Branding Creative Studio
Article 1: How to start a brand that will make people passionate to buy?
Many people think that building a brand would take months or a year. Building a good brand would take years of hard-working and diligence, building a brand that will make people die to buy it, would take entrepreneurs at least a decade of developments and improvements. The process of developing an effective brand in the market will have several steps to reach the point where there is no stopping point.
1- Find the potential industry that you think you can change and affect its market.
Finding a potential industry is not easy, also for the people who don’t have any clue about business or entrepreneurship. People who would start their brand or business for the sake of cash will immediately close down. As the market has already seen enough examples of people who would enter a certain market because it is booming and trendy, and right after the trend is over their business closes down. The reason is that these people are not passionate about what they are doing, and they don’t want to make any changes in the market, they are only CASH SEEKERS. Cash is good, but their cash will not last long.
Building a brand is a long-term investment that would reflect the entrepreneur’s values and principles. Good entrepreneurs focus on what they love and improve it. They let their brand speaks their goals and values.
As Facebook has changed the way of communication, Amazon has changed the definition of shopping. These companies have changed history because their founders are passionate about what they are doing, and they keep trying to satisfy the market demand.
In this article, the fashion industry will be an example to provide a better understanding of the required steps to implement it within a new brand.
Here is a story, Yasmin is a person who values fashion art. Besides, she loves looking into the details of her apparel, asking herself how the clothes are made and what they are made of. She is not a shopaholic, she is a fashion lover. Then, Yasmin should take her passion into another level and start her brand to change history.
2- Develop and improve the skills needed to start a brand in the market.
In this stage, Yasmin will be building the foundation of her brand, she will have to invest most of her time developing the skills needed to start a fashion brand. Also, she will need to invest a small amount of money to get the essentials needed to accomplish this stage. After she has decided to enter the fashion market, Yasmin will have to improve her drawing skills, educate herself about the materials used and learn about coloring and sewing.
Besides, she should start making herself some clothes to try it out and practice the skills she obtains through the learning process. Moreover, she can take her skills into another level and start freelancing by making clothes for peers, friends and family for a small amount of money or even for free.
This step will take between 2 – 3 years of developing and improving. Also, she has to keep in mind that there are no limits for educating herself, as she will never get enough of learning.
The following courses are recommended to take during this stage for any chosen industry:
- Sales courses - Digital Marketing courses - Financial and Accounting courses - Public Speaking Courses - Business Law - Marketing
3- Create surveys, questioning the industry’s supply and demand.
After years of freelancing and learning fashion, Yasmin will have to take the market demand and supply into consideration, by creating surveys asking the customers about their wants, needs and how do they define the fashion market.
On the other hand, she will be researching the established fashion brands to understand the market supply. Besides, she will be researching their clients and their understanding.
4- Find the market gaps needed to fulfill.
In this stage, Yasmin will be evaluating the surveys that were done through understanding the market prices, quality, clients, competitors and products/services provided. Besides, she will understand what the clients are complaining about.
For example, some brands do not have a tailor, so she needs to have that into consideration. Also, she has to consider the after-purchase service and what can satisfy the market demand.
5- Do intensive research about top brands in the local and global markets.
After finding the market gaps, Yasmin will initiate research about top brands in the local and global markets. The research will cut the road off and save her time in building her brand. She will need to research about top global fashion brands (e.g. LV, H and M, Channel, Tom Ford, Zara, Pull and Bear, Lacoste, Polo, Versace, etc.) She will have a background in each brand. She will have to research their products, services, clients, market segmentation, marketing strategy, pricing, brand strategy, etc.
Furthermore, she will be doing the same research about top local fashion brands to know who she will be competing with.
6- Find the tools and keys that can be used to sell the brand.
