Introduction

The importance of the brand to business doesn’t only concern multinational corpo-
rations. It can just as easily be a local café or food producer, restaurant or delivery
service company. What all businesses - big and small - have in common, is the desire
to be successful, which ultimately is determined by repeat business, which in turn is
dictated by brand.

Your brand is your most important marketing tool. It is your brand that will ensure
repeat business. Building a brand gives your customers assurance of what they can
expect from your business concerning products or services. This is where you con-
nect to your customers and where you secure their loyalty so they come back to
you. This is where you gain new customers and increase your business as loyal cus-
tomers tell other people about your business. This is what distinguishes your busi-
ness from others.

It is worth investing time and money to develop your brand as this is critical to your
success as a business entity.

1 Brand Identity 6 Building Your Brand

Checklist

BUILDING
YOUR 5 Involving
BRAND
Social Media

2 Brand Values

4 Brand
Awareness
3 Brand
Communications
Brand Identity

At a tangible level, your brand identity is reflected in your company name,

logo, advertising slogans and marketing materials. These identify your
offering or product. The strength of your brand goes beyond imagery, as
your brand is about your product and customer service. To build a strong
brand identity, it is essential to know your values and be clear about your
business, both what it is and isn’t.

From the name Rationale Windows it is fairly obvious what this company
does; but now think about Apple or Avonmore. From name alone, it is
almost impossible to determine what either sell, yet in Ireland they would
be two of the most recognisable brands in the country. They have done
that by knowing their market, connecting with their customers and build-
ing on that connection to generate repeat and new business. They have
created a world where their customers trust them and so choose to buy
from each of them, even though similar products exist that are less expen-
sive. This type of brand loyalty allows a business to demand a higher price
for their goods or services.

But remember that the converse applies too. Letting customers down,
either through selling bad products, offering poor customer service or
simply not following through on what you’ve communicated your brand to
be, can have a negative impact on your market share and turnover. Once
an image has been tarnished it becomes very difficult to change the
perception.

1. Brand Identity
Brand Values

The values you established when creating your company and which have
developed as you’ve grown your business, define your purpose and brand.
They are a set of ideals in terms of purpose, culture and ways of doing
things that permeate your company structure.

Whether you are selling a product or service, you must think of the
impression that you want your customers to have of you. Once you have
decided what you stand for (for example, you could be a store selling
electronic goods and you have decided that your values will be built
around offering quality products, keenly priced for the market, with
exceptional customer service) then the emotional connection to your
customers through your brand becomes easier to obtain and maintain.

Value Tangible expression Result

Quality, keenly-priced Extended warranty at Repeat business;
products no extra charge increased sales

Exceptional customer Courteous staff Happy customers;

service in-store or on the positive ‘word of
telephone mouth’ marketing
Exceptional customer Setting a target to Eliminating
service respond to all queries dissatisfaction and
within 24 hours of minimising query
receiving them by backlog
email or through social
media

You could consider market research to help you understand the market
you are targeting. Apart from customer questionnaires, if you have a
customer service department you could utilise it to correlate feedback by
contacting existing and potential customers. Such business intelligence
will help you know your customers and what will encourage them to buy
into your branding. It will also help you decide if your brand will have an
impact in a particular market, region or country.

2. Brand Values
Brand Communications

Raising awareness of your brand among your target market(s) is essential

to driving sales. Once your values have been clearly identified and estab-
lished, you can then decide on the platforms to utilise to communicate
your message.

You need a clear vision and strategy appropriate to your vision. For exam-
ple, why should someone purchase your product or service? Are you
targeting a niche market with a high-value item or is it a mass market,
low-cost value for money item? You might be selling a new product to an
existing customer base, or you may be entering a new market, thus seeking
a whole new set of customers. What your objectives are will ultimately
determine the brand strategy selected to achieve these objectives.

Once you have set out the ‘how, what, where, when and for whom’ your
brand messages are intended, then you can decide on the tools and com-
munication channels to achieve your goal(s).

3. Brand Communications
 Brand Awareness

Once your brand is defined you are ready to raise awareness of your brand.
You can spend 50€ or 500,000€ communicating what your brand means.
Where you fall on this scale partly depends on the nature of your business
and your target market, as well as your expectations and market
penetration.

