How to brand your fashion or retail business

“Building a brand starts from the inside”.

Branding is about building a brand that has meaning, a purpose and a message for people to connect to. It is about understanding your why you do what you do because “People buy why you do what you do, not what you do!”

If you grasp this simple concept it will help you to create a brand with meaning that will build strong brand recognition, customer trust and loyalty.

Over time you will build brand equity (which means building financial value in your brand name) your name will become the most valuable part of your business, as you establish yourself in your market – Think of how much Coca Cola’s name is worth?

Understanding Your Why?

We all have reasons for starting a business, and I am not talking about making money. I am talking about how does your brand impact others, what is your voice and message to your customers – how are you empowering or helping them?

Your why becomes your unique brand identity that is special to you and the reason you started your fashion brand in the first place.

Example: Look at Nike’s Vision Statement below

Let’s also look at their mission statement to see how they plan to achieve their vision.

Brand Meaning  – Brand Strategy

Like anything in life, you must have a plan and building a brand is no different, you must take the time to think about how you are going to build this brand. This part of the process is called brand strategy.

This means getting help to identity your brands meaning, to clarify the following important elements like: Your Vision, Mission, Values, Personality, Beliefs, Topic, Tribe, Strengths, Image, Promise, Cause, One word.

You are well on your way to building a brand that will last if you are clear on the above.

Q: What is your vision?

Q: What is your mission?

REMEMBER: People don’t buy what you do they buy why you do it!!!

Brand Identity:

Your brand identity is the visual look and feel of your brand and is the secondary part of your how you are going to build your brand once you know Why you do what you do.

Knowing what colours will reinforce your brands identity, while understanding the different emotional triggers colour will evoke from your customers is important to understand.

You can create a blueprint for your brand which is called a Brand Guideline to help you to manage your brand with success, because without this it could mean that you will lose site of your vision and mission as you start to take your brand in the wrong direction, and so creating this document is essential to remaining consistent.

When your brand is consistent and clear it will help you to generate new customers, inspiring employees, build financial value in your brand name and create a strong culture and tribe around your brand.

Brand Mantra:

We won’t go into creating a brand mantra now but here is NIKE’s to give you an idea of how they use their mantra (Otherwise known as a slogan) by driving an inspirational message to their customers to act. I have enclosed both an external one for your customers and an internal (normally 3 letters) mantra for your company’s brand promise.

External Mantra: Nike = “Just do it” –  Nike uses an inspirational message to provoke an action!!

Internal Mantra: Nike = Authentic, Athletic, Performance –  Nike focuses on the product deliverables what they promise to their customers.

Brand Promise

Your brand promise holds you accountable for delivering your product to your customers at a standard you have set for yourself, and so I ask you – what promise will you make?

Sophia White, Brand Strategist

Brand Design Agency is a fast-growing challenger brand and we love to create brands with purpose and culture.

Receive your 1-hour FREE brand strategy session with me CLICK HERE

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