Marketing is a very difficult process. It takes a lot of time to make your company recognizable. But due to the incredible competition, it is becoming increasingly difficult to do so. Of course, you can engage in different ways of promotion, but if you want to stay in the history of trading forever, you will have to figure out the development of the brand.
What is this?
From English, "brand" is translated as "brand". And that's what it really means: a "stigma" remains in the consumer's mind about a particular product or service. And it remains due to the fact that a set of measures, opinions, associations, characteristics and emotions was adopted, which made up the general idea of the company.
In general, the concept of "brand" is broad. So you can call the imaginary shell of a product or service. You can see the physical and associative component. In the first case, the brand forms the name, logo, color palette, original graphics, sounds, etc. In the second, the symbolism of certain qualities or characteristics plays a role. The main parameters of the brand: its recognition andreputation.
Therefore, before you figure out how to create a brand, you need to think carefully about the action plan.
Plan
Of course, in brand development, a lot depends on your skills and desires. However, there is a certain plan that is easiest to follow in the process of building awareness and reputation.
You can control the directions you move in, but you need to know that there are five of them:
- Positioning is the birth of a brand. Here it is worth understanding where and how he will go, what place he will occupy and what idea he will carry.
- Strategy is a preparatory stage. It is extremely important to analyze competitors, track the behavior of the audience, etc.
- Components. This direction involves the development of all the physical components of the brand, namely the logo, name, trademark, packaging, etc.
- Promotion speaks for itself. It is important to carefully consider all the steps that are available to you.
- Management. Having achieved certain successes, it is extremely important to maintain them and increase them. At this stage, they are constantly engaged in monitoring and analytics.
Successive steps
When figuring out how to create your brand from scratch, you need to stick to the above plan. But it can be described in more detail. Marketing books usually describe 9 to 11 steps. There is no official classification, since each owner independently decides which path he actually needs to go. However, it is worth looking at the followingsteps:
- Idea.
- Research.
- Analysis.
- Name.
- Packaging.
- Tests.
- Rules.
- Channels.
- Staff.
- Implementation and analytics.
Some steps can be combined, others can be split.
Idea
How to create a brand? You have to start with the most fundamental - the idea. You must understand why you are developing an image and what exactly you will convey to your customers. At the same time, it is extremely important to understand that that very idea will be special and unique. It must be attractive and competitive.
Research
At this stage, you will need to conduct a marketing analysis. It is very important to know everything about your company, about the market situation and competitors. Too many business owners skip this step. It seems to them insignificant and not very important. But it's not.
It is better to spend a few weeks on deep analysis than to spend many years doing something completely wrong and incur losses.
Analysis
By the third stage, you will come up with a few ideas. We'll have to weed out everything superfluous and continue to go with only one. To do this, you need to carefully study all the ideas, check their compatibility with the market and the target audience. It's best if you can predict the long term.
Name
Not everyone knows how to name a brand. The main thing is that the chosen idea should be embedded in his name. Remember that the titleshould be bright and memorable. Do not use complex words or multiple phrases. And after you come up with a name, you will have to check it for the presence of "clones" so that there are no problems later.
An interesting example of cool naming is Pepsi. Few people know, but the name of this drink came from the digestive enzyme pepsin.
Packaging
This is also an equally important stage. Packaging is the "face" of your company. In addition to the fact that it should be bright and beautiful, it is important to reflect your idea in it. Very often, buyers are "guided" to the packaging, especially if it is really something remarkable. Therefore, you will have to spend time to convey the tone of communication with customers and naming through it.
Tests
When figuring out how to build a brand, don't forget about periodic reviews. For this, focus groups are usually used among ordinary buyers and employees of the company. It should also be understood that such tests do not give a general picture, but they do the main thing - they point out shortcomings.
Rules
Before registering a brand, you need to write down all the rules separately. A guide with instructions will help you find all the answers to both old and new allies. It will describe the brand book, guidelines, company missions and other developments. Everyone who comes across this directory should find all the answers to questions about the company.
