Marketing is a very difficult process. It takes a lot of time to make your company recognizable. But due to incredible competition, it is becoming increasingly difficult to do. Of course, you can engage in various ways of promotion, but if you want to stay in the history of trading forever, you will have to deal with brand development.
What is it?
From English, “brand” is translated as “brand”. And in reality it means exactly this: the “brand” remains in the minds of consumers about a particular product or service. And it remains due to the fact that a set of measures, opinions, associations, characteristics and emotions were adopted, which made up the general idea of the company.
In general, the concept of "brand" is broad. This can be called the imaginary shell of a product or service. You can see the physical and associative component. In the first case, the brand forms a name, logo, color palette, original graphics, sounds, etc. In the second, the symbolism of certain qualities or characteristics plays a role. The main parameters of the brand: its recognition and reputation.
Therefore, before you figure out how to create a brand, you need to carefully consider an action plan.
Plan
Of course, in brand development, a lot depends on your skills and desires. Nevertheless, there is a certain plan according to which it is easiest to work in the process of creating recognition and reputation.
You can adjust the directions in which you will move, but you should know that there are five of them:
- Positioning is the time of the brand's inception. It is worthwhile to understand where and how he will go, what place he will occupy and what idea he will carry.
- Strategy is the preparatory phase. It is imperative to analyze competitors, track audience behavior, etc.
- Components. This direction involves the development of all the physical components of the brand, namely the logo, name, trademark, packaging, etc.
- Promotion speaks for itself. It is important to carefully consider all the steps that are available to you.
- Control. Achieving certain successes is extremely important to support them and increase them. At this stage, they are constantly engaged in monitoring and analytics.
Sequential steps
Understanding how to create your brand from scratch, you must adhere to the above plan. But it can be painted in more detail. Marketing books usually describe 9 to 11 steps. There is no official classification, since each owner independently decides which way he really needs to go. Nevertheless, it is worth taking a closer look at the following steps:
- Idea.
- Research.
- Analysis.
- Title.
- Packaging.
- Tests.
- Rules.
- Channels
- Employees.
- Implementation and analytics.
Some stages can be combined, others are fragmented.
Idea
How to create a brand? You have to start with the most fundamental - ideas. You must understand why you are developing an image and what exactly you will convey to your customers. It is extremely important to understand that the very idea will be special and unique. She must be attractive and competitive.
Research
At this stage, you will need to conduct a marketing analysis. It is very important to know everything about your company, about the market situation and competitors. A lot of business owners skip this stage. They think it is insignificant and not particularly important. But this is not so.
It is better to spend several weeks on in-depth analysis than for many years to do the wrong thing and suffer losses.
Analysis
You will come to the third stage with several ideas. We'll have to weed out all the excess and go on with only one. To do this, you need to carefully study all the ideas, check their compatibility with the market and the target audience. Best if you can predict the long term.
Title
Not everyone knows how to name a brand. The main thing is that the chosen idea is embedded in his name. Remember that the name should be vivid and memorable. Do not use complex words or a few phrases. And after you come up with a name, you have to check it for the presence of “clones” so that later there will be no problems.
An interesting example of cool naming is Pepsi. Few people know, but the name of this drink is due to the digestive enzyme pepsin.
Packaging
This is also an equally important stage. Packaging is the “face” of your company. Besides the fact that it should be bright and beautiful, it is important to display your idea in it. Very often, buyers are "led" to the packaging, especially if it is really something remarkable. Therefore, you will have to spend time to convey the tone of communication with clients and naming through it.
Tests
When dealing with how to create a brand, one should not forget about periodic inspections. For this, focus groups are usually used among ordinary customers and company employees. It is also worthwhile to understand that such tests do not give a general picture, but they do the main thing - they point to flaws.
rules
Before registering a brand, you need to spell out all the rules. A guide with instructions will help you find all the answers to both old and new allies. It will describe the brand book, guideline, company missions and other developments. Everyone who comes across this guide should find all the answers to questions about the company.
