Want to establish your business brand? Find out how with our comprehensive guide.
You have a product or service you're proud of, and it's been well-received by some customers, but you know you can use branding to take your business to the next level. It can be hard to figure out where to start and what to prioritize as you form your branding strategy.
If you're wondering how to increase brand awareness for small business growth, this guide can streamline your creative process. Whether you want to go it alone or use branding services for your small business, the following strategies are a great starting point.
What is branding?
Branding is the process of creating a unique identity for a company or product. As you formulate your branding for small business strategy, you incorporate your business’s values and personality, as well as its unique value-add for customers. As long as your branding and customer experience align, you build trust amongst your target audience, which leads to loyalty.
As Chris Gerbig, Co-founder and President of the online retailer Pink Lily, puts it, branding involves "the perception of your business, the aura." He continues, "I see the brand as what people say about your company… the intangible idea of what your business represents."
One of the easiest ways to understand brand strategy for small business is to examine two companies that have similar offerings but different brands. For example, Walmart and Target sell many of the same items—even from the same manufacturers at times. But even though customers may walk out of each store with the same products, the brand strategy that pulled each customer in was unique.
For instance, Walmart and Target have very different brand promises, or value-adds. Walmart's brand promise centers around offering a staggering number of products at an affordable price. And the retail behemoth prioritizes low prices over quality. For example, even when the products Walmart’s marketing are high-quality, the company emphasizes their low price point.
Target, on the other hand, focuses on presenting products in a way that emphasizes their quality. By the same token, Target also tries to create a higher-value shopping experience by using wider aisles, strategic lighting, and thoughtful product development and packaging.
For instance, at Walmart, you may see a giant basket six feet tall full of basketballs. At Target, you may see basketballs of a similar quality sitting neatly at eye level, carefully contained in cardboard packaging.
Even though the products are similar, the branding is different.
Small-to-medium-sized business (SMB) leaders need to focus on branding because it makes their products stand out from the competition while simultaneously espousing core company values. For instance, your company may want to emphasize its personalized approach to sales and support instead of speedy service. Or you may aim to come across as the most convenient, fast option in your market segment. Your branding decisions can help underscore these value-adds for new and repeat customers.
By using the tips in this article, an SMB businessperson can map out an effective branding strategy—one that aligns with the company's beliefs, products, and goals.
Why is branding important for a small business?
Branding is especially important for a small business because, with smaller marketing budgets, you have to make each interaction with your target audience count. You want to convey as much about yourself and what you do as possible. Smaller businesses don't have the luxury of deep marketing coffers to fund extensive streams of ads.
For example, when Best Buy first hit the retail scene, people who hadn't gone to a store didn't even know what the company sold. The company's branding featured two words in a simple font on an off-kilter, yellow price tag. So Best Buy had to follow up with an ad campaign that explained that they weren't just a discount retailer but one that focused on electronics.
SMBs may have to portray an accurate brand promise right off the bat, simply because it would be too costly to drum up another campaign like Best Buy did.
For instance, with an effective brand strategy, you can convey:
The uniqueness of what you bring to the table
How your executives think outside the box
Your passion for high quality and excellent service
The core ethical values of your company
Take Amazon, for instance. You know the company values:
A diverse offering, as emphasized by its name, "Amazon," a jungle known for its variety of flora and fauna.
Happy, relaxed customers, as evidenced by the smiling arrow in its logo.
A comprehensive retail solution. Have you ever noticed how the smile literally goes from "a" to "z"?
Confidence. The smile ends in a dimple that even overlaps the bottom of the "z." It
s a smirk that says, in effect, "We got this."
Even before connecting to Amazon's website, you can get all of this from its logo alone.
Small businesses can do the same thing. The computer game/brain training company Lumosity is a good example of how to build a brand for a small business. While only a fraction of the size of Amazon, Lumosity uses a similar approach of saying a lot with a little.
In the first fold of Lumosity's website you see:
The company's slogan, "Discover what your mind can do," underscores the brand promise of a customer-first, simple approach to brain training.
Two tabs at the top of the page: Brain Games and Our Science. Lumosity emphasizes the brand value of simplicity by only having two tabs headline its site.
A sub-slogan: "You care about your brain. We do, too," further highlighting the company principle of prioritizing the needs of the customer.
Considering the complexity of the human brain and the mechanisms needed to train it, Lumosity had to go the extra mile to make sure they delivered a brand promise of a customer-centric, simple offering.
Looking closer at their site, you see a woman gazing up at constellations. This element launches another wave of Lumosity's brand ideals: the potential of the human mind, the ability to understand the unknown, and the confidence to tackle challenging tasks.
Branding tips for small businesses
In this uber-connected business culture, one branding tip that businesses should keep in mind is to use social media. A recent study notes that 39% report increased sales from social media and brand monitoring, and 74% have dedicated resources for this purpose. And even though 80% of marketers say managing brand reputation is a social media goal, only 38% say they’re doing it well.
Regardless of the extent to which you use social media, here are some higher-level tips that can help you get the most out of your branding strategy:
Develop a unique brand identity
The saying, "If it ain't broke, don’t fix it," doesn't apply to branding because a unique identity is necessary to make your brand memorable. In fact, a brand that blends with your competition may backfire if your target customers confuse it with your company. You may end up helping their offering stay top of mind instead of yours.
Outline your brand guidelines
Brand guidelines refer to rules regarding your company's logo, typography, color scheme, tone, imagery, story, and other elements that marketers can use to build campaigns. In addition, those in charge of developing products and solutions can refer to them to ensure your products align with your brand image and purpose.
Know your target audience
Even though you’ll take almost anyone's money, by outlining your target audience, you provide useful guidance for your brand. This is because your brand decisions will cater to what your audience pays attention to, likes, or values.
Create visuals and marketing materials
While your branding will consist of words, principles, and other less-tangible collateral, visuals and marketing materials serve to ground your brand identity. Visual elements serve this purpose because they force your marketing team to commit to tangible attributes that convey core brand principles.
In addition, your marketing materials serve as a repository of brand-central artifacts you can use while crafting presentations, pitching to potential partners, and designing ad campaigns.
Integrate your brand into your business
Your brand identity should ripple through your business as well because this fosters consistency across all teams. For instance, if one of the principles driving your brand is honesty, you should be transparent with employees regarding your pay raise and bonus structures, as well as how they’re being evaluated, when, and by whom.
Build an online presence
Your website and social media profiles can serve as high-concentration branding hubs. With a thoughtful approach, you use wording, videos, imagery, articles, and a range of different kinds of posts to solidify your brand image with a wide audience. The key is consistency, however, because if some of your online real estate sends a message that contradicts that of another, you may come across as unreliable or undecided.
Read up on branding strategies
When it comes to branding, there's more than one way to crack an egg, so you should check out some of the latest and greatest from branding professionals. Branding strategies evolve with the times, taking into account technological developments and the winds of social change. So it's a good idea to refresh your branding knowledge from time to time.
Continue your brand strategy
By honing in on your branding, you establish the kind of consistency that customers can trust. You can use the tips above as a checklist—scaffolding to help you build your brand strategy. For some SMB leaders, the next step is to sit down with your team and start hashing out brand details. For many others, the next move is to start investigating outside brand development.
Searching for a branding agency to hire for your business? We've got you covered. Check out our list of companies in the following areas:
Here are some resources to streamline your search and learning: