Your company’s brand is the mental image that fills your audience’s heads when talking about your company and its product/service. In a way, it’s the personality that represents your visions, motivations and aspirations as a company, as well as your audience’s perception, attitude and knowledge regarding it.

To develop and direct your company’s brand, your business needs to create consistent and memorable ways to reach out to and engage with your audience. From initiatives that involve social media to TV advertisements, posters, brochures, leaflets and other marketing collaterals, you don’t need a business coach or marketing expert telling you to jumpstart your marketing before you get going. The real question is, how do you properly start a branding and marketing initiative?

The key lies in brand assets. While companies naturally get to marketing in order to boost their sales, engage with their audience and establish their customer base, it’s important to get a conscious, if not focused, start in marketing. Before focusing on deep strategies, get started with the basics -- develop your brand assets.

Brand assets are key distinctive, unique, salient and (hopefully) creative elements that separates your brands from others. Brand assets can be logos, jingles, video signatures, design, taglines, packaging, colour schemes, and more. While there’s a myriad of assets that brands can invest in, develop and focus on as they establish and eternalise their image, some assets are more important and crucial to your business’s success than others. Here are a few to get your brand started:

Logo

The logo is your brand’s visual representation. Develop a clean, simple and unique logo that your brand can use to mark collaterals, products and other assets. Be consistent and rarely change/update your logo so that it remains easily recognisable to your audience. Aim for distinction and recognition so that your audience won’t associate your logo with another brand in or outside your industry.

Tagline

Your tagline is crucial in telling exactly what your company stands for and what it does. At best, it should be specific enough to determine your space in the market and communicate to the audience what your brand is all about. Try to avoid cliches and don’t box your brand in by limiting its reach. Be unique, be memorable.

Colour

Never forget that colours can subliminally communicate emotions. Consistently use a colour scheme that represents your brand. Keep in mind that using complementary, analogous, and other colour combinations can create design harmony and improve brand retention/association.

Music/Jingle

In this digital age, music/sound themes/jingles as a brand asset can be used in videos, apps, radio, TV advertisements, web advertisements and more. Reinforce brand recall by using unique sound bytes that make your brand memorable and distinct. Develop music that has clever hooks, replayability and a theme that suits your brand’s image.

Develop brand assets that help your brand reach out to, engage with and stay relevant in your audience base. Direct your assets’ growth and cash in on their long-term positive impacts on brand recognition, preference and loyalty.

Considering new branding strategies? Need more advice on marketing and other aspects of your business? Dowload our free ebook and learn how myCEO can help your business reach greater heights