Branding is a complicated process which depends on several factors. For the creation of a brand, the image of your company or product has to be branded into the minds of your consumers. When they see your product, they should immediately associate it with certain qualities—positive ones, of course! But it’s not enough for those qualities to be merely positive, they also have to be positive in a particular way that represents your company. They should reflect your vision for your company and product.
So it’s a good idea to think about what type of brand you want to create, right when you start your business. Don’t wait for a few years, by which time people will already have started to associate your business or your product with certain qualities. Take charge of your brand from the get go. Here are a few things you can learn from celebrities who have managed to create a brand:
Some people think that brand creation is about choosing one thing and emphasizing only that. For example, if your product is inexpensive, you’ll want to emphasize its money-saving capabilities when you create a brand. If, on the other hand, your product is high quality, you’ll want to emphasize its durability and what a great job it does.
But brand creation is not just about emphasizing one quality. For example, Beyoncé is not just a singer; she’s also a songwriter, a musician and all the other things stated above. She may not like referring to herself as a brand, but she sure knows how to create one! Similarly, to create your own brand, you have to bring in all the other qualities of your product besides the main one.
For example, you might emphasize the durability of your product above all else, but you’ll still need to show that your product is high quality and provides good value for money. A brand only has staying power if it possesses all the qualities that a person is looking for, not just one or two of them.
The point made here is similar to what Beyoncé says above. Branding doesn’t only consist of any one thing. You have to be able to put together the whole package. In the case of someone like Hilfiger, you can’t just be concerned with selling clothes; you have to sell a lifestyle.
Hilfiger’s brand is all-American and wholesome, in a trendy way. He shows you how you can be casual and individualistic while still looking fashionable and laid-back. If Hilfiger hadn’t thought out everything that was going to go into his brand, he may not have been as successful as he is today.
So think about the type of lifestyle you’re selling to your consumer and not just what your product is.
People have come to realize the importance of storytelling when it comes to marketing. Everyone loves a good story; this is why people read books and go to movies. You’re not going to get anything useful out of novels and the latest blockbuster. You just read or watch them to have fun. So if you take some of the elements of pure fun and introduce them into your brand, you can get people to gravitate towards you.
Storytelling is the one thing that never fails to engross people, especially if it’s a good story. Can you take your audience on an adventure? Can you make them feel all the things they’d love to feel in real life, whether they have them or not? Anyone can experience a great romance by seeing a beautiful romantic movie; they don’t actually have to have romance in their lives! If you can give people the feelings that they want in their lives, even to a small extent and for a short period of time, you’re 90% of the way towards establishing a successful brand.
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