Brands Social
Everything You Need to Know About Building a Successful Brand
Starting a business is no small accomplishment. It requires time, effort, and patience on your end. That said, business isn’t as cut and dry as opening shop and expecting to make a lot of sales. This process goes far deeper than new business owners think. It’s also about building a successful brand and diversifying yourself among your competitors. In this article, we’ll be covering everything you need to know about building a successful brand.
What is a Business Brand?
A business brand is something that a target audience can easily recognize as they shop around. Think of something such as Coca-Cola, Starbucks, Google, and Apple. These are all brands that have been established are widely known among the general public. Despite all the success that these four brands have seen, they weren’t built overnight. Take Microsoft for example. It was a small project that saw its production through Bill Gates and Paul Allen in their garage in the late 1900s. Today, it’s one of the leading computer software programs to date. Furthermore, there isn’t some long, drawn-out process when it comes deciding on a brand. It actually all starts with a simple idea, which you then build upon over time. The same applies to the brands we mentioned before as well.
Branding is a Financial Investment
Branding is more than just a personal investment; it’s also a financial investment as well. How much it costs to brand yourself depends on a number of factors. For starters, you can bypass a majority of the costs by branding yourself and focus solely on paying for advertising services. Advertising can have a cost ranging from a few hundred to as much as thousands. It all depends on how many ads you’re running, the platform’s rate and how long you plan on having them run.
If you choose to go with a branding agency, you’ll be spending at least $25,000 on average, and that’s just with the low-end price. Some agencies can charge their clients as much as $75,000 just for helping you come up with a strategy alone. Either way, these costs can be very difficult to manage by yourself. However, there alternatives in financing the costs. One of the best options involves taking out a personal loan. A personal loan is used for anything you can think of, even paying the expenses of a branding agency. But in order to get a high amount, you’re going to need a solid credit score, a clear credit history, and a low debt-to-income ratio.
Before applying, make sure to check your report for any discrepancies. These are errors that impact your potential of acquiring the loan. Secondly, check your credit score and see what it currently is. While lenders can give people their personal loan with a score of 550 and lower, the amount they receive could be lower than usual. Furthermore, the interest rates attached to them will be higher as you’ll most likely be deemed as a high-risk borrower. If your score is kind of low, it’s in your best interest to do what you can to increase it.
Don’t Rush the Process
One of the most fatal mistakes new business owners can make, whether it’s choosing a structure or building your brand, is rushing everything. Rushing can lead to a lot of issues. Rushing things can lead to disorganization, which can cause you to accidentally overlooking something important. Another potential issue speeding through the process can have is experiencing a drop in productivity and sales. When it comes to such a large and important investment such as a business, you want to take everything slow. Taking things slow gives you the mental headspace to analyze, learn and strategize everything out. It also allows you to go over everything to ensure there are little to no errors.
Take to Social Media
Social media has become the largest network for businesses. It’s what connects everyone around us and the people in other parts of the world. As such, businesses can use it to bring more attention to their brand. A strong social media content strategy is also how you’ll be able to compile data on your target demographic and come up with strategies on how to better communicate with them. The best platforms to use these days are Instagram and TikTok, but you can also use YouTube once you have a big enough following.