Building your brand is an essential part of owning a business. Your brand is unique. It will set you apart from other competitors. Plus, customers tend to buy from brands they like and are familiar with. The same goes for companies who are looking for partnerships. If you don’t have a clear and established brand, it can be hard to take your business to the next level. There are three unexpected truths about building your brand that you need to realize before doing so.
1. You will give a lot for free.
One of the truths about building your brand is that creating a brand that people will remember and resonate with involves you doing lots of things for free. This doesn’t mean giving a ton of free product away or working for peanuts. However, you may want to do things like sponsor an event to get your company’s name out there. Other ideas include providing free samples or coupons to potential customers or clients, or even do lots of media outreach.
You may or may not realize this, but when you land a segment on a news station or another daytime show to represent your business, you often don’t get paid to do this. When you submit guest authority articles to major publications online and in print, you may not be paid either so don’t be surprised.
You may even have to spend some of your own business dollars on marketing and advertising. However, in return, you will gain exposure and build more brand awareness.
2. It Will Take Longer Than You Expect
Building your brand is a process that takes lots of time and you probably won’t get instant results. You will establish and grow your brand through a variety of mediums and use repetition to really gain traction.
This means it will be an ongoing effort and could take years to really create a prominent brand for your business. Let’s take Nike for example. Today, it’s a huge brand and recognized all over the world. But the business started in 1959 out of the trunk of Phil Knight’s car.
3. You May Need to Rebrand Over Time
Determining what your brand will represent takes lots of time and thought, but it’s important to realize that your brand can and will change quite a bit over time as you pivot your business and change direction.
Sometimes, rebranding is essential if you want to narrow down on your target audience or change your focus. Rebranding is often a blessing in disguise because it should be an improvement from the way you’ve been branding your business previously.
You may need to rebrand your website and logo, change your mission statement, and seek out other opportunities to promote your business from a new angle. All of this will pay off in due time because as an entrepreneur, you need to truly love and believe in your brand before you can expect anyone else to.
Summary
Remember that while building a brand for your business is necessary and highly beneficial, it won’t happen overnight.
You may be expected to do lots of things for free, and your brand may change quite drastically as you change your mission, products, and services. However, you must stay consistent and patient if you truly want to see the best results.
