BRANDING - STEP-BY-STEP SECRETS TO STARTING AN E-COMMERCE STORE

9. Branding
When establishing your brand identity, consider:

• How did the idea emerge.
• Where did the inspiration come from.
• Why do you have a brand.
• What are your company’s core values.
• Think about telling the story of your brand rather than just the dry process of selling a product.
• What promise do you want to make to your customers.
• What problem/s are you solving for your customer.
• What feelings do you want associated with your brand.

 
Types of Brand Names:

• Descriptive.
• Embody vision of founder - could be name of founder.
• Acronym of descriptive name - e.g. NASA.
• Real words.
• Geographical name – e.g. British Airways.
• Composite – gluing 2 words together.
• Invent a name.
• Associative, aligned or a metaphor eg. Amazon.
• Lexical - related words make it more memorable.
• Non-English word eg. Lego.
• Abstract name - no meaning.

 
When choosing your brand name:

• Remember a name has an emotional attachment to it. You want to connect with audience. You want to be remembered. You want to embody and solidify the image and position of your business.
• Brainstorm keywords and brand name ideas.
• Check name isn’t taken already.
• Check name doesn’t mean anything bad in another language.
• Ask is it memorable, strategic and concise.
• Look at competitors names and see how it fits.
• It can be difficult to change a brand – but it is not impossible and you should consider this if you subsequently come up with a perfect brand.

 
The Formations company help with creating a name
 
Domain name
It is imperative to have a domain and presence on the internet. The best urls ends in a .com.
 
Domains (URLs) can be purchased through:

• Googledomains [https://domains.google.com]
• Namecheap [https://www.namecheap.com]
• GoDaddy [https://www.godaddy.com] They also provide websites and hosting and email and marketing services
• 123-reg.co.uk [https://123-reg.co.uk]

 
Email address:
You will need a professional email address based on your domain name. (Not just a gmail or yahoo address).
 
Graphics:
You will need:

• A logo
• Website
• Business Cards

 
You could use AI or go to a graphic design company or find freelancers to help you at:
fiverr.
 
Tailor Brands provides packages with tools to help you start your business and appear professional.
[https://www.tailorbrands.com]