After understanding the market, Yasmin will have to find what tools and keys are used by the market to sell their product/service. For a Fashion brand she will be using the following:
- E-Commerce Website - Social Media Platforms - Physical Store - Mobile Application - Bloggers - Influencers - Retailers - Booths
Also, she needs to know that these tools might vary depending on the product/service you provide. She will need to figure it out through researching and surveying (e.g. If she is building a prestigious brand, she cannot be selling its product through booths, which will harm the brand image and affect its value).
7- Write the brand’s overview, mission, vision, values and goals.
In this stage, Yasmin will know what kind of brand she is looking to start. She will be writing her business plan that will assist her to build an effective brand.
In the brand’s overview, she will be describing her brand and its product/service and why does her brand differentiates from the market competitors. Also, she will have to set her mission, vision and values to know where is she heading to. Furthermore, Yasmin will be having annual goals to achieve (e.g. in 2019 Yasmin’s brand is going to launch two branches in Kuwait to compete with H and M).
8- Develop multiple product lines and test it among peers, friends and family.
In this stage, Yasmin will be testifying her skills in multiple product lines to find out what she is good at and what product line can be improved to satisfy the market demand according to the research that was done in the last stages. As a fashion designer, Yasmin will be trying to produce these product lines:
1. Formal Clothes 2. Casual Clothes 3. Uniform Clothes 4. Basic Clothes 5. Dresses 6. Sport Clothes
9- Focus on the best product line and improve it as much as possible.
In this stage, Yasmin will find herself perfect in a certain product line. Assuming she is good at high-end dresses. Then, she will have to improve her skills and do more researches and learning about high-end dresses. She will have to learn about the prices, packaging, customer services, materials, quality, etc.
10- Find potential customers and study their needs and goals.
In this stage, Yasmin will be studying the brand’s market segmentation to find out the demographics, clients’ interests and activities. Market segmentation will assist the brand to find the potential client who will be able to purchase the dress, as Yasmin will be targeting high-income clients, who are looking for a specific luxurious taste.
11- Create a marketing and financial strategy for the brand.
After researching the industry, surveying the market, testing the products and finding out the brand’s segmentation, Yasmin will start to create the brand’s marketing and financial strategy.
She will be creating the brand’s online and offline marketing strategy, as she will need to find out the advertising materials used (e.g. Models, Mannequin, Video, Photographs, etc.). Also, she will have to figure out the digital marketing tools that will be used (e.g. Youtube, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Email, etc.). Besides, she will be figuring out how to reach the clients.
Moreover, Yasmin will be creating a financial strategy, figuring out the annual budget, including salaries, rents, advertising, profit, revenue, etc.
12- Create a unique brand name that has meaning and value.
In this stage, the game will begin. Creating a brand name will have specific criteria to be followed.
- Short as possible. - Easy to memorize and pronounced. - Available and unique that can be registered legally online and offline. - Not generic but not very specific. - Understandable and meaningful. Assuming that Yasmin has chosen the brand name and she called it “Yasmin”.
13- Assign a marketing agency to design and develop your brand identity.
After creating the brand name, Yasmin will be hiring a marketing agency such as Poixel to design and develop the brand identity. The brand identity elements will include the following:
- Logo - Stationary - Packaging - Advertisement - Theme - Website - Application - Company’s Profile - Store’s Interior Design
These elements will be very essential to proceed with a certain brand and compete with other competitors.
14- Assign a marketing agency to develop and manage the brand’s marketing strategy.
In this stage, Yasmin will hire a marketing agency to enhance the marketing strategy that was made in the last stages by herself. The marketing agency will be developing an effective strategy that can be implemented and used within the market based on collected data and researches.
15- Recruit a marketer to follow up with the market opportunities.
In this stage, Yasmin will need to hire a marketer to find out the potential market opportunities to take advantage of (e.g. The marketer find out a new trendy dresses are being purchased by the market and there are many girls are passionate to get that dress, this can be an opportunity for Yasmin to take advantage of, and develop and improve the dress to satisfy the market demand and develop a new revenue stream).