Channels
This is the stage of promotion, in which it is necessary to find out the most successful channels for disseminating informationabout your brand. Of course, no company is complete without advertising, and yours is no exception.
Staff
You can't hire the perfect employee right away. Your staff needs to be involved in the brand, taught and supported. Only after that you will be able to work successfully for many years. Employees who will root for a common cause will try to do everything for its success.
Implementation and analytics
Now you need to take matters into your own hands to get the right idea of how to build a brand. Everything accumulated can be collected in a heap and deal with paperwork. After successful implementation, work can begin. But on the first day, you can start doing analytics. Try to constantly monitor data about your company: sales, audience, promotion and advertising.
Check
Before you take your ideas to the patent office, you need to check them for clones, otherwise you will be denied immediately. But you should understand that the logos of companies and brands are difficult to verify online. Nevertheless, you should still determine the uniqueness of the brand, see the distinctive features and phonetics of the designations.
It is best to contact an expert who is connected to this and can do the first check before you go directly to the bureau. By the way, if you forget or give up on the test, you can lose more than a year to re-register and wait.
Register
How to patent a brand? You need to prepare carefully. What do you need?
- Preparestatement.
- To provide a list of goods and services that are associated with the brand.
- Print on A4 image of the brand.
- Provide a story and description of the logo.
- Pay the state fee and attach a check.
It is extremely important to check the submission rules. Sometimes conditions can change, so you need to take this into account so that you do not have to return to the beginning at some point.
Reason for rejection
You should be prepared for the fact that you may be denied registration. Usually the reasons are specified in the relevant law. Many people often make the same mistakes:
- meaningless character content;
- contradicting the signs of humanity;
- consumer misleading;
- use of names of cultural objects, etc.
Of course, this is not the easiest process. At some point, you will have to sacrifice something, but you need to be extremely careful all the time.
Example
How to create your own clothing brand? To begin with, you will have to prepare a business plan that can superficially outline all the stages of work. It should describe:
- Theme and type of activity (here you can determine what exactly you will make, whether it be sneakers, sportswear or underwear).
- The main audience and ways to attract it (if it is sportswear, then athletes will have to be invited, if these are children's things, then mothers will have to turn).
- Potential investors who would be interested in yourproject.
- Full cost calculations.
- Brand value.
- Estimated income.
- Ways to promote business and cooperate with partners.
Usually, when thinking about a clothing brand, the owner wants the investment to be small, and the risks of losing everything are minimal. So you have to decide how to save money.
In this case, you still have to think about what expenses and incomes can be. Perhaps it makes sense to work on a bright presentation in order to attract investors who will cooperate with you. Of course, you can try to save money, but in no case should you do this as the first collection. This is your “face” that the audience will see for the first time, and it is highly undesirable for them to be immediately disappointed.
The development of a clothing brand also has several stages. The first usually determines the type of clothing that is easier or more interesting to work with. Here you are free to choose what you like best. The only thing is, try not to cover all areas at once. It is better to work on one thing, but with high quality and thoughtfulness.
Next, you will need to select the equipment for sewing. It all depends on your capabilities and desires. Usually you need to get at least a couple of sewing machines and spare parts for them. You will also need mannequins, hangers, etc. It is better to arrange such a workshop next to the store or in the same room.
Finding distribution channels will also need to be considered, especially if you do not plan to open a store. Then you have to think eitherover the Internet platform, or over cooperation with partners.
After that, it remains to run advertising. You can contact popular bloggers by giving them clothes in exchange for advertising about them. You can ask popular people to participate in a photo shoot for your collection. Finally, the most common advertising on the Internet is also bearing fruit.
A clothing brand is also exposed to risks, like any other business. Therefore, it is important to be prepared for force majeure: higher prices for materials, rent, equipment, advertising, etc.
