How to build a brand in 9 easy steps: Tips for building a brand from scratch

No matter what you sell, creating a brand identity for your business is crucial in today’s competitive marketplace (it’s actually one of the branding fundamentals). A strong brand helps you connect with customers, build recognition, and increase your company’s value over time.

Building a successful brand takes more than just designing a logo or choosing colors. A proper brand strategy shapes how people perceive your business and sets you apart from competitors.

In this guide, we’ll walk through practical branding strategies that work for businesses of all sizes. Whether you’re just starting out or looking to refresh your existing brand, these branding tips will help you create a brand that resonates.

So, what is branding? Branding encompasses the complete process of shaping how people perceive your business. It includes researching, developing, and refining the elements that communicate your vision, mission, and purpose.

Every external perception, idea, and concept that sets your business apart from competitors falls under branding, from visual identity to messaging and tone of voice. Even specific colors can set the tone for your brand!

Building a strong brand means more than just creating a logo or catchphrase (and much more than following logo trends). It means developing a complete identity that shows your company’s values and connects with your audience. Customers should quickly understand what makes you special when they see your brand. They should immediately know why they should choose your products or services.

A good brand strategy blends visual elements with your communication style. Your logo, colors, and typography work with your customer brand experience to form your identity. These elements create a recognizable presence that builds trust with your audience.

Think of your brand as having its own personality. Just like you recognize friends by their appearance and mannerisms, customers should be able to spot your brand across different platforms and touchpoints through consistent brand building.

Your branding works as your company’s personality. It creates a unique selling point that helps your business stand out. In today’s crowded marketplace, first impressions matter more than ever. Your brand strategy should clearly show who you are, what you do, and what values you represent when customers first find you.

Strong brand building promotes your business effectively. It elevates your products, keeps existing customers engaged, and attracts new audiences. A good brand builds recognition and loyalty over time. However, poor branding can seriously limit your success in the market.

Effective branding creates consistency across all customer touchpoints. This includes your website, social media, packaging, and customer service. This consistency strengthens your brand identity and makes your business more memorable to consumers.

If you want to learn how to start a business, choose a brand name (whether through brainstorming or using a business name generator), and create a visual identity for your target audience, continue reading our guide on how to build a brand from scratch.

The foundation of successful brand building starts with reflection. Before focusing on visual elements, you need to establish your purpose, mission, and strategic goals as part of your brand strategy. This self-awareness forms the cornerstone of how to build a brand that truly resonates with your audience.

Here are five essential questions to ask yourself to understand your brand better:

Your brand extends far beyond visual elements like logos, taglines, or slogans. It embodies your business values, purpose, and foundation. A comprehensive brand strategy takes all these elements into account. The deeper you understand your own brand, the more effectively you can communicate its value to your audience.

Digital branding means building and managing your brand online. Today’s connected world requires a strong digital presence. This helps your brand-building efforts succeed and lets you reach your audience where they spend their time online.

Effective digital brand strategy follows three key phases: discovery, design, and implementation.

Creative professionals understand that consistency matters in digital branding. Keep your visuals and tone consistent across all platforms. At the same time, adapt slightly to each channel’s specific needs. This balanced approach builds brand recognition and leaves a strong impression on potential clients.

A key step in brand building is identifying your competitors. These are the brands your products will compete against. This might be one major brand or an entire category of similar products in your market.

Your competitors may not be obvious at first. Understanding how they compare to your business is vital for your brand strategy. A good competitor analysis shows you what makes other brands successful. It helps you develop your unique selling points (USPs) to stand out.

Here are some strategic approaches to defining your USPs:

Your competitor analysis guides your brand strategy development. Once you’ve found gaps in the market, you can use branding to set your unique offering apart.

An elevator pitch is a concise summary of who you are and what makes your brand different based on your unique selling points. It should be brief enough to deliver during a short elevator ride, typically 30 seconds or less, presenting the core of your brand strategy.

For creative professionals, a well-crafted elevator pitch is invaluable. Think of it as the “tl;dr” for your brand; an easy explainer that brings a new prospect up to speed. While it might not always lead to immediate results, having this fundamental brand-building tool can open doors as opportunity arises.

Here are some tips for creating an effective elevator pitch:

Your elevator pitch puts your brand strategy into words. It takes your complex creative services and turns them into a simple, engaging story. A well-crafted pitch makes a strong impression on listeners. When done right, it helps build brand recognition and creates new business opportunities.

