Did you know that building your business brand  is not just about your logo and website? Your brand has the power to leave a lasting impression on your customers, and anyone who interacts with your company.

If you want to create a strong identity, focus on creating a brand that differentiates your business from the rest. Here 5 tips to help you build your business brand.

 

  1. Know Your Target Customer

Identifying your target customer is one of the most important exercises you will do before launching your business. Know as much as possible about your customer (gender, age, purchasing power, what they like to do, what they like about you, etc).

 

  1. Name Your Business

A descriptive name (Clive Software) will be easier for customers to identify immediately, but will be hard to “own.” Check with the PACRA  to see if you can register that name as your business name or trademark (not every small business needs a  trademark though). You can also do some Google searches to find out if the name is not registered by someone else.

 

 

 

 

 

  1. Buy Your URL (Domain Name)

You must have your own domain name for your business.  As you are deciding a nice catch name for your business, also consider the availability of the domain name.  For Example, we almost named XyPNET as HiNET meaning Himanansa Networks, but we couldn’t find the domain www.HiNET.com available as it is being used by another business, so we setteled for XyPNET.com . Your Domain Name  should match your business name as closely as possible. Ideally this will be a .com extension or .co.zm  and others like .net or .org are not bad either.

 

  1. Define Your Brand Identity

Choose your colors, fonts and images. Take your time on this and really understand how each of these elements work together to give your customers a certain feeling when they frequent your business.  You can do a Google search on this one also to find out what each logo colour means and what it would mean for your customers.

 

  1. Create Your Logo

This is the symbol of your business. It doesn’t have to be fancy. In fact, simpler is usually best. Create something that will look good in a small space on social media and as a large sign on your door. Make sure you have the proper files for online (PNG) and print (PDF, etc).

 

Always remember, you are not doing it for you, you are doing it for your customers and anyone else who will be buying from you. People don’t buy from brands they don’t like.

Keep reading, I will be posting Part 2 of this.