Your Brand
When building a brand its more than just a logo. There are different components that can make up a brand. For instance when you hear the word Microsoft, what comes top of mind? Is it their window logo, their operating systems jingle when logging onto their software, the colors/design, etc? So let’s think about what you should take into consideration when creating your brand.
- Your Value
- Your Vision
- Your Virtue
- Your Voice
- Your View
Your Value
When you are thinking about your brand, think about what value you will be bringing to your ideal customer. For me, when I was coming up with our branding for our company Lighthouse Contracting, Inc., it was to be that company you could depend on and trust just like a lighthouse. We were known for our word of saying when we would be there at the customer’s job and what we would do and completing the job in the estimated time, most of the time. This is where you want to weave your personal story as well to emphasis your branding.
Your Vision
What vision do you want to convey or portray to the value you will be bringing. Again as an example, when we named our company Lighthouse Contracting, Inc. we wanted to be a light in the marketplace and speak of our dependability and trust. So it made since to use the lighthouse emblem. We took it a step further though and added the keeper house with professionals working on the keeper house to give the understanding we were about improving structures.
Your Virtue
Why should others want to follow you or do business with you? What do you want your brand to speak of? Integrity, trustworthy, reliability, dependability, reputation, excellence, etc. What are you most known for?
Your Voice
Your brand should have a voice as well. This voice should convey character, competence and courage. Your band should carry a tagline that is ideally seven words or less. In our case when we first started out with Lighthouse Contracting, Inc. we said “Smart People Use Professionals”. We later changed it to “Use A Pro You Can Trust”. Nike uses just three words for theirs, “Just Do It.” Also, consider developing your pitch the value that others will be able to understand what you have to offer in a 30 second time slot.
Your View
What view is your ideal customer seeing compared to that of your competition? What landscape or design are you creating that differentiates you from that of your competitors. Your positioning is going to be closely related to that of your unique selling proposition. You must know your why more than your what? Your why will give you the sustainability that a what can’t offer. If you look at comparing apples to apples, like same product, price and place, there has to be more of a differentiation and this will be related to your why.