Creating a Brand for a Career Service

By Karine Touloumjian.

Successful businesses brand their products and services. We hear about this marketing strategy often; however, we don’t always know where to start when trying to conceive brand identity for our career service.

According to the BusinessDictionary.com, branding is defined as “The process involved in creating a unique name and image for a product in the consumers’ mind, mainly through advertising campaigns with a consistent theme. Branding aims to establish a significant and differentiated presence in the market that attracts and retains loyal customers.”

So what does this mean in actionable terms?

As career entrepreneurs, what steps should we follow to define a clear brand for our product/service? Here are some simple and useful tips to help you get started!

Determine your reason for existing

Define an authentic mission that represents “what you stand for.” Your audience should clearly and quickly understand what career services you are offering and how this can be beneficial for them. However, to set yourself apart from the competition, it goes further than that. Communicate your story and explain your core values, qualities, and assets.

The following questions will help you determine your mission statement:

• What is the purpose of your career service?
• What goals do you want to reach?
• Who is your target audience?
• What differentiates you from others offering the same service?

Focus on your uniqueness

In order to attract people to your brand, your target audience should be able to identify who you are, what you stand for, and what makes you unique. This will set you apart and determine if you’re the person they want to do business with. Focus on your signature style and your unique personality.

Clarity is key

The information you convey should be simple and clear. Express your message in a tone of voice that is true to you and the way you speak. Your personality should always come through when communicating with your audience, whether in writing or verbally. Focus on what is important to your clients and use vocabulary that connects with them.

Think like your target market

Find out what your potential clients are searching for and how your brand can connect with their need. On an emotional level, what feelings/emotions do you transmit to your audience? Your brand needs to evoke these consistent feelings through its offered services, story, vocabulary, logo, colors, marketing, and design.

Create your brand graphics and visual style

A great logo visually represents your career service. It is a simple trademark to identify your brand and set you apart from your competitors. Your brand’s visual design, colors, font, and images should be aligned and consistent with your brand image. The psychology of colours is critical to designing an effective logo. For example, red implies passion/energy/heat/warmth. Bright and bold colors are attention-grabbing as opposed to subtle colors that offer a more sophisticated image.

Develop a marketing strategy

Through your marketing strategy, you will define how to make your product known to as many people as possible. Create a quality website, determine which social media platforms are the best fit with your product/service. LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube are commonly used for marketing businesses. Depending on the product or service you’re offering, you might want to consider taking out ads online, in local newspapers, on the radio, at events, etc.

Deliver a great product

Once your prospective client has chosen you, you need to deliver what your brand promises. Staying consistent until the very end, as well as offering exceptional customer service is key to your brand’s success. When your product meets expectations and gains your client’s trust, your satisfied client will spread the word and promote your services to others. This will also create brand loyalty and keep them coming back for your services in the future.

Creating a strong brand identity is essential for a successful career service. It embodies the mission, values, characteristics and reason for existence of an organization. Your brand is your promise to your clients and what they can expect from your career service, so make sure to create it strategically and authentically.