5 top tips to build your brand by Richard Ward, Creative Director, ABA Design on 07-Jun-2013

Branding is essential for any business to expand and a successful brand can encourage pride, nourish it and reward it, so how can you develop a brand that followers are proud of in 2013?

Here are my top tips to make people proud of your brand:

1. Recognise togetherness as an asset – a small Welsh outdoor clothing company often holds outdoor entrepreneurial lectures in the summer, they are always sold out


2. Reward your customers and audience for their achievements – a friend visits a restaurant regularly they always know his seat, on his 100th visit they gave him a bottle of champagne


3. Be a leader not a follower – we recently heard about how a market research company completely reinvented how they test ads for clients – brilliant


4. Create inspiring environments – retails brands do this really well, but if you're a business to business company you can still create an inspiration workspace


5. Turn negatives into positives – a friend helped a leading retailer to turn around their customer service desk from a grave yard to 'the' place for staff to work

Luma - a case study

Since starting in 2009, digital experience agency, Luma, has gone from strength to strength. Luma develops physical interactive experiences – engaging consumers with brands in fun, exciting and novel ways such as their digital graffiti wall or the digital surface.

Balancing demand and growth was a problem for Luma so they applied for the British Library's Business and IP Centre's Innovating for Growth to get an objective point of view and the support they needed to take their growth forward in a way that was achievable and sustainable.

Luma received tailored advice and support for their business covering strategy, branding, intellectual property, market penetration, product development, an 'Ask an Expert' session with Entrepreneur in Residence, Stephen Fear and ended with sustainability to ensure their long-term success.

Since completing their bespoke programme, both their revenue and numbers of employees have increased and they have lots more exciting plans for the future.

"The programme has been very exciting, not only has it forced us to re-evaluate all parts of our business, but it has given us the confidence to make changes where were hesitant before," said Tim Williams, Luma co-founder and Commercial Director.

"The support offered by the British Library team from the beginning has made the programme easy to follow and regular reviews mean we get the most out of it."

Innovating for Growth provides £10,000 worth of tailored business advice to small businesses with big ambitions. With our business experts and unrivalled research collections, we can help you develop and implement a sustainable strategy for your business growth. Modules included are: Business Strategy, Branding, Intellectual Property, Product Development, Market Penetration and Business Sustainability.

Win a place on this programme and be part of an elite group of growing small businesses! Find out more and apply for a place on Innovating for Growth

Richard Ward is Creative Director at ABA Design. ABA Design provides the branding expertise for the British Library’s Business & IP Centre's tailored business support programme, Innovating for Growth, funded by the European Regional Development Fund.

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