For any brand to sustain itself today, it is imperative to have an online presence. Now a few questions which brands shifting to the online platform usually have:
- How to build a brand online?
- Where should we begin?
Don’t worry. Whether your business is a startup or a family business, if you’re looking to explore the online platform, this article is for you.
Building your brand online in 5 simple steps
Here, we will discuss five simple ways to build a brand online and begin your journey to limitless possibilities.
1. Understand your brand
It is essential first to understand what your brand is about. For instance, If I ask a simple question, “What is your brand about?” Some of the common answers will be:
- We are a clothing brand.
- We have a family-run restaurant.
- We own a wholesale shop.
Now, while all these answers are correct, but they don’t holistically explain your brand. Therefore, before jumping into building your brand online, you need to brainstorm and understand your brand is?
Ask yourself simple questions like:
- What is the brand value? What are the principles?
- What are the goals, based on short term and long term?
- Define the audience market.
Reflecting on these questions will help you understand your brand, which will enhance your online journey. Hence, take your time and decide how you want to build your brand online.
2. Research
As cliche as it might sound, once you figure out what your brand is about and your ambitions, you need to organize your data.
The most compelling yet simple way of acquiring data is to speak to your customers. A lot of brands make a common mistake by trying to copy global brands like Coca-Cola, Prada, and others, whereas the issue they will be facing will be much different because of their volume and target customer.
Therefore, while building a brand online, understand your niche and target your audience accordingly. Once you have circled down your target, put yourself in their shoes and think:
- Why will they choose you over the other established businesses?
- What makes your brand stand out?
- Moreover, how can you use your customers and strategies like ‘word of mouth’ to build your business online?
3. Invest in your brand
One of the inherent advantages of building your brand online is that it also gives you an opportunity to rebrand yourself. It gives you ample time to figure out and assess what worked and what didn’t.
Based on your cumulative assessment, you can then decide how to move forward from here. While you can go about changing nothing about the brand and investing no penny at all, but if you want to expect growth and returns, there are a few things where you must invest in.
- Logo
This is a significant part of your brand identity. We all know how consumers associate with Adidas, Audi, and Nike’s logo. A well-designed logo will be communicative and attract consumers exponentially.
- Website
Probably one of the best investments to make in your business journey is to build your brand online. An apt website will open doors to unlimited possibilities. If you can incorporate SEO and SEM, you will eventually realize why it was crucial to growth.
Pro Tip: If you want a one-stop destination, where you can have your logo build, along with your website and other essentials which you need in building your brand online, contact Ranolia Ventures, India’s leading digital marketing agency.
4. Find Your Voice
While copying other successful brands might show gains initially, your consumers will soon realize it. Hence, you must spend quality time understanding your brand’s voice.
Think of it as more than figuring out how to build your brand online. It’s essential to answer:
- Why are you building your brand online?
- What is it that you can offer to your customers?
- In business terms, what is your USP?
- What are your core values as a business?
Once you figure out your purpose and idea, it won’t be long till you understand the technicalities to sail through.
One of the most practical additions is to explain to your consumers what values you are adding to their lives. For example, whether the products you will sell online are sustainable or whether your brand is friendly and is ready to assist your consumer base 24×7. Whatever it is that you will offer, ensure your consumer knows it, and before that, make sure that you know it.
5. Get your brand online!
So now you have done the homework, it’s time to apply the learnings in the market. More than 97% of consumers search for a local brand online before visiting it. Hence you can estimate how heavily it can impact your business.
Therefore, use these four ways to attract consumers online:
- Hire a Web designer
As mentioned earlier, your website can be the biggest weapon in building your brand online. Hence, it is wise to invest a few dollars in building a professional website rather than saving a few bucks and degrading the quality.
You could hire professional designers from Ranolia Ventures, which is one of the leading Indian digital marketing agencies.
- Build it yourself
If you know the basics of building websites or don’t want to spend money on hiring a designer, you also have the option to design the website on your own.
Use website-building platforms like Wix or Go daddy to create your website at a minimal price.
- Use Google My Business
GMB can be the gamechanger in your quest to build your brand online. It is an excellent tool to boost your local SEO rank. Moreover, you don’t need a physical shop to enlist yourself in the GMB. The more reviews you have on Google, the more trustworthy your business is.
Google offers various valuable tools like free websites, insights, and metrics to understand and boost your business.
- Utilize the power of Social Media
Today, social media platforms have 4 billion users around the globe. If you consider the world population, which is estimated to be around 7.5 billion, we can state that more than half of the world is on social media today.
Facebook alone has a total of 2.6 billion users, and its sub-companies like Instagram have 1 billion users, whereas messaging app Whatsapp has 2 billion users. These are such huge numbers that can make your head spin, but these are facts.
Therefore, use these social media platforms to boost and build your brand online, primarily if your target audience uses social media excessively.
You can further use professional digital marketing agencies like Ranolia Ventures to help you boost your social media.
Final Words
Follow these five steps, and you will not only enjoy the process of building your brand online, but you will also notice a huge difference these steps can make in boosting your business.
Remember, it will take a while before you get used to the online platforms, and that’s completely okay. You need to understand that by building your brand online, you are inviting opportunities that the offline world might not offer. Hence, it is okay to have a slow and steady growth than to have none at all.