Branding is important. Just look around at the billboards, television and radio ads, and social media posts you see daily. Companies are always promoting their brands with newer, slicker commercials and pop culture icons. Whether you have a small business or would like to build up your personal online presence, here are five branding tips you should follow.

Create an image for your brand

Think of some of your favorite companies. I bet you can conjure up their logo if you close your eyes and focus. A logo is a powerful way to capture the attention of potential customers and clients. You can add that logo to all of your marketing materials, company swag, ads and on your website.

Create a slogan/tagline for your brand

“Expect more. Pay less.” “Eat Fresh.” “Just Do It.” These are just a couple of the taglines where you know exactly what product or company to which it’s linked. That’s because a slogan or tagline is meant to be memorable, like the hook of a song that you just can’t get out of your mind. According to Lindsay Kolowich’s article “27 Companies With Really Catchy Slogans and Brand Taglines,” a good slogan or tagline has a couple of important components:

  • It’s memorable
  • It includes a key benefit
  • It differentiates the brand
  • It imparts positive feelings about the brand

When thinking about a tagline or slogan for your personal brand, make sure it incorporates all of the above components.

Build your own website

The next step is a big one: building your own website! What’s that, you say? You don’t have any computer programming skills? No worries! Companies like Wix, Squarespace, and WordPress can help you build your own website, no matter your programming skills. Each one has its own set of templates you can use to style your new website. Take a look at a couple of different hosting sites before you choose one. Check out the templates they offer, the subscription prices, and choose the one that fits your needs!

Create branded social media accounts

There are pros and cons to creating branded social media accounts for your business. If you also have personal accounts, adding a business one can mean double the work and investment! Managing two accounts can take up a lot of time and energy. However, it might be nice having a dedicated social media account for your brand to keep your personal and professional lives separate. You would be able to have a different voice on your professional account and the opportunity to interact with your followers in a different way than you would with friends and family.

Promote your brand shamelessly

Create marketing materials like business cards, banners, pens, stickers, and add your logo and brand tagline on each, then hand them out whenever and wherever you can to build brand awareness. Have your friends and family follow your social media accounts, and ask them to share any new tweets, Instagram photos, or Facebook posts you publish.

Brand awareness has a snowball effect: you’ll need to roll the snowball up the giant hill at first, building a following through hard work and effort. However, once you reach a certain point, your followers will do a lot of the work for you, just like gravity takes control of the snowball and sends it rolling down the hill you just climbed.

We hope those five tips help you build your brand. Get your logo, tagline, website, and social media accounts ready and start promoting yourself! Let us know if you have any other tips and tricks for building a reputable brand!