One of the most valuable assets of a business is its brand. The brand of a business is how a customer perceives it, and so it essential that you make every effort to develop your brand so that it advocates the products or services that you offer in a way that your customer can relate to. This is not an overnight success option, but rather an ongoing process that will help your business to grow as your customers learn to trust your company.

What do you do?

The most important aspect of your brand is your mission statement. Your mission statement should reflect what is important to you and your business and defines the scope of your organization, the value that it gives and the values that it adheres to. It’s not just a description of what your business does, but an expression of its core philosophies.

Everything that you do to market your business should reflect your mission statement: your logo, the tone of voice and colors on your website, the e-mails that you send to name but a few. It is a critical piece of information that will guide your business decisions. Use a logo creator to develop a logo that complements your mission statement, write content for your site that is consistent and supportive of it, and use a tone of voice that confirms your position.

Who is your customer?

You need to know exactly who your customers are. How can you develop a brand that appeals to your customers and their lifestyle if you don’t know who they are? You need to understand exactly who you are trying to reach so that you can identify how your brand can be developed to relate to them so that they understand what you do.

If your target audience are stay at home moms, your brand would be very different to one whose target customers are corporate executives – even if the product is the same. Start small with your branding to appeal to your audience niche, and once you have a following of brand loyal supporters, you can then build upon your success.

Who is your competition?

You do not want to imitate competitors, but rather research what your competition is doing in the marketplace. You will find that you can identify certain aspects of their business model that you can use to give your business the competitive edge. Do they have a consistent brand across their different social media platforms? Can you spot where they could be making better decisions? It is far easier to review other businesses than your own because you don’t have the same emotional connection, but the lessons learned from researching competition can be valuable.

To develop brand loyalty from customers, you need to be consistent, reliable and transparent. It takes time, but it is crucial to ensure the success of your enterprise. Always ensure that what you offer customers is what you can provide them with. The return on investment is far greater with returning customers than having to seek new ones, and the added benefit is that with loyalty comes new customers: news of good service and products spreads fast!