Before creating a brand that connects with your audience, you need to know who they are and what they want. Audience analysis is a key part of your brand strategy. It helps you identify your target market and their needs so you can direct your brand-building efforts more effectively.

Start your audience analysis by defining your target market through buyer personas. These personas represent your ideal customers. They include important details about demographics, interests, and behaviors. Each persona should represent a different customer group relevant to your creative services.

For instance, if you’re a graphic designer, one buyer persona might be the tech startup founder. This persona would have specific characteristics setting them apart from other clients. You’d consider their industry knowledge, budget expectations, design preferences, and decision-making process in analyzing their needs.

The next crucial step is understanding what motivates these audience segments. Explore their goals, challenges, and how they make purchasing decisions about creative services. What design styles appeal to them? Which communication channels do they prefer? How do they evaluate creative professionals? Your brand messaging should directly address these insights.

Thorough audience analysis ensures your brand strategy speaks directly to the right people in the right way. This makes your branding efforts more efficient and effective. When your brand reflects deep understanding of your audience, it naturally attracts your ideal client.

The SWOT analysis provides a clear framework to identify where your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats lie in your branding journey. This straightforward tool helps you evaluate your current position and develop a more effective brand strategy.

Conducting a thorough SWOT analysis shows you exactly where to focus your time, resources, and creative energy to maximize your brand’s potential. Here’s how to perform a SWOT analysis specifically for your creative brand:

The insights from your SWOT analysis should directly inform your brand strategy decisions. For example, your brand messaging might highlight your identified strengths, while your development plans address weaknesses.

A well-executed SWOT analysis becomes the foundation for authentic branding that accurately reflects your current reality while positioning you for future growth.

Creating a successful brand requires more than just showcasing products or services. It needs a compelling narrative. As your brand develops, the story behind it often becomes more important than what you sell. Brand storytelling forms a crucial element of any effective brand strategy, driving recognition, engagement, and customer loyalty. This also includes building a strong brand promise.

When creative professionals craft authentic brand narratives, they forge emotional connections with their audience that purely functional descriptions cannot achieve. These emotional bonds drive both customer engagement and business growth. Conversely, brands without compelling stories leave potential clients without a reason to connect with or remember them.

That’s where storytelling comes in – if you can tell your brand’s story effectively, you can increase your company’s branding effectiveness and boost sales by up to 60 percent, according to research from Harvard Business School’s Michael Porter.

For creative professionals, your personal journey, design philosophy, or the problem your services solve can all form the foundation of a powerful brand story. The most compelling narratives often highlight transformation, whether it’s how your creative work transforms client businesses or how your own professional journey has evolved over time.

Many creative entrepreneurs and small business owners mistakenly believe that comprehensive brand strategy belongs only in the realm of large corporations with massive marketing budgets. This couldn’t be further from the truth.

While global brands have certainly invested heavily in developing their distinctive identities, effective brand building is equally vital for businesses of all sizes. In fact, a clear brand strategy often proves even more crucial for smaller creative businesses trying to establish themselves in competitive markets.

Here’s a step-by-step approach to building a successful brand strategy for creative professionals:

Each of these steps contributes to a cohesive brand strategy that helps creative professionals stand out in their field. Remember that branding is an ongoing process that evolves as your business grows and market conditions change. Stay true, but leave room to evolve.

A strong brand positioning strategy is essential for effective brand building. It tells your audience what your creative services are and how they provide value. Good positioning makes your brand stand out and gives clients clear reasons to choose you over competitors.
Brand positioning strategies focus on four main areas:

Try these practical strategies to improve your brand positioning:

Effective brand positioning requires planning and consistent work. When your positioning connects with your target audience, it builds a foundation for sustainable growth.

At its core, branding is the strategic process of differentiating your offerings from competitors. But effective brand building goes far beyond simple differentiation. It infuses your business with your mission, personality, and purpose, creating a distinctive identity.

A well-crafted brand strategy becomes a powerful tool for creative businesses. It increases your visibility, generates higher engagement with potential clients, and converts prospects more effectively than traditional marketing approaches. When done right, branding makes your business memorable.

As you embark on your brand journey, know that you have help along the way! With Envato, you can access unlimited creative assets to support your branding journey. You’ve got access to millions of assets that can fully represent your brand. Browse and find icons, photos, graphics and more that perfectly match your branding strategy.