As a small business, you may be up against large and well-established brands with loyal customers and seemingly unlimited marketing budgets, making it crucial for your brand to find ways to stand out. Whether your business is just getting started or you’re considering taking on a rebrand project, you have to establish a strong foundation by clearly laying out your branding strategy. Solidify your efforts by following these five essential steps. 

Understand your target audience. 

Your entire brand strategy is built around who your target audience is. Your daily messaging strategy will depend on the demographics of your audience. And, it’s possible that the target customer base you had in mind is not actually the best group to market to. Conduct the necessary research to determine which audience is the ideal fit for your brand. Once determined, use your findings to specifically target them in your marketing efforts.  

Create your brand’s value proposition. 

After researching your audience, clearly identify the reason why prospective customers should choose your brand over others in the industry. What are your customers’ top challenges and needs? How will your brand help resolve those challenges and needs? Ask yourself these questions to frame your value proposition. Then, reinforce that value proposition consistently in your messaging.  

Establish the look and feel of your brand. 

If you don’t define your brand voice, style, feel and stance from the start, you run the risk of confusing your customers. Establish clear brand guidelines at the beginning and use those guidelines in all aspects of your digital presence. These guidelines should clearly depict the message behind your mission statement and the personality of your brand.

Determine your content strategy. 

In all aspects of digital marketing, you have to create the right messaging for the right customer at the right stage of their journey. Be creative, while also being strategic, when you’re crafting content. And, use analytics to determine what type of content you should keep and what you should nix.

Build brand trust. 

You have to work to build trust and genuine engagement among your consumers. This is done by posting authentic content. Trust has regressed back to posts coming from friends, family and acquaintances, so smart brands are making it a point to post high-quality, personalized content that users will want to pay attention to and also share with their inner circle.