Building a brand is like laying brick by brick down, to create the great foundation of your house – a house that represents who you are and what you’re all about.

The house is supposed to be inviting and entice people to come in (in the most non-creepy way possible).

Each step in building house represents a different factor that must be covered when building the brand – and luckily, we’ve laid out some bricks for you.

Step 1 – Brand Manifesto

The manifesto is the site prep of your house, and not a spell from Harry Potter, but your brands whole beliefs.

This is simply what the businesses beliefs and values are, and how they can be applied when taking action.

Important questions that might be asked to help outline your manifesto are:

  • Why did I want to start a business?
  • What motivates me?
  • What does success look like for me, my customers and employees?

An example of a great and well-known manifesto is that of Nike:

“Our purpose is to unite the world through sport to create a healthy planet, active communities and an equal playing field for all.”

Step 2 – Your People

The brand culture, and people whom work for the brand, is the slab and concrete of the house.

Those who you employee help build your brand and can be your brands biggest hype guys (and girls).

Creating an environment and a brand culture (more on this topic in another blog post coming) that employees can thrive in, is the best way to ensure that they represent your brand, its beliefs and is a positive voice for the brand.

A good example of a great work environment is none other than Google. Employees from the tech giant aren’t shy about boasting of the unique work environment involving slides, Google bikes, basketball courts, nap rooms and more.

I’m not saying to go install a slide in your house right now, but juicing up the workspace, in turn makes employees happier and more comfortable, and will lead to them spreading that energy to the rest of the world.

Step 3 – Your product

Consumers have more options when it comes to products and services than ever before, so you need a product that absolutely stands out from the crowd, this is the framework of your house!

There is only so much that good marketing can get you – if the product is a flop, people will find out about it *cough* Fyre Festival *cough* and it may fall to the ground.

An effective way of letting consumers know just how good your product is, is a value proposition.

A value proposition explains how your product solves problems and improves situations. It lists the benefits to the customer and sets out why people should buy from you, over the competition.

A good example of this is bitly, the business that helps shorten links – and they promise this with only a couple of short sentences:

‘Create Click-Worthy Links’
‘Grow Your Brand With Every Click’
‘More than a link shortener’

Keep an eye out for part two in building your house, I mean brand.

This information has been taken from Branding Essentials & Checklist, by HubSpot, Inc.