Having established the goals for awareness of your brand, you can decide on
your budget and the platforms you will use to communicate your brand. You can
do this in many ways, and they do not all require a large budget:

Advertising – local, national or international newspapers, magazines or

broadcast media (TV and radio);
Direct mail – either printed collateral by post or delivered via email;
PR– sending media releases to traditional media and social media outlets, or
perhaps creating a blog;
Sponsorship – charitable events, sports clubs or teams; or a programme aired on
television or radio;
Company events, seminars, conferences or expos – either on site or perhaps
held at a well-known venue;
Promotion items – branded notebooks, pens and USB keys, or something more
innovative;
Search engine – optimisation for an online presence, or utilising Google Ads;
remember that over 80% of consumers use the internet to find local businesses;
Viral marketing – online or social media platforms (see below);
Cold calling customers or utilising a telesales department or company.

If you are more than a ‘one-man band’, it is important to ensure that your
employees are positive ‘brand’ ambassadors for your company. When you
hire people, make sure they not only have the skills and experience to fulfil
the job at hand but are also inspired by your values and what your company
stands for. A strong brand will help you cast a wide net when looking to hire
new and dynamic staff, encouraging their loyalty to the company and in
turn increasing loyalty to the brand from customers.

4. Brand Awareness
Building Your Brand through
Social Media

The importance of establishing your brand and maintaining its reputation

is vital in today’s digital age. With social media platforms such as Facebook,
Twitter and Instagram connecting people in an instance worldwide, how
your brand is perceived has never been as important in this world of
instant communication. By using innovative and creative online content,
your brand values can be communicated to an audience that previously
wasn’t possible and help you distinguish your company from competing
businesses.

Several social media platforms to consider include:

Facebook - the largest platform in the world with over 1.4 billion active users; it
allows individuals and companies to connect instantly.

LinkedIn - a business-orientated network that boasts over 360 million users

worldwide.

Twitter - allowing two-way connections in the marketplace with real-time

delivery, although content length is restricted to 140 characters; many companies
use this platform to disseminate short messages that connect through to another
platform (such as a website).

Pinterest - especially good for companies that require a significant visual

presence, for example costume jewellery manufacturers and suppliers, clothing
companies or photographers.

Google+ - with over 500 million users, this allows Google users to share their
identity and interests across all Google platforms, such as Gmail and Hangouts.

5. Building Your Brand Through Social Media

 Tumblr - a useful site for posting multimedia content and blogs that can be shared
between users; again, useful for photographers and jewellery manufacturers and
retailers.

Instagram - a mobile phone-sharing and video-sharing site; similar to Tumblr, it

would also be relevant to brands that rely heavily on the visual aspects of their
identity.

Depending on the nature of your business, other online platforms to con-

sider include: coupon sites, gaming sites, music sites, health-related plat-
forms and recipe sites.

Given the prevalence of social media in our lives today, having a brand
strategy is now very important. Your message and value must correspond
with the platforms you’ve selected to promote the brand. And, to quote a
very well-known tagline, ‘it must do exactly as it says on the tin’. In light of
this, remember too that bad news can travel faster than good news, so how
you interact with customers at all stages of the promotion and sales pipe-
line is now of the utmost importance.

5. Building Your Brand Through Social Media

Building Your Brand Checklist

Have I made time to consider, develop and build the brand identity
relevant to my business?

Does my brand identity clearly state what I am?

What do I stand for and how is this represented through my actions?

Have I established the key brand messages to communicate?

Does my name and logo support the ‘look and feel’ of my brand?

What do I want to communicate through my communications plan, both

short- and long-term?

What are the appropriate platforms for establishing awareness of my

brand and building its external presence?

How should I encourage employees to be promoters of my brand?

6. Building Your Brand Checklist

 WHO WE ARE

Big Red Book is the largest and longest establish Irish company that supplies
accounting software to the small business market.

Big Red Book is designed for ease of use so you can spend more time running your
business rather than worrying about the accounts.

We understand that doing accounts can be a challenge so we provide free training.

We also have an expert customer service team to ready to take your call and help
you with any support issues.

In addition to Big Red Book accounts software, we also supply an easy to use payroll
solution – Big Red Book Payroll. For those companies that want to use a cloud based
accounts solution, we offer Big Red Cloud.

With over 20 years’ experience providing accounting software and support to over
39,000 Irish businesses, we invite you to join our business community.

European HQ
Rathdown Hall

Upper Glenageary Road

Glenageary

County Dublin

Ireland

+353 (0) 1 204 8300

[email protected]

www.BigRedBook.com
http://bigredbook.com/

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