You ever hear of Microsoft, Oracle, Nike, Facebook and Twitter ? You must have, but do you know what they share in common ? You’ve guessed it- they are all famous amazing brands!

It doesn’t matter whether you’re creating a small family business out of your garage, a tech startup or running a million dollar firm out of a corner office on Wall Street – there is only ONE thing which an entrepreneur wants and that is to increase the value of their company.

Well, what if I told you that there are few things more effective than a good, solid branding campaign to swiftly and surely increase your company value.

Here are 5 ways you can build your OWN awesome brand, right NOW.

1) One Brand to Rule Them All.

Lord of the Rings was pretty great, right? Well, apart from learning that The Elves are real bad asses, there are other lessons to learn from the series too. Focus, is what kept the Fellowship going and Focus is what will take your own personal brand to the next level. No matter how rich you may be, when it comes with regard to your startup, you’ll find that you’re always short of resources. This is precisely WHY you must FOCUS all your energy, time and resources in building up ONE SINGLE BRAND- your company name. It is not advisable to create different brands for each of your products or services because it will end up in you expending all of your resources and energy. Not to mention the fact that your customers may get confused. Single Brand Focus is highly effective when it comes to Brand Creation.

2) Keeping it Simple.

When it comes to naming your brand, always remember to keep it short and memorable. A great example is how Federal Express simplified their brand name to FEDEX.  Always try and keep your name easy to spell and hard to mispronounce. Keeping these criteria in mind while selecting your brand name enables people to find and refer you easily.

3) Find a Domain to Match your Name.

It is always advisable to have the name of your brand on the URL of your brand. To ensure this, just head over to any registration online engine while you are bouncing off ideas and check and see if the URL is available. GoDaddy.com and Register.com are two popularly used registration engines.

4) Brand Protection.

After you are done selecting your brand name, make sure you trademark your name, logo and tag phrase. File with the Patent Office of your country for registered trademark/copyright status. In any printed or displayed material relevant to your startup, make sure you display clear copyright notice.

To read the full FMI Guild lecture on Copyright, sign up for the condensed course here

5) Use your Brand Everywhere.

Now this is the part, I find, where most people mess up. After going through Creation, Domain Buying and Trademarking your brand, be sure to apply it consistently. Your brand logo, name and tagline should be displayed EVERYWHERE. There is no reason to feel self conscious. You don’t see McDonalds hiding their logo right? This is crucial to your campaign because it enables customers and potential clientele to associate your company with a single phrase, or a logo. This is essential for gaining popularity. People should see the logo and reflexively think about your brand. This can only happen if they see it everywhere. Once you have this, you are on your way.

Creating a brand for your company is a very important aspect of your business. Think carefully what your company represents and what you want people to think it is, or will be. If you can convey your vision to your customers through your brand, you are just getting set to become the next big name in the industry.

For more information, click on www.fmiguild.org

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