To survive in today’s competitive market, especially given the global health crisis, you need to stand out and build a strong online presence. Branding is a process that takes time, but when you have a recognizable and trustworthy business, it is invaluable.
Working towards developing long-term relationships with your clients leads to an increase in your brand’s awareness, credibility, and, ultimately, sales.
To build a successful and strong online brand identity from scratch, you will need to take your digital marketing tactics up a notch. Let’s explore seven steps that will guide you through creating a unique and recognizable online brand.
Define Your Brand’s Target Audience
Determining who your target audience is, makes it easier to communicate the brand message, as you know, the persons you`re selling your products/services to. This is an essential step in building a successful online brand, so make sure not to skip it!
Research tools from Google can help you determine your target market`s age, location, and other relevant data to tailor your communication strategy accordingly.
Developing trust and relationships with your customers is everything in an online world, so it is crucial to know who exactly are you trying to reach.
Identify What Makes Your Brand Unique
The key to building a successful online brand is to emphasize the main benefits and qualities your brand offers. Your products and services offer something no one else does, you just sometimes need to dig a bit deeper to get the answer.
Once you identify the values that improve customer`s lives, those qualities will make your target audience choose your brand over competitors.
Also, share your brand’s story and values to develop an emotional connection with your audience. “About” page should explain who you are and promote your brand`s unique story.
Don`t forget to use your social media pages to familiarize your potential customers with your business.
Establish a Strong Brand Personality
Before anything else, you need to shape the personality of your brand. It includes the tone of voice, the visual elements, customer service policies, and other features. Think of your brand as a human being and identify its personality traits.
When people have a clear sense of your brand, they can relate to it more easily. Since emotions drive decision making, a strong brand personality will help you stand out from thousands of brand messages; people are bombarded every day.
When you humanize your brand, you also get to distinguish it as more unique and valuable so the customers can remember and recognize it more easily.
Choose a Brandable Name When Building an Online Presence
When building an online brand from scratch, you will need domain names, websites, and social media pages. Finding appropriate names when devising your domain and signing up for social communities has huge advantages.
Make it simple, short, easy to spell, and pronounce. Complex names are harder to memorize. A high-quality domain name makes you look more professional, generates more traffic, and improves your search engine rankings.
Domain extensions also count. Suppose you are looking to personalize your online presence .ME domains are perfect for your personal website. They create a call to action out of your brand`s name and are also suitable for your SEO efforts as Google ranks them in the same way as traditional domains.
Companies can benefit from the.ME domain too, as it allows them to connect with their customers on a more personal level.
Invest in a Great Visual Design
If you want to pull users in, invest in design. Studies show that users form an opinion about a website in about 50 milliseconds! In other words, people decide whether they will stay or leave your site in less than a second. So, you have 0.05 seconds to catch their attention and make an impression.
Colors, symmetry, fonts, the amount of text, and structure all matter when it comes to making an excellent first impression and keeping the users on your page. Actually, 94 percent of first impressions are design-related.
Highly appealing websites tend to have low visual complexity and high familiarity, meaning people are more into their idea of what a website should look like.
This doesn`t mean you shouldn`t have a distinctive visual design that communicates your brand’s unique identity. On the contrary, your website should stand out from the competition, without feeling too innovative to turn off the users.
Why is Web Structure Important?
Besides visual appeal, website navigation has the biggest influence on users’ first impressions of the website. Simple navigation and clearly presented information focusing on the most important content are the keys to effective website structure.
Complicated websites are one of the main reasons why people leave. When carefully-crafted, a simplistic header bar with navigation menu makes the site more comfortable to use, and the experience of the users improves. A tip: keep the number of your main categories between 2 and 7.
When people stay longer on your website, your chances of converting them into buyers increase, so don’t skimp on design to significantly boost your conversion rates.
Also, bear in mind that your site’s structure affects your rankings in the search engines.
Include Your Brand into All Aspects of Your Business
Use your brand`s assets consistently across all your online channels. Make your brand visible while looking the same everywhere – from business cards to product and packaging. To create consistency with visuals like color and fonts, you will need to write a brand style guide.
Everything your customers see, read, and hear should reflect your brand.
Your website, as well as social media pages, needs to be branded visually. Video is another great tool to promote your brand, so research platforms like YouTube, Instagram Stories, Facebook Video, Facebook Live, and Snapchat.
These tips are the foundation of building a reliable online brand from scratch that can transform your business. Branding is incredibly important as it helps you establish a deeper emotional connection with your target audience, making them more likely to choose your brand over the competition.
