Creating a brand that consumers trust and ultimately want to invest their time, money and energy into is not easy.
In the print and embroidery industry, creating a trustworthy brand is crucial. It’s arguably the most important aspect in building and sustaining a successful business.
With many years of experience working alongside the hard-working folks of the print and embroidery businesses, we here at DecoNetwork want to help you research, create and promote a brand that consumers will identify with and want to do business with for many years to come.
If you are currently operating a print and embroidery business, ask yourself this simple question: How does the public view your business?
That question in itself will let you know how strong your current brand is, or why your branding needs improvement. Anyone can start a business if they have the capitol. But not anyone can build a brand and garner a strong reputation that will ultimately set yourself apart from the competition.
Here are 5 steps that you can use to start creating a brand that will help you generate more business and bring your company more overall success within the print and embroidery industry.
Step 1: Create Your Brand Identity
In order to start creating your brand identity, you must first define what a brand is.
To simplify things, a brand is the personality of your business. If someone were to mention your business, their initial response would define what your brand is. Is it positive or negative? Do they recognize your company name? Do they know what your company logo is?
Think of your brand as a person. What traits and characteristics do you want your brand to have?
The following things are included under your brand identity umbrella.
- Logos
- Colors
- Typography
- Web design
- Photography/videography
- Messaging
- Social presence
If you’re starting a brand new company, take your time in creating a logo. Don’t go the easy route. While your brand logo isn’t the end-all, be-all, it will always be the most recognizable aspect of your business, so make sure it looks professional.
Design a professional website. Having a reliable website that your customers can visit and easily navigate the products you are offering is crucial and DecoNetwork can help you with building that stunning interface directly.
Spend the time to have professional photos taken of your products and business. Create a message for your business and have a presence on social media. It’s 2021, ladies and gentlemen. If you don’t have a social media presence, you’re well behind the curve.
If you are already an established business, don’t be afraid to rebrand and revamp. Some of the biggest companies in the world have rebranded multiple times. If you think a new logo would help business, go for it.
Step 2: Do Your Research
If you want to set yourself apart from the competition and build a brand that people will identify with, you need to do your research.
Who is your target audience? If you’re running a print and embroidery business, you want the community your business is located in to use you. Get involved in your community and support the local schools and local businesses that could potentially come to you for apparel in the future.
Study your competition. In 2021, finding out the tricks your competitors use is a lot easier with the power of social media. How are your competitors engaging with their following on Facebook and Instagram? What types of businesses are they producing apparel for? Ask yourself, who are they marketing to?
Compare your brand identity to theirs. Does their logo look better than yours? Is their social media presence stronger? Do they have better messaging?
But also try to find out what they do poorly that you can do better. No business is run perfectly. Find a weakness and take advantage of it. Any leg up you can get on the competition, the better.
At the end of the day, you want your business to stand out from the crowd. Don’t be afraid to go the road less traveled if it means your business can grow. Be unique, but most importantly, be yourself.
Step 3: Tell Your Brand’s Story
A great way to build your brand is to tell your story.
When you’re creating or revamping your website, make sure to create an “About Us’ section. Visitors to your website will flock to that tab and rightfully so.
Why should a customer choose to do business with your company? Let your own voice tell them why. People are suckers for a good story, so tell them one.
What is your company all about? How did your company get started? How has your business adapted or changed over the years?
If your business started in your parent’s garage, write about that. Something like that shows how hardworking and dedicated you are to your craft. Have you been a longtime supporter of the local high school’s football team? Write about that. Have you donated your time to special causes throughout the years? Write about that.
Anything you can do to make potential clients respect what you do and want to do business with you is a huge win. Not only for your brand, but for your livelihood.
Step 4: Promote Your Brand
There are lots of ways to promote your brand, but there is also a fine line between just the right amount and too much.
We spoke about having a social media presence in Step 1 and you can use that presence to promote your brand. One of the easiest and most effective ways to promote your brand via social media is through the use of advertisements.
For a reasonable price, you can promote your business with the use of a social media ad that will reach tons of potential customers. You can use email promotions or purchase radio ads, but all should be consistent and on brand.
You can also spend time promoting your brand organically by creating your own posts on social media. We will talk about the best practices of social media in Step 5.
All of these options are great, but you don’t want to overdo it.
The last thing you want is to spam potential customers with tons of posts and emails. No one wants to be overwhelmed with information. That is a quick and easy way to run potential customers off.
Be smart with the way you promote. If there are other employees within your company that can help with promoting your brand, delegate some tasks to them. Don’t do everything by yourself as you are only one person.
Having a good strategy is key.
Step 5: Be Consistent
Consistency is key. I’m sure you’ve heard that cheesy line more times than you can count, but it couldn’t be more true.
If you’re not being consistent with your brand, all of your hard work will be for naught.
Don’t be afraid to go bold, but make sure you’re staying on brand and not backing yourself into a corner. You should stay consistent across all platforms, whether that be via face-to-face communication, or via social media platforms.
Never underestimate how slight inconsistencies within your brand can derail your overall goal.
Post daily to your social media accounts, treat everyone you come into contact with fairly and don’t forget to stay true to who you are. Don’t bite off more than you can chew and risk putting the consistency of your business at risk.
Being consistent is doing something someone can uniquely associate with your brand.
DecoNetwork Can Help
DecoNetwork wants your print and embroidery business to be successful and we want to help facilitate that. Check out DecoNetwork.com to learn more information about how we help businesses like yours run more efficiently on a daily basis.
