Start a Brand
One of the most important things to keep in mind when creating a business is that you are not just selling your product or service but you are also creating a brand that represents it. Your brand will be the first impression to your customers even before they get to meet you or anyone in your business so you must make sure that it represents you well. This subsection will teach you how to research what makes a premium brand for your industry and how to make it your own.
Things to do.
- Create a name for your brand! Think of something that is simple and easy to remember. Also keep in mind things like name availability and domain and social media availability if you will have a large online presence. I like the names of my businesses to stand out to my audience and be catchy in some way. For example, I had chosen Black Sheep Project because I believe it speaks to my audience about who we are!
- Have a logo Made for your brand or make your own! Fiverr.com has always been the best place to do this for me. You can go on there and just type logo and you will find plenty of different people to choose from. The good thing is it is completely safe, they cannot just run off with your money, you can choose graphic designers that have great reviews and portfolios that can cost as little as $50 with revisions. I always go with someone who does unlimited revisions because you can always have things changed as many times as you want until they get your vision down. A simple logo is usually the best way to go. Don’t overthink it but I usually know it’s the one when it is finished. Look at some of the biggest brands in the world and think about what they usually have in common, 2d, solid color or two, easy to remember. You can also use Chat GPT to get some rough drafts and find more of a direction to give a designer. However I typically would not use an AI logo unless I get it perfect.
- Build a website for your Brand! Again, you can use Fiverr.com for this as well if you would rather have someone else do it. You can get someone on Fiverr to do a full site for you for under $100. I personally like to make my own websites, however, because I like having complete creative control of what the end product will be. I truly believe that building a website is something that everyone should learn. You don't have to learn to code and most of the time you don't even have to pay anything before just messing around with software like WIX. Wix.com is a great place to start building websites. It is pretty much just dragging and dropping the pictures, text and buttons that you want. You can search "how to build a site with Wix" on YouTube and you will find plenty of tutorials that will show you step by step. It may not seem worth it when you could have paid $100 to get it done but building this skill will help you in the future especially with businesses where you are constantly making changes on your site. I like to just simply draw some sketches of what I want the finished site to look like in my notebook and then get started bringing the project to life. One thing you will probably find that you need is graphics for your site and Fiverr is also a great place to go for that as well. In fact Fiverr and Upwork.com will become your lifelines for many things you never knew how to do when starting a business and the best part is it is always very cheap compared to googling the work you need to have done. Remember to look at other premium brands websites in your industry and see how they lay out their site. From there you can get a great idea of how your site will stand up to your competitors and if it feels as premium of a brand as yours. If your site and brand does not feel high end like the best ones in the business, then go back to the drawing board and make some changes. Don't be afraid to ask others what their honest opinion is on your site as well. I’m always checking with other people to make sure they view the brand well before putting it out to the public.
- Set up your social media profiles. One of the best ways to create repeat customers and find new ones is by having a good presence on social media. This may not be the main source of your business, but it is always good to have in most cases. At the very least go ahead and secure good usernames that match your brand as soon as possible, so no one takes them later. Again, look at what your top competitors are using for social media and what their engagements look like on their posts. If the best in the business is using Instagram and Facebook to get customers, then it is probably a good idea to build similar pages for instance. To be honest social media content is not my strong suit it is more tedious of work for me and never seems to be worth my time editing graphics. For this reason, I rely heavily on Fiverr and Upwork to do these tasks in bulk usually. Draft up some drawings of your first posts you will want and send pictures to someone with good reviews on Fiverr. You can just type in social media posts, and you will find plenty of different people you can go to for this. Once you have established communication with someone and have used them for work you now have someone you can go back to if you need a specific post created on shorter notice. These people are invaluable to have around especially when building online businesses. Remember to make sure your posts follow a similar theme and use colors that represent your brand often. If you want more advice on marketing in general, you can also feel free to check out our marketing section.
- Build a community! This is what I think whenever I am building a brand. You need to be able to engage people with your posts and your content. Never think of your online presence as a chore you need to do but rather a way for people to see what your brand is and who you are. If people believe in your mission and find what you have to say or offer intriguing, then they will stick around your brand and bring other people. Don't post things just to post them and try to offer giveaways and things to keep people engaged.