Thinking to name your business and want to stand out with your own brand is what every business and startup wants. Branding means providing a tagline or naming your product, which acts as an identity to your startup. Name your startup feels really easy while listening about this task, but one should not take it lightly because they cannot change the Brand Name once done. Therefore, one should consider a few-:  Things entrepreneurs should know about branding.

One should always know that with business the name matters a lot, as this enables your audience to introduce your products by some kind of reference. So the Brand Name should not be too lengthy or something like a tongue twister which can be hard to spell for your audience; breaking down your upcoming market just because of an unpronounceable reference name.

So few Things entrepreneurs should know about branding are:

How is Branding Done?

Branding provides a visual impact on the targeted customers, which means how they see your product after leaving your store or how your audience refers to your products to other people. Naming your company or product is like defining the character of your product, it is the way customers will perceive the product when compared with others.

Therefore, let’s proceed with how it is done.

Why did you create this product?

Trust yourself that why you created this product and what you want from your customers to think about this product. If you get this thing, then you can engage with your team and customers to get your product referred by one or the other name until branding is done. We can consider it as obtaining raw data but at a smaller scale; though bulky data can create confusion, so avoid doing so.

Now, after compiling the raw data, focus on the name which can convey the message well regarding your product. If you can convey the right message of your product, then it will help to create a bond between the product and the customer. To achieve this, take the help of your team to discover such names by thinking about the product color, what are the product features, and what are the fundamental facts of the product.

Brand Name is unnecessary to be defined or traditional, rather it can also be an acronym name if it sounds useful and portrays your product details.

The association of words with product

It is a casual thing to add two or more words along with a specific name, i.e., skin-softening cream, taste killing hunger, chilling ice-cream, and many others like these. But this is a very crucial thing, as this can even result in toxic names which can sound terrible and create a never recommending nature against the product.

Associating words with the product should be avoided if you are launching your first product. Try to do this with the second or the later product, as this will help you create an association with the first product; it can be a trick to sell two items in the name of one. Like – Skin softening cold cream, here the major product is Cold Cream and the second product can be the Skin Softening Cream which is introduced in the customer’s mind just by the name so that at least the customer can think about softening their skin.

This is also known as Halo Effect or you can say a resonating product which helps to sell the other in relation to one product which is the most selling one.

Expressing the accurate product’s value

As we know that Brand Name is discovered by the product itself because the name will portray all the features of the product, so while naming keep in mind the name will convey the right thoughts about your product to the customers. Everything in a Brand Name is obtained by the product, so be careful.

3 things to keep in mind to express the right product value

• Logo: The alphabetical art of the product is like your sign, which means it will represent the company in the same way as a sign represents your authority.
• Font style, layout, and color: Overall, we can consider it as an effect that is implemented as a Brand Name to make it look attractive for the customers. It should be vibrant, appealing, and relatable.
• Images and Graphics: Images convey the actual relation of the product with the customer. You can use an image as a light background to your LOGO.

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Types of Branding?

There are many types of branding that you may come across, but what an entrepreneur needs are only a few sets of branding which he or she needs to know about.

Therefore, for an entrepreneur, there are only 6 types of Branding to be considered.

1. Product Branding: This branding is mostly done by most of the entrepreneurs. I do it to name multiple products of a company. Product Branding is the easiest one because one has to only name the product with no complex situations to be considered, mostly it should be simple and relatable.
2. Corporate Branding: we consider this branding where a company sells services as a product. Corporate has employees, specific culture, or set of protocols and responsibilities. Here, the complete startup is considered being a product where one minor mistake in the services can bring down the reputation of every individual in the company.
3. Personal Branding: As the name says personal it means representing an individual. This is not so complex because it happens automatically when an individual person becomes an idol to many people. Few examples of personal branding are – Stars, Politicians, Youtubers, and some similar famous people.
4. Co-Branding: Co-branding is achieved by the collaboration of two companies. When two separate companies think to collaborate to be operable as one and sell their product as a combination then co-branding is required. Like – Maruti Suzuki-Maruti and Suzuki were two different companies; Hero Honda- Hero and Honda are two different motor companies and the most recent one is TATA now owning Jaguar & Landrover but co-branding name has not been done.
5. Retail Branding: It is required when an entrepreneur is a sole manufacturer and seller to the direct customer. This is the most typical type of branding and requires most of the strategic tasks to name the startup. Few examples are as follows-: Big Bazaar, Ajio, Myntra, KFC, and many more.
6. Geographical Branding: Geographical Branding is related to products and services which are recognized by their locations, or if a user wants to experience these services he or she has to visit some specific regions. Mostly the traveling, cuisines, tourism, and other location-specific services. TLC channel, Living Food channel, Italy for Italian Food, etc.

What are the 4 steps of Branding?

Create some strategy for Branding so it can hold the product quality and display the accurate image of the product.

Find and set Brand Values and Position

We should have a precise knowledge of what we want to represent in front of our customers and how it should be portrayed in the market.

You need to follow these models:

• Portraying model: Know how to integrate other products to increase your sales in the competitive market.
• Resonance model: Create loyalty programs for your customers which will build an intense relationship with your customer.
• Value Chain: It means how much you are spending on the marketing of the brand and in return what you are getting.

Create some process for brand marketing

Create your brand logo and design, which will facilitate unique and favorable associations that will, later on, helps to create the brand association.  In this manner, you will easily increase the consumers for your product with less marketing.

Brand Performance Chart

It requires this to measure the performance of products after branding your products. This will provide you necessary data regarding how the Brand Name is attracting or spreading in the market and what positive outcomes are experienced. One can include the following objectives in their chart-: branding the required product and services, consumers’ perspective regarding the brand, equity chart of the brand, brand survey reports, and brand responsibility chart for the senior management.

Rising Brand Equity

Definitely, an entrepreneur will not be limited to his or her success therefore your branding plan should have a hierarchy to always grow. For long-term plans, if you launch many other products which will require the branding too; therefore always plan for branding earlier for future products. It is better to have a space to add a new product’s brand to the list rather than disorganizing and recreating the entire process again.

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4 P’s of Branding

Before finalizing the Branding you should test the Perception, Promise, Personal, and Purpose Driven of the brand.

Perception

You can discover from the customers what you can call your product and what they want from your product, so the perception of a customer tells a lot regarding the brand name. Customers’ will always associate your product to some other kinds of names to ask you for the product, this will provide you the perception that what a customer wants to hear about your product.

Promise

After the perception from the customers, provide the product or services exactly as they perceived earlier and maintain its quality in the market. You cannot go back from here and always have to look forward to increasing the quality or even maintaining it well.

Personal

The startup is yours and you have already planned a name earlier or you are specific about what you are going to do in the real-world market. This means you know what is most loved in the market and you can easily do the Branding.

Purpose Driven

The Brand Name you are selecting should be catchy in the market, but you cannot deviate from the purpose of the product, i.e., the Brand Name should also convey the purpose of the product. This will make it relatable and easy for consumers to spread the word.

Sum Up

With a proper business plan, best branding ways can be easy and sometimes very confusing, but if you have gone through “Things entrepreneurs should know about branding” step-by-step, and figure out how to deal with complex names while naming your product you can structure your business and can stand out in market. Also, a brand name should always convey what you sell and the quality of the product.