Branding and brand identity are not new concepts.

For as long as humans have been selling things to other humans, we brands have been around.

We have always relied on some form of visible proof of origin or mark of quality to supply peace of mind.

With the advent of modern marketing techniques and the boom of capitalism, this concept has become more important than ever. Branding, brand identity and brand recognition have become crucial to building any business.

Achieving and maintaining a brand identity is easier than it sounds. You don’t even have to hire a professional. Just follow these four steps:

Name That Brand!

Decide on a name that stands out without being completely unpronounceable and difficult to recall. Don’t be afraid of playing up the more humorous parts of your industry. Chances are it will aid your memorability and leave your clients chuckling to themselves. Remember that we have 11 official languages in South Africa. Make sure that your chosen name doesn’t mean one thing in one language, but a completely different and unpleasant thing in another language.

Brand Focussed

If you offer 20 different services, don’t list them all as part of your slogan. Leave some for leaflets, or the branding on your vehicles. These are places where people will have time to read through all of your services. Find a phrase that combines all of them and use that as the main message on any marketing material.

Consider something like “Total home improvement taskforce”. This will encourage your clients to go to your website to learn exactly what is covered by this “task force”.

Get Your Digital Brand Clicking

Your business should be active on at least one platform. Social media activity can go a long way towards building your brand. Here also, the name of the game is focus. Choose a style or tone of voice and stick to it. Don’t confuse your clients by using humour in your ads while your business focuses on being refined and serious. You should be consistent when posting. Daily posts are great, but even once monthly posts will have an influence on your brand. Once you are online, BE online. Nothing looks worse than having a Social Media profile and your last post was in 2009. It suggests a lack of dedication at worst or an incapability to be detail-oriented at worst.

Digital doesn’t just mean social media

Another great modern marketing opportunity that is often overlooked is the simple radio advertisement. It costs much less than a television advertisement and if you have a catchy script and even a jingle with earworm potential, you’ll be well on your way to creating a recognizable, memorable, and strong brand identity

Define Your Brand

Establishing a vision and mission doesn’t have to be a lofty declaration of ideals. Your team should merely identify a sentence or a couple of words around which you can colour in your marketing campaign. This can go as far as creating a dedicated hashtag with all your social media posts. Keep it simple. “We deliver” or “We care”. Think about who you want to be as a business, what you want to convey to your customers and what drives you as a service provider.

Stick to Your Brand

Once you have decided on a name, tone of voice and brand values, stick to it. If you change these aspects of your business on a whim, it will be detrimental to any brand identity that you might have established already.

It’s a Marathon, Not a Sprint

The important thing about brand identity is that it takes time. Your brand needs to be visible and accessible to ensure that you can build a good level of brand recognition. You need to work actively to create recognition. Yes, digital marketing is important but leaflets, vehicle branding and advertising in dedicated industry-specific publications can go a long way towards building your brand.

If you are looking for a way to create and distribute brochures or pamphlets, HOMEMAKERS has the solution.

Let us take care of your pamphlet design and printing! To make it easy for you, we take charge of the creative side of things to design and print your marketing material. 

Contact one of our sales representatives today!