Branding for the Small Business Owner
Tuesday, 23 December 2008 13:53
Apple, Microsoft, Dell and Master Card are all some pretty well-known brands. But what is a brand? A brand is the perception a consumer has in his/her mind about a particular company. The closest synonym I can think of would be reputation. So if brand = reputation, what is branding? Simply put, branding is the process of changing your images, processes and customer interