Business owners always dream about their future success and growth. However, in the midst of expansion, they tend to focus on hiring, sales, and operations, so much so that they forget about branding. Hence, their original visions and brand identities blur.
Well, the answer is building a brand that’s about more than just increasing headcount and revenue. Branding mainly involves honing your core purpose, understanding your origin story, and designing touchpoints.
So if you’re wondering how to build a strong brand during business growth, worry not! This guide provides strategies to help your brand expand without diverting from its purpose. Read on for more.
1. Define Your Origin Story
When your business is growing fast, it’s easy to only think about the future—where you want to go and who you want to be. But it’s crucial to step back before you get all tangled up in brand building.
Reconnect with your brand’s roots. What kicked off this whole journey in the first place? What mission do you live and breathe to accomplish? What core values guide your team’s decisions day in and day out? Who’s the ideal customer you’re doing all this for? Answering these questions will prevent you from straying off track as you expand.
2. Embrace Change
When you’re on the growth train, chances are you’ll be diving into new markets with different cultural norms and consumer tastes. It may be tempting to stick to a one-size-fits-all brand playbook. But trying to force your messaging and style everywhere rarely works. Instead of complete consistency, aim for consistent inconsistency and adapt parts of your brand for each region while keeping the core intact.
For instance, if you want to expand, research strategies for entering foreign markets. This will help you restructure your messaging and visuals to relate with the locals without doing a complete identity overhaul! You want to add that local flair without compromising your roots.
Therefore, do the upfront work to understand each culture. Then get creative with ways to tailor your branding for each market.
3. Clarify Your Brand Purpose
You’ve reconnected with your original story and embraced change. So now it’s time to get crystal clear on your purpose. Find your brand’s ‘big why.’ Ask yourself why your brand exists beyond making money. How are you making life better for your customers and community?
For instance, if you’re in the beauty industry, your purpose can be rooted in promoting confidence and self-esteem. When you take a stand for something bigger than your bottom line, it creates real customer loyalty. People want to support brands aligned with their values.
Therefore, understand the difference you want to make and let that purpose guide your growth strategy.
4. Build Your Brand Identity
A business’s identity is what makes your brand recognizable and memorable to consumers. It’s crucial for attracting and retaining loyal customers. It also serves as the foundation for making informed design decisions aligned with your brand and marketing strategy.
When designing your brand identity, make informed choices based on your brand strategy and target audience. Be creative and bold to stand out from competitors while still fitting your niche. The image you create will determine how users perceive your brand.
5. Design Consistent Touchpoints
Logos and taglines are great, but building a powerful brand goes beyond that. You have to think about how to express who you are through every experience and touchpoint. What would your brand look, sound, and feel like if it came to life? How could you embed your personality into things people see and interact with?
Obsess over details like fonts, images, language, textures, and environments while maintaining consistency across platforms so your brand is recognizable. However, don’t be afraid to experiment with new touchpoints. Surprise and delight your audience by expressing your brand in innovative ways. Just don’t stray so far from your roots that people get confused.
6. Recruit Influencers
Businesses making the biggest cultural impact today collaborate with influencers. This is because, in today’s scene, it’s not just about selling but partnerships that feel authentic. Collaborating amplifies your voice more than traditional advertisements. And the right influencer lends you their audience. It’s big-time exposure.
However, don’t just recruit any influencer; make sure they genuinely connect with your brand. Give them creative freedom to share your story in their voice. It’ll appear more genuine than forcing a canned sponsorship message. For example, a micro-influencer passionate about your mission will advocate better than a celebrity with no ties to your brand.
Creating partnerships that are not only impactful but also resonate authentically with audiences results in a more profound and lasting cultural impact.
7. Measure Brand Success Amid Growth
Keeping tabs on branding metrics might not always be the top priority as your business grows because you’ll probably have more pressing things to do. However, it shouldn’t be overlooked. Here’s why:
- Visibility and recognition: You want to know if more people are recognizing your brand. Monitor metrics like website visitors, social media buzz, and mentions to know if your brand is visible.
- Indicators and adjustments: It allows you to track things like repeat customers, referrals, and customer satisfaction. This helps you see if you’re building a tribe of loyal brand fans. Remember, happy customers are like walking, talking ads for your company.
- Competitive positioning: You also need to understand how your brand performs against the competition, not copy their strategies, but be aware of what’s happening in your industry. Use that info to get inspired and find your unique edge. Tracking growth helps you position your brand as a leader.
- Adaptability and market trends: Markets are always shifting, and your brand has to keep up with the changes. Measure your performance to see whether your brand is adaptable, and be ready to update your branding to stay relevant.
Generally, measuring brand success is about understanding your brand’s story, where it’s headed, and how to make it stronger.
Conclusion
Your brand is what will take your business to the next level. By following these strategies, you can build a strong brand regardless of how fast or slow your business is growing.
Keep in mind that building a strong brand when your business is at its peak can be quite challenging—more so when you are in the initial stages of the brand-building process. Hence, remember the key is to maintain your identity and stick to your initial strategies while trying to adapt to changes.
