Taking Time to Build a Brand

Building a brand takes a tremendous amount of time. Many professionals liken the process to building a house. With a plot and a plan you can start to build a foundation. Development, internal review and the release phase are the key elements to creating a brand you can be proud of. Here is a little bit more about what each of these phases entails.

Development Phase
The development phase is arguably the most important one. This is an area where you can easily spend years. If you feel like your research is taking too long, stop stressing. An article written for cognite.co.za states, “When developing your brand, you will need to take into account the research that needs to be made, competitor research, stakeholder research, brand platform formation, messaging, internal and external collateral development, all of which can take up to 2 years to put together. Careful planning and patience is required when in the development phase because if you rush this then your foundation is already compromised, meaning you’ve failed before you have even started.” To avoid this fate, take extra care to discover everything you can about your business and future brand. The more you know the more likely you are to be successful.

Internal Review Phase
This phase is all about educating people about your brand. Any investors, stakeholders, employees or partners need to be fully on board with your vision. It’s important to be on the same page in order to ensure that the public will understand both your business and your brand. This phase doesn’t require years to complete; however, you need to be sure you give this phase the time it deserves. Work to fine tune the way you present yourself and your brand. Poor execution in this area can be confusing to the public and lead to loss in interest.

Release Phase
The cognite.co.za article also states, “Phase three is where you get to display your brand to the public through various marketing platforms, such as print and digital media marketing in order to get your message out there to your target market in a way that makes you memorable. For instance, when I say: “Just do it” your automatic thought is Nike, another example: “I’m lovin’ it” your mind goes to McDonald’s. These are two examples where their marketing release was done in a way that displayed their message in a memorable way. Now there are millions upon millions of articles that tell you how to build a brand and if you’ve read them, you will know that they all mention the same things: 1) Be consistent in your brand message, 2)Never underestimate the value of customer research 3) Stick to your vision, mission, and values because creating a brand is one thing, building a successful brand is another.”

Building a brand takes a lot of work. Implementing these key elements will help you execute your vision and create a successful brand.