10 Tips for Building a Rockstar Brand Image

By IndianCEO Team

Posted on May 22, 2019

10 Tips for Building a Rockstar Brand Image

Today, the online space is flooded with small and large businesses in various sectors. On social media and blogs, and in digital ads and email newsletters, you can find new businesses promoting their products and services every day. However, only a handful of them are able to fight the competition and emerge as top brands in their respective industries. These are the ones that take serious steps towards building rockstar brand images.

If you want to take your business to the next level, then you too can create a powerful brand image by following these steps:

1. Identify Your Target Audience

Failing to identify your target audience can lead to more wastage of time and money than you can imagine. This is because all your efforts in the areas of marketing, sales, and branding will offer poor ROI and possibly fail altogether if you don’t know who are you selling your brand to. This is why it’s important that you know the following details of your customers:

• Age
• Gender
• Location
• Income
• Usual occupations

The more information you have about your target demographic, the easier it becomes to create the perfect brand. So, you can also try to get additional details like their pain points, motivations, requirements, etc.

2. Create the Perfect Logo

Every brand has a logo, but a powerful brand has a powerful logo. So, rather than picking a design that looks and feels good, take your time and create a logo that speaks the language of your brand and has all the qualities to attract the target demographic.

There are some ground rules for designing the perfect designs. For instance, a good logo has five characteristics which are relevance, simplicity, timelessness, versatility, and memorability. Of course, you also need to understand your own brand so that you can choose the right colors, fonts, icons, and other visual elements.

3. Build Trust

There is a reason why brand name is important for startups– it helps them connect with the customers on an emotional and personal level which is something that goes a long way. Think about it- there are so many brands in every possible category today, but most customers won’t switch unless their favorite brand makes a move that disrespects them or harms the trust they have built.

There are many things you can do to make it easier for your customers to trust you more. These include:

• Share valuable content via social media, blogs, etc. that educates and informs your customers
• Encourage user reviews and take the feedback seriously
• Ensure that your brand never engages in activities that put it in a bad light
• Encourage and share positive user-generated content (selfies with your products and services is a good example)
• Host live video events whenever possible

4. Identify Your USP

If you want to create a brand that’s recognized everywhere irrespective of the competition that you are facing today, then you must identify the qualities that set your name apart. In other words, you need to ask yourself: what makes my company special?

What are some of the things that differentiate your brand from others? Do you offer exceptional customer service, or is the pricing of your products that makes your company so loveable and respectable in the industry? Whatever USPs your company has, you need to identify them and build the brand around them.  

5. Create a Brand Voice

Think of your brand as a person who has a unique personality. What kind of voice do you imagine this person has? Is it professional, friendly, informal, or promotional? It can have any of these voices, but there has to be at least one, and it has to be distinct and clear. After all, you can’t have an identity if your voice isn’t strong and memorable.

6. Be Consistent

Here is something that many budding entrepreneurs forget- consistency is the key to successful branding. There are many ways you have to maintain consistency- delivering the promises that you have made as a brand, messaging that you are using on social media, blogs, press releases, etc. and more.

When you are advertising and marketing across different platforms, then your brand image may develop inconsistencies and discrepancies. This is commonly seen when you have a large team that handles different channels. For instance, your social media manager might be sharing content that encourages others to be bold and resolute, while your blogger might be focusing on ideas that promote creativity and originality. In the same way, the quality of customer service may differ from one platform to another. So, what you need to do is create a rulebook for your brand and pen down the principles that you want to follow for all things branding.

7. Identity Your Competition

They say: “keep your friends close and your enemies closer”, and they are right, even when it comes to running a business. This is because you can avoid all kinds of disasters by studying your biggest rivals from up close and learning from their mistakes. You can also identify their brands so that you can modify yours in a way that it’s different from them and stands on its own.

8. Create a Style Guide

A powerful brand image can only be created if you follow a specific style guide which covers the select colors, fonts, photos, and design systems that you will use everywhere. You can see that some of the powerful brands have successfully used this technique to become memorable and timeless. For instance, Coca-Cola has been able to set itself apart from the competition with its iconic typography and affinity towards the color red which is associated with passion and excitement. In the same way, Dell has used a simple but memorable logo that’s based on the color blue which is the color of loyalty and precision.

9. Improve Workplace Culture

The way how your employees interact with others outside of the workplace and how they feel about working in your company also has a huge impact on the brand image. This is why experts say that your company culture should match your brand.

You are free to create a company culture in which you encourage creative thinking, leadership, competitiveness, or some other attribute. However, what matters is that these qualities are a part of your brand. As long as you are able to take care of that, then you can build an influential brand without a problem.

10. Take Your Brand Everywhere

You can’t just create a brand and expect it to work on its own. You have to take it with you wherever possible and promote it in all the places you can. For instance, you have to design customized business cards, business presentation slides, blog and website, email newsletters, and even company merchandise- coffee mugs, stationery, etc. Remember- the further you push, the further you reach.

Creating an authoritative brand image doesn’t have to be a herculean task.  You can just follow the tips above and see the impact for yourself. It’s possible that the results will show later than sooner, but they will show for sure. Just be patient and keep at it. Good luck!

10 Tips for Building a Rockstar Brand Image