Also, the marketer can be a digital marketer that can assist Yasmin to advertise and publish her brand through social media platforms, using Facebook Ads, Instagram Sponsor Ads, Google Ads, etc.
16- Start your brand and publish it by using advertising tools.
In this stage, Yasmin is ready to go! After building her brand identity, marketing strategy, develop the product line and hire the needed employees, the brand can start the growth process.
17- Improve and develop key services to fulfill the clients’ needs and wants.
After launching and growing the brand, Yasmin will have to keep considering the clients’ needs and wants. As she will need to find the best for clients that can keep her running and growing. Also, she needs to know whenever she makes a change in the market, the money will come. The money will never come first!
Article 2: 31 steps to start a successful brand in the market!
If you are a business owner who already has an established brand or looking to be a successful entrepreneur who is willing to build a successful brand, you need to follow the following steps to gain the potential outcome of your brand, as these steps have been considered and followed by Poixel since it was established in the market for more than 108 clients and successful pioneers.
1- Initiate a case study by answering specific questions to have a better understanding and cite the project’s challenges and opportunities to initiate the research.
2- Create a mood board to map up the key elements that need to be analyzed to establish the research direction.
3- Conduct secondary research by exploring and analyzing available online and offline data to design and develop accurate research.
4- Cite the key elements and the research offline and online tools to start surveying the market and testifying the tools.
5- Initiate the market research by conducting three different surveys surveying the industry, market local and global competitors and the brand’s audience, to build an informative, statistical and credible data.
6- Collect offline and online data by publishing surveys using social media platforms, blogs and websites.
7- Analyze offline and online surveys to map up the key audience and position the brand according to its recall and recognition data.
8- Conduct interviews and testimonials on those key audience to expose challenges and map up the needed solutions to assist the brand to stand out in the market.
9- Present research findings and outcomes to establish the substantial actions and scope of work procedures.
10- Design a mood board to find the brand’s core objective and develop a brand story to build the brand strategy.
11- Initiate the brand strategy development process by creating a brand strategy template to empower the brand with key guidelines.
12- Write down the brand’s mission, vision and core values, according to the market needs and opportunities.
13- Develop the brand persona by using the brand’s audience surveys’ data to differentiate the brand from its competitors and stand out with a strong personality.
14- Position the brand by establishing a brand positioning statement that differentiates the core services/products in the market.
15- Build a brand’s value proposition to identify your functional and emotional benefits that are perceived by the brand’s audience.
16- Create the brand’s tagline and mantra to engage with the external and internal stakeholders.
17- Develop a tone of voice, identifying the brand’s stories that support the brand in the market.
18- Execute the brand strategy by developing a mood board to initiate the branding process by analyzing competitors’ visuals and their direction.
19- Sketch-up trademark concepts and develop the brand’s trademark to implement it within the brand’s visuals.
20- Develop and design corporate identity and the brand’s visual guidelines.
21- Brainstorm and the brand’s marketing and content strategy according to the Branding Creative Studio brand strategy and visual identity.
22- Prepare the brand’s marketing strategy template to establish credible and creative marketing implementations.
23- Expose the targeted audience that needs the brand’s provided solutions.
24- List the brand’s unique selling propositions and state the pricing list to prepare offerings and promotions.
25- Develop and design the marketing materials, by preparing the media and content implementations.
26- Prepare the digital marketing strategy and its implementations to build strong brand awareness and engage with the brand’s segment.
27- Analyze the brand’s strengths, weaknesses, threats and market opportunities.
28- Develop the brand’s marketing mix to influence the target audience to purchase the brand’s services/products.
29- Design the key performance questions to indicate the key performance indicators to follow up with the brand and marketing strategy, aiming to evaluate the success of the brand.
30- Research market trends to keep up with the market and establish strong brand awareness.
31- State the financial objectives to start selling the brand and living a successful business story.
