describe your personality?
- What is your level of education?
- Do you live in a city, suburb or rural setting?
- What is your income range?
- What gender do you identify with?
- What is your age?
- What are your beliefs and values?
Combining the answers to the questions you ask yourself as well as your market research, you should be able to come up with at least one buyer persona. This persona will be the “person” you market your brand to, and who you think about when considering the following steps in creating your brand.
4. Focus on the Visuals
Now it’s time to bring it all together visually. The way your brand looks should also convey its personality, so your logo, color palette and typography should all ladder back up to your brand voice as well.
For example, when you see bright, neon green and caveat font, it doesn’t necessarily say “peaceful.” It does, however, say “fun” or “edgy.” Visual elements should clearly align with the descriptive words you came up with in your brand personality/brand voice exercise.
That goes for your logo, too. It’s a good idea to get your logo and brand guidelines developed by a professional designer that has been trained in the psychology of design elements and purposeful design.
When developing or approving your logo, consider the many places it may appear, and what it would look like in those contexts. For example, your product label, your website, and perhaps an apparel item or name tag may all contain your logo. Think about how it may look with various backgrounds and settings.
