Branding is just as important for small businesses as it is for big names. Branding is a way of defining your business to yourself, your team and your external audiences. It could be called the business’ “identity”, but only on the understanding that it embodies the core of what the business is and its values, not just what it looks and sounds like.
Here are tips on how to successfully brand your small business.
- When building your brand, think of it’s character. Our personality determines how we behave in different situations, how we dress and what we say. Of course for people it’s intuitive and it’s rare that you even consider what your own character is, but when you’re building a brand it’s vital to have that understanding.
- Start by defining your brand. Review the product or service your business offers, pinpoint the space in the market it occupies and research the emotive and rational needs and concerns of your customers. Your brand character should promote your business, connect with your customer base and differentiate you in the market.
- Consider what is driving your business. What does it believe in, what is its purpose and who are its brand heroes? These things can help establish your emotive brand positioning and inform the identity and character for brand communications.
- Aim to build long-term relationships with your customers. Don’t dress up your offering and raise expectations that result in broken promises, create trust with honest branding — be clear who your company is and be true to the values that drive it every day.
- Speak to your customers with a consistent tone of voice. It will help reinforce the business’ character and clarify its offering so customers are aware exactly what to expect from the product or service.
- Don’t repeat the same message in the same way over and over again. Alternatively, aim to make your key messages work together to build a coherent identity.
- Don’t try to mimic the look of chains or big brands. Try and carve out your own distinctive identity. Be independent and leverage your own status to attract customers who are looking for something more original and authentic, that aligns with how they feel about themselves.
- Be innovative, bold and daring. Big brands are bogged down by large layers of bureaucracy, preventing them from being flexible and reacting to the ever-changing needs of their customers. Those layers of decision-makers can make it hard for them to be daring with their branding. By being a small business you would enjoy the freedom of being more adaptable and ready with changes as necessary.
The old way of stamping your logo on everything won’t cut it. The future of branding is fluid and engaging — respect your customers’ intelligence by not giving everything away up front. Generate some intrigue and allow them to unearth more about your brand for themselves. This is the way to foster ambassadors who revel in telling other people what they have discovered.