Top Tips For Creating a Recognisable Brand

Brand awareness or a high profile is one of the most important tools any business can have at its disposal. You can have the best products in the marketplace or provide the best possible service but you will get nowhere if you have no profile or a weak brand.
Some of the most successful businesses in the world such as Google, Apple and Coca Cola are based around being instantly recognisable. And all the best brands inspire confidence in their customers because they are instantly associated with quality and customers know exactly what it is they are buying into.
Here are some ways that even the smallest firms can create a brand without spending a fortune on advertising.

Find a niche

If you are operating in a crowded market place then it can be a tough call to set yourself apart from the opposition and get your brand noticed. One of the best ways to be different is to find a niche that no one has yet discovered or mastered. If you can establish your firm as the best place to go to in a particular field then you’re always going to be onto a winner. Once you have built a great reputation in a particular field you will find that new business and customers will come looking for you.

Send out the right message

People often take things at face value, so image is hugely important. Things like your location, your logo, your website – these are all part of the message you are sending to potential clients and customers. Any start-up company with serious ambitions for the future should be thinking about sending out a statement that tells the market place a quality new business has arrived on the scene.

Network

It may be a very old-fashioned concept but one of the best ways to get yourself noticed is to go out there and network. Business has always been based on making personal contacts and one of the most effective ways to reach a wide audience in a short space of time is by building up an address book. In my early days I felt uncomfortable and slightly awkward in networking situations but they are a vital part of doing business and a great way to get yourself known. If you’re not talking about your business nobody else will, so get out there and start making those connections.

Prove your Quality

It may sound obvious but to be able to create a top brand, you have to have the products and services to back up the marketing. Whatever field you are operating in, take a close look at what your rivals are doing and then go all out to provide a better service than them. Customers will always go for the best value goods and if you can establish yourself as the leader in your market place then your offer will speak for itself. Movie companies will spend millions on marketing but if the film is no good then the audience will simply stay away, as word of mouth is an incredibly powerful form of communication. Remember, good marketing on its own will only ever work in the short term and is worthless without the right product.

Use the Internet

The advent of the Internet has been one the biggest game changers the business world has seen since the Industrial Revolution. The opportunities offered by the Internet are endless, from social media to blogging to search engine optimisation and one of the best things about the Internet is that it is virtually free and you can market directly to your customer base. Any business, large or small, should be making full use of every opportunity that is available out there on the Web. There is no point in trying to ignore the Internet; if you stick your head in the sand you will simply get left behind by rivals who are more technologically savvy and on the ball.