From the Blog

7 Questions to Answer When Establishing a Brand

 

Having trouble establishing a strong brand with personality, integrity, and pull?

 

The struggle is common, and the answer is simpler than you might think. 

Oftentimes, we run into problems with creating a brand because we forget this one vital fact: a brand is more than a logo and a name. Your brand is the relationship, the ambiguous space between the company and the people. One exists anytime there is a decision to purchase a product or service. Customers and clients operate based on expectations; no one buys anything unless they are promised some sort of result for their service. The brand is what is making those promises, regardless of whether it’s a salesperson or advertisement. 

By answering the questions below, you can better understand how your customers see your brand, and what your brand should be focusing on to maximize success.  

 

>>> Question 1: Who are your customers? 

This question is not important because you need to build your brand around who your customers are— you don’t. But analyze your current base of customers… Does a large one exist yet? If so, how did they find out about you? What do they already know about who your brand is? 

 

>>> Question 2:  What do your customers want?

You don’t have a business for you, you have it for your customers. What do your customers really want? Yes, they want the product or service you provide, but it’s important to remember that, almost more importantly, they are seeking the feeling that the product will provide.

Take a person following an accident to the auto shop, for example, they want their car to be fixed and safe, of course, but they also want the remnant of an accident gone and the stability that comes with having their car back. People want conditioner for their hair, but on a deeper level, they want confidence. 

 

>>> Question 3:  How do you serve your customers? What do you do for them?

Now that you have clearly outlined what your customers want, define how exactly your product/service helps the customer get what they want. What your customers want and what you need to do for them are not the same thing most of the time, because what they want is the end product and what you need to give them is a service.

For example, say one family wants to install a pool into their backyard. What they want is to be able to have people over, get exercise, and show off their beautiful property. What you need to give them is a safe, solid, artistic pool. Figure out what it is you need to do for your customers and put that at the forefront of every goal you have. 

 

>>> Question 4: What does the brand specifically stand for?

Your brand needs to focus on one universal truth that customers and staff alike can get behind. A hair care brand does not simply believe that conditioners should be made well, but they might operate on the underlying truth that everyone deserves to feel beautiful and confident. This is more universal, and if your company really believes in the truth of what you stand for, it will connect deeply with potential customers.

Figure out the underlying motive of your brand, and what you specifically add to your industry, and make this universal truth known to and practiced by everyone on every level of your company. 

 

>>> Question 5: What do you stand against? 

Along the same lines, what values and occurrences do your company stand against? For example, if your construction company stands for safety, you stand against cutting corners or doing the bare minimum to complete a job. Letting your clients know what they can avoid by hiring you, as opposed to your competitors, can be a powerful tool.

Knowing what your brand will always stray from and condemn is equally as important as knowing what you stand for in the self-discovery process. Companies often make the mistake of establishing “values” but not talking about what those values look like in action or what they mean. Talking about what you stand for and against can help to solve this. 

 

>>> Question 6: What makes your brand distinctive? 

Having “good people” as employees, or even great ones is a lovely thing. However, if your answer to the above question is that the employees at your brand make it fantastic, you need to go back to the drawing board. Amazing people should be drawn to your brand because your brand is impressive on its own, not the other way around.

What makes your brand special can be about the product you provide, the way it is produced, your origin, your customer service, etc. Why did you create your brand in the first place? Why would someone choose it over the competitor down the road? 

Figure out how to explain in a sentence the uniqueness of your brand, and this too will be helpful in guiding all of the decisions you make for branding. 

 

>>> Question 7: What are your business goals?

With your goals clearly outlined, you’ll have a clear direction of where you want to take your business, and you can assess if how your business is operating right now sets you up to achieve those goals. One trap that many businesses fall into is that they create a brand that only makes sense to the higher-ups and CEOs… to the average salesman or manager, the brand’s goals are not relevant to everyday work.

Your brand, its values, and its goals should be known and practiced by the whole company, and there should be ways to measure this. These are the business goals.

 

Learn More

 

Now that you have all of the answers to those questions, you can start building a great brand. At Deksia, we build strong brands that generate massive ROI every day. Schedule a 15-min call with the experts at Deksia, and find out how we can help you build a strong brand strategy that gets you recognized and gets you results.