1. Strategize Your Brand

The first task you have is to devise a detailed branding strategy. Don’t start with creating a website before you have a solid idea of the site’s purpose, its intended audience, its guiding visual philosophy or its tone of voice. All of these should become clear to you as you pursue the following:

• Identify your target market: Who are they? Which demographic groups do they belong to? What do they like to do? How do they see themselves? How will your business or website influence their lives?

• Research your competitors: Get a grip on what the competitors are doing, what their strengths and weaknesses are, and how you can carve a niche for yourself in the field.

• Define your brand identity: If you had to describe your brand in three words, what would they be? What is the vision that motivates your brand? Think of your brand’s personality and extract from it tangible traits like colors, vocabulary and style.

• Prepare consistent branding material: Now it’s time to get practical and prepare the materials that will soon be featured on your site and on other platforms too. For instance, a logo, images, slogans, videos, textual content and more. They should all correspond to your brand identity and serve your branding strategy.

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