People buy from people, but it can be hard to develop your brand and create a unique personality on line.

Whether you’re new to business, refreshing or re-branding these tips should help you on your way to develop your digital story, create your unique brand and give your business the personality and the edge it needs to get more customers.

Now I’m going to assume that you have your offer sewn down, have done your market research and know that your product is fantastic and needed!  So having said that…here goes!

What do you want people to be saying about your brand when you leave the room?

Think of a few words that you would want associated with your brand.  Do you want to be known as professional, having high standards, quirky, innovative, dependable, classic, cutting edge, the expert, risk taking, honest, socially minded, creative or traditional? 

Think about brands that you’d like your business to be associated with.  What does their brand say about them?  How could you emulate that for your business?  Look not just at what they say, but their colour scheme, the experience of buying their products or using their services.  How does the brand make you feel?

Set out a map for your business, words, colours, the feel, the experience that you’d like your customers to have when they do business with you.

Think about Apple and what people say about their products, the almost cultish love they have developed amongst their customers and how these loyal customers market Apple on their behalf.

What values do you want associated with your brand?

And then wear it.  Be those values, let these values enthuse everything you do. Think about how you can incorporate those values into your website, content you create, how you appear at networking events.

Write your values down and have them somewhere you can see them every day.  By getting really concrete about what your business is, you’re able to give a strong message to your customers, any staff you might have and potential customers.

They will clearly know who you are, if you are a right fit for them and most importantly they will feel safe with your brand. As soon as customers feel that your business is a little Jeykll and Hyde, they feel insecure, don’t trust you and ultimately won’t buy from you.

Think John Lewis and their distinctive brand - equality, value & quality.

Think of 3 core values that you want associated with your brand. Just 3, anymore and it will start to get wooly. These 3 words will act as an anchor to your business. So that for every social media post, blog and change in business direction - you can go back to these 3 core values and ask yourself does it fit?

Next you need to establish who it is that you are selling to. 

Who is your ideal customer?

Who are they? Who do they want to be?  Who are they when they buy your product?  Where do they hang out?  Would they shop in Waitrose or Farm Foods? What are their hopes and desires?  How old are they, what gender are they? What are their problems (pain points) and how do you solve them?  What are their greatest needs and how can you position your product to meet them?

The more specific you can get, the closer you can get to messages that they will respond to.

Knowing who you are going to attract will help you develop something that speaks to them.

Think about Amazon. Their ideal customer is people on the go who need stuff yesterday.

What about branding?

So here we’re talking the actual logo, fonts, colours, graphics.  All the signifiers that make up a brand.  Now you might be able to pay someone to create your brand logo and style for you, but you’ll still need to give them some direction and if you’re doing it for yourself it will take some thought.

Take a look at brands you admire and work out what it is about them you like. Then look at brands you don’t like and work out why. Pinterest is a really great place to pull together a brand board, you can pin images you like, typography, colours and feel.

Have a think about your brand as a personality, what feel would it have? It is a summery, bold brand with bright colours, or autumn with muted greens and oranges? If you are you brand, think about what would represent you on a page.

If you want to really delve into this aspect of your brand Fiona Humberstone has a fantastic book called ‘How to style your brand’ that I would recommend!

You really want people to see your brand and get your personality.

This is obviously the tip of the branding iceberg – there are so many things to consider, options to look at, things to dismiss.

If you are working on your own, don’t be frightened to pop in a Facebook group and ask people what they think. Give people options and see what thoughts come up for them. Allow your potential future customers to be part of the journey of your brand and business. Never be afraid to ask for help!

Want to know more about brand? Read my blog post - How to find your USP - http://debbiedooodah.co.uk/blog/2016/9/8/find-your-usp