Channels
This is the stage of promotion where you need to find out the most successful channels for disseminating information about your brand. Of course, no company can do without advertising, and yours is no exception.
Employees
You cannot immediately hire the perfect employee. Your staff must be involved in the brand, trained and supported. Only after that you will be able to work successfully for many years. Employees who will support the common cause will try to do everything for its success.
Implementation and analytics
Now you need to take everything together in order to correctly figure out how to create a brand. All accumulated can be collected in a heap and deal with paperwork. After successful implementation, you can begin work. But on the first day you can start doing analytics. Try to constantly monitor data about your company: sales, audience, promotion and advertising.
Check
Before you bring your ideas to the patent office, you need to check them for clones, otherwise you will be refused immediately. But it is worthwhile to understand that company and brand logos are difficult to verify online. Nevertheless, you should still determine the uniqueness of the brand, see the hallmarks and phonetics of the signs.
It is best to contact an expert who is involved in this and will be able to conduct a first check before you go directly to the bureau. By the way, if you forget or wave your hand at the test, you can lose more than a year on renewal and waiting.
registration
How to patent a brand? It is necessary to prepare carefully. What do you need?
- Prepare a statement.
- To him provide a list of goods and services that are associated with the brand.
- Print the brand image on A4.
- Provide a history and description of the logo.
- Pay the state fee and attach the check.
It is imperative to check the filing rules. Sometimes the conditions can change, so you need to consider this so that you do not have to return to the beginning at some point.
Reasons for refusal
It should be prepared for the fact that you may be denied registration. Usually the reasons are indicated in the relevant law. Often, many make the same mistakes:
- content of meaningless characters;
- contradiction to the signs of humanity;
- misleading the consumer;
- use of the name of cultural objects, etc.
Of course, this is not the easiest process. At some point, you will have to sacrifice something, but all the time you need to be extremely careful.
Example
How to create your own clothing brand? To begin with, you will have to prepare a business plan that can outline all the stages of work superficially. It should describe:
- Subject and occupation (here you can determine what you will produce, be it sneakers, sportswear or underwear).
- The main audience and how to attract it (if it's sportswear, then athletes will have to call, if it's children's things, then you will have to turn to moms).
- Potential investors who would be interested in your project.
- Full cost calculations.
- Brand value.
- Estimated income.
- Ways to promote business and cooperation with partners.
Usually, when thinking about a clothing brand, the owner wants the contribution to be small and the risks of losing everything to a minimum. Therefore, you have to decide how to save.
In this case, you still have to think about what expenses and income may be. Perhaps it makes sense to work on a vivid presentation to attract investors who will cooperate with you. Of course, you can try to save money, but in no case can you do it on the quality of the first collection. This is your “face”, which the audience will see for the first time, and it is highly undesirable for her to immediately be disappointed.
The development of a clothing brand also has several stages. The first usually determines the type of clothing that is easier or more interesting to work with. Here you are free to choose what you like best. The only thing is, try not to cover all areas at once. It’s better to work on one thing, but with quality and thoughtfulness.
Next, you will need to choose equipment for sewing. It all depends on your capabilities and desires. Usually you need to get at least a pair of sewing machines and spare parts for them. Mannequins, hangers, etc. will also be needed. It is best to arrange such a workshop near the store or in the same room.
The search for product distribution channels will also need to be considered, especially if you are not planning to open a store. Then you have to think either on the Internet platform, or on cooperation with partners.
After that, it will remain to run ads. You can turn to popular bloggers by giving them clothes in exchange for advertising about them. You can ask popular people to participate in a photo shoot for your collection. Finally, the most common online advertising is paying off.
The clothing brand is also at risk, like any other business. Therefore, it is important to be prepared for force majeure: raising prices for materials, rent, equipment, advertising, etc.