IN A COMPETITIVE market, your start-up cannot exist long-term unless customers trust your company. Branding is about building trust for your products and services amongst your target audience. Smart business branding allows you to stand out from the competition – you have to differentiate yourself or you will get lost in the sea of other business/ brands/organizations.

Your brand should target the right people and focus on the audience that will benefit the most from your products and services and finally, your message needs to be communicated clearly to those specific people. Creating a brand is not just down to one thing, here are a few ideas to get you started:

1. Don’t try to be everything to everyone – Without being specific, you will be nothing to anyone. Find a niche that you can best serve with your product or service. How? Firstly, eliminate who isn’t your audience, conduct a survey on social media, conduct a survey amongst existing customers, even look at the analytics on your website or social media pages or have a real conversation with a customer.

2. Create a professional logo – No matter the size of your business, you need to have professional brand identity design. Ensure that the graphic designer has a solid understanding of branding. In the words of Paul Rand “Design is the silent ambassador of your brand”. Your design doesn’t have to be super fancy but it should communicate the right message, be memorable, appropriate and versatile – think about how it would look for example on a T-shirt or a banner.

3. Boost your brand – Once you have a logo, tagline and a brand story, boosting is the next thing! If no one sees the logo, then what’s the point!Depending on your goals, build a website and ensure you are present on the appropriate social media platforms. Develop a marketing plan and implement it. Don’t be shy about your brand, promote it proudly!

4.Trademark your brand – You have gone through the trouble of developing a unique brand name, creating a logo, so why not protect it! A trademark protects a symbol, name, word, logo or design used to represent the manufacturer of goods.

The official trademark designation will legally protect you if someone tries to steal or copy your original brand assets. Even better, a trademark will never expire. A trademark is different from a patent, and it’s best to consult legal counsel if you have a need for more protection of your products or intellectual property.

Candice Sealey is the Founder & Principal Consultant at Ignite! a Full-service Marketing & PR Consultancy that helps businesses/brands to stand out and communicate the right message to the right people at the right time through Strategy, Marketing, Media services and Design