What Makes a Successful Brand? 5 Key Elements
Nike, Apple, McDonald’s, Adidas, Disney.
What do they all have in common?
They’re mega-companies generating billions of dollars every year, sure, but they are also successful brands. You don’t measure the success of a brand by its revenues only, though that’s an important metric. You also look at how easily a new customer can recognize the brand.
As a small business owner, one of your biggest goals is to build a successful brand. Unfortunately, this is also one of your most difficult tasks.
It’s doable, though. You just need to know what makes a successful brand and try to incorporate those elements into your brand development strategy.
Read on as we usher you into some of the most important elements of a successful brand.
1. Successful Brands Know Their Target Audiences
When you start a business, it’s not wise to expect that everyone in your locality is going to be your customer. To make this assumption is to believe market competition doesn’t exist.
In truth, you’ll only get a share of the market, but your challenge is to keep increasing this share. The big question is: do you know who your target consumer is?
Successful brands know their target audiences. They have an accurate description of who their ideal or typical customer is.
Even before you open the doors of your business, you should strive to develop an intricate understanding of your target audience. Who is likely to be your customer?
To do this, look at the product or service you’re offering. What problem does it solve? Who has this problem? Answer these questions and you’ll easily zero in on your target customer.
If you’re planning to open a pet food business, for instance, you’ll know that you’re targeting pet owners. But this isn’t enough.
Where does this pet owner live? How many pets do they have? What’s their average age and income? What are they passionate about (beyond keeping a pet, of course)?
When you know your target audience, you’ll be in a better position to run more effective marketing campaigns. You’ll also be able to offer services and experiences that meet customers’ expectations.
2. A Clear Mission Statement
A mission statement is a summary of your company’s aims and values. In other words, this statement spells out what your company stands for.
Successful brands have a clear and relevant mission statement. Clear in that it’s a short statement with a straightforward message. Relevant in that the mission resonates with the company’s target audience.
Nike’s mission is to bring inspiration and innovation to athletes. According to the company, an athlete isn’t just a person who competes in a professional sport. Anybody with a body is an athlete. That’s to say, anybody can be inspired to do more.
If your goal is to build a successful brand, you must get the mission statement spot on. The values of your company should align with the values of your target audience.
3. Vision Statement
Most people use mission and vision statements interchangeably, but they’re different. A vision statement takes your mission statement to the next level. It fleshes out what you intend to achieve in the future.
For instance, an ideal mission for a pet company can be to inspire more people into becoming pet parents. But the vision can be to end pet cruelty.
Together, a mission and vision statement form a brand message. Wondering what is a brand message? Wonder no more!
4. A Standout Logo
What first comes to mind when you think of Nike?
If you’re anything like most people, you aren’t even thinking about shoes or joggers. You’re thinking about the Swoosh. Such is the power of a business logo!
A logo makes it easier for people to identify your brand. It also helps enhance brand awareness and loyalty.
The quality of a logo is central to the success of a brand. Although not many companies get to design logos that are iconic as Nike’s Swoosh or Apple’s bitten apple, you should strive to ensure your business logo stands out from the crowd.
There are standards a logo needs to meet. Keep them in mind when you’re designing the logo. Or, if you don’t want to take chances with such an important task, hire a design company to do the job.
Bear in mind it can take a couple of tweaks and refreshes before you finally end up with the logo of your dreams. Just keep at it.
5. Brand Story
Listen to any successful entrepreneur speak and you won’t miss hearing them talk about the stories behind their brands; the thing that pushed them into the business; that lightbulb moment.
What’s your brand story?
If you haven’t told the story of your brand, it’s high time you started doing so. The modern consumer likes to know the story behind a brand before making a purchase decision. If it’s inspiring or resonates with them, they’re more likely to become your customer.
Go Build a Successful Brand
Building a successful brand doesn’t take a stroke of luck. There’s a formula to it. If you can master the key elements of a successful brand before you start a business, you’ll be in a better position to build a wildly successful brand.
Our blog has more branding tips and insights, so keep exploring!
June Potter wrote this article on behalf of FreeUp. FreeUp is the fastest-growing freelance marketplace in the US. FreeUp only accepts the top 1% of freelance applicants. Click here to get access to the top freelancers in the world.
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