When you think of branding your business, what comes to mind? If you’re like most people, you instantly think of a brand’s logo, its colors, fonts and overall design. And none of those elements can happen without a ton of work behind the scenes.
When it comes to branding, there’s more than meets the eye. Check out this video to see what needs to happen behind the curtain to make your brand consistently stellar. [MUSIC PLAYING] Hi there. Matt here, your Resident Ecommerce Guru at Volusion. Welcome to Two Minute Tuesdays. We'll give you two minutes of ecommerce advice to bolster your online success. Now, when you think of your brand, you likely picture your logo, your web design, and the tone of your marketing copy, but there's way more than meets the eye. So to take your brand to the next level, pay close attention because today I'm going to teach you five critical elements that can make or break your brand. First, create a positioning statement. Now, there are a lot of models out there, but in sum, your positioning statement should indicate who your customers are, summarize what your product or service does, and-- most importantly-- how it differs from your competition. Your positioning statement should serve as your beacon of truth for all of your marketing decisions moving forward. Next in our list, build out user personas. Now, a user persona helps you figure out what customer segments you're serving. So get started by answering several questions, such as "How old are they? What do your customers do? Where do they live, and what benefits are they looking for when purchasing your product?" And as a bonus tip, give your personas a name to help humanize them. Thirdly, put together a style guide. Now, your style guide is a document that provides important details to guide brand decisions including proper logo usage, exact codes for your brand colors, and any copy guidelines or on your tone and voice as well as other elements that might make your brand unique. The end goal with your style guide is to have a go-to resource to ensure brand consistency across all channels. Next up, build a competitive matrix. Get started by identifying your primary competitors. Then rank yourself against them on various factors including price, product quality, brand awareness, customer service, and much more. Conducting this exercise will help you understand how your brand stands out from the crowd. And last but not least, craft a mission statement. Now, your mission statement helps guide your overall business activity and serves as the purpose of why your business exists, so feel free to share your mission statement externally as well as champion internally to rally your troops. As you can see, a brand is much bigger than a logo or a company name. So be sure to evaluate and define the five elements that we just discussed, and you'll be well on your way to building a brand that lasts. Have any questions? Feel free to drop me a line in the comments box below. From me to you, happy selling. [MUSIC PLAYING]
To learn how to solidify your brand better than ever before, check out today’s video. Here at Volusion, we also have an expert team of designers who can help with brand development. Have any questions? Leave us a comment in the box below!
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Matt Winn was Volusion’s Senior Brand Manager, where he helped oversee branding and communications efforts. Matt has created hundreds of articles, videos and seminars on all things ecommerce.
Matt Winn
