Shannon Ciricillo August 1, 2019

How To Build A Brand In 2019

If you’re interested in how to build a brand and grow a company in 2019 – this one’s for you.

How To Build a Brand | Photo by Zach Leung for Rise Brewing & H Agency

Building a brand and growing a business looks a bit different in 2019. While many traditional companies are used to the days of TV spots, print advertisements and good old agencies – that’s not exactly how it works in the 21st century.

In fact, if you haven’t noticed – things have substantially changed in a span of just 20 years. No longer are we tied to the same forms of promotion and marketing as brands of the past. Instead, the world has become one awesome oyster, allowing us to build, grow and expand our companies as much as we’d like.

So, if there’s endless room for opportunity and no limits to what we can create –

How do we start building the best brand possible?

Let’s take a look at how tools such as the Internet, social media and creative visuals can help you build your brand and elevate your company’s presence in the consumer marketplace.

How To Build a Brand in 2019

1. Build a Brand Identity: Develop a Distinctive Voice

The first way that you can build your brand is to establish a unique and recognizable identity.

So, how exactly will you achieve this? By developing a distinctive brand voice.

In fact, the most successful companies are the ones who know who they are and what they’re about. There’s no question about their mission or vision as a brand. Businesses that put brand identity at the forefront are guaranteed to gain and keep more customers over time. This is because brand identity establishes a true relationship and connection.

If you’re building your brand identity, you will need to:

Create cohesive branding with a brand book: logo, colors and fonts
Develop a voice across all forms of copy: Instagram captions, product description, blog posts and your brand’s mission.
Craft creative, visual elements: Creating high quality visuals that work in unison with the graphic elements of your website and social media profiles.
Instill a company wide brand initiative: inform and educate your employees on your brand voice, the proper way to communicate your brand’s mission and how they can share it with the rest of the world.

In short, your brand identity should be a full representation of what your company has to offer to its consumers. You want to have a identity that stands out from the rest and establishes that coveted element of brand loyalty.

Need some inspiration to get you started? Study and understand how brand identity is built by looking at the work of companies such as Apple, Starbucks and Coca-Cola.

2. Build a Brand on Social Media: Stay Active

The second way to build your brand is to invest time in social media.

Social media is one of the most important marketing tools for any brand in 2019. As we mentioned, the days of traditional advertising are diminishing. Which means that there is more room and opportunity for new age methods of promotion.

In order to take advantage of all that social media has to offer, you need to stay active and build a focused social strategy. In fact, why wouldn’t you want to completely utilize social media? It’s a free platform with combined users in the billions. There’s never been a better way to reach and engage with such a large number of potential consumers.

So, how exactly do you stay active on social media and create a plan that works for your brand?

Effective Social Media Strategy

Consider these following rules for effective social media strategy and implementation:

Remember how we talked about brand identity? You’ll need to showcase this on every one of your social media profiles.
Create descriptions and bios that speak to what your company does. Keep it short and to the point.
Add a url link to your website homepage or a section that you want consumers to regularly visit.
Post Regularly and Often
- Instagram: at least one post a day, two is even better.
- Twitter: post as often as you can and always engage with your followers. This is one social platform where saying more is encouraged.
- Facebook: Share company updates, blog posts and brand news. You can also integrate your Instagram and Twitter, so that you can share your posts across each platform. Cross platform sharing gives you the opportunity to have as many people as possible engaging with your content.
Stick to a High Quality, Visual Identity
- You don’t need to have a set color palette to make your content interesting to consumers
- But, you should keep the level of quality the same. If you’re producing high quality images, don’t mix it with low quality, blurry iPhone shots.
Engage with your Followers
- The most important part of your strategy is to constantly engage with your followers. You can’t just post, sit back and wait for them to come to you. Be proactive and start the conversation.
  - Craft captions that ask questions and respond to your followers’ answers.
  - Create polls or interactive elements that allow your followers to feel included.

As you can see, building your brand on social media is more important than ever. Your consumers are social and they use these platforms multiple times a day. If you want to catch their attention and grab their interest, then you need to be just as active on social media.

3. Build a Brand Online: Connect With Your Consumers

The third way that you can build your brand is to have a strong online platform where you can connect with your consumers. In this case, we aren’t talking about social media. But, rather your brand’s professional website.

Your website is where everything happens. This is where consumers can find your products, where they sign up for your services and learn what your brand is about. It’s the central hub for everything related to your company.

Therefore, you need to ensure that you are effectively connecting with consumers on your platform.

Tips for Building Your Brand Online:

Create a website that is easy to use and navigate
- Design is important, but the funnel of your consumers is top priority
- Make sure that your website has a navigation and touch points to allow your consumer to move seamlessly throughout.
Add copy, text and product descriptions:
- While pictures are worth a thousand words, you need to communicate your product on the page.
- Utilize your brand voice and craft copy that speaks to who you are.
Integrate multiple methods of contact
- Your consumers should have various ways to reach you and inquire about your brand
- Use a contact page, chat bot or customer service team to reply quickly to any inquires
Design something different and fresh
- Keeping usability in mind, don’t be afraid to create something unique on the page
- Think of ways to spice up your landing pages – add moving images, videos or GIFS.
- Use fonts and colors that are visually appealing
- Work with a designer or use a high quality Shopify template to make your brand’s voice jump out and grab your viewers

By creating and designing a website worth visiting, you will be able to connect with your customers. Whether it’s shopping online or utilizing one of your services, consumers want to be interested and intrigued by the websites they visit.

In short, you can build a brand online by developing an easy to use and visually appealing website.

4. Build a Brand Strategy: Use High Quality and Creative Visuals

The final way for you to build your brand is through a well crafted, visual strategy. In fact, high quality and creative images may be the most effective way for you to develop new interest in your brand.

But, if you’re more focused on the business side of things – how do you produce enticing and captivating creative? The answer – Hire a professional, experienced photographer.

Working with a photographer allows you to utilize your brand identity and build images that communicate your company’s message. Plus, a photographer can showcase your products and services in a manner that piques consumers’ interest.

Hire a Professional Photographer

With the help of a photographer, you can build a brand strategy by:

Developing creative campaigns
- Showcase products, new offerings and even upcoming events for your brand
Crafting images that help you to connect with your consumers
- Add a lifestyle aspect that allows your audience to visualize your brand in their lives.
Showcasing your brand’s level of professionalism
- High quality visuals shows that you care about your brand’s perception and outwardly appearance
- Therefore, consumers will have an instilled sense of trust that they are supporting a brand who takes themselves seriously.

Therefore, working with a photographer to produce creative images is a win across the board. Not only will your brand’s image be unique and captivating, but you’ll grab and keep the attention of your consumers.

Are you wondering where you can hire a professional photographer for your brand campaign? Check out our recently launched, H Hub Job platform, where we connect experienced photographers with brands like you.

We’re changing the way you hire photographers. Learn how it works and find your next photographer today.

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Building a brand in 2019 means creating an identity, strong social media presence, place for online interaction and creative visual strategy.

Do you have any other questions about how to effectively build your own brand? Connect with us on social at @h_collective.