Are You Caring for Your Brand?

This may seem like a silly question – of course you care for your brand! But there are a lot more factors that actually go into caring for your brand than you may think. Brands create experiences and it all begins with brand marketing.

Brand marketing promotes your products or services in a way that highlights your overall brand. The goal of brand marketing is to link your identity, values, and personality with effective personalized brand communication to your audience. Essentially, your brand is the bridge between your product and loyal customers.

Foundational Basics for Brand Presence

Caring for your brand means understanding and implementing the foundational basics for brand presence. Having a good brand starts with its foundation.  If you are not sure what the foundational basics are, we’ve got you covered:

1. Brand Identity

Your brand identity is how you want your brand to be perceived by your audience. In the end, your audience will be the one who defines your brand, so you want to be sure your brand identity is foundationally strong before releasing it. To do this, it is important to identify your brand’s mission. Ask yourself questions like:

• What was the reason you established your company in the first place?
• What are some of your  company goals?

Your audience wants to know what your mission is, and your mission reflects who you are as a business.

2. Brand Image 

Similar to brand identity, brand image deals with how your brand is perceived. The difference is: brand identity is how you want your brand to be perceived and brand image is how your brand is actually perceived.

Your brand identity and brand image must align to gain the trust of your audience. No one wants to be told one thing on the outside, and have a totally different experience once they are on the inside. Keeping that in mind, here are a few ways to build your brand image:

• Establish a social media presence
• Create high quality content

3. Brand Culture 

Brand culture really comes down to one thing, your company’s values and how you set an example for those values. Once your values are defined internally, they will then establish the culture. This is ultimately what the world will see.  Here are a few tips to help you establish your brand culture:

• Define your values
• Spread awareness of your values
• Make sure your company reflects your values

4. Brand Personality

Your brand personality is referring to the human characteristics of your brand. This is an essential part of connecting with your audience on an emotional level. Your personality makes your brand relatable. When crafting your brand personality, it will be important to learn who your audience is.

This is an essential step in building your brand identity well. The way you present yourself and the way that you communicate should reflect not only who the audience is, but what they can expect from you. It is important to know your audience if you want to connect with them well. Here are a few tips to ensure your brand personality is one that can be connected with:

• Engage with your audience (use social media!)
• Be consistent in tone (your personality needs to match across all platforms to ensure brand consistency)
• Establish a brand voice

There you have it, friends. These are the four foundational basics of having a strong brand presence for your business.

By building your brand strategy around strengthening these four components (brand identity, image, culture, and personality), you will increase brand trust, loyalty, and awareness. And as always, reach out to your friends at FMK Agency for any questions regarding what it means to have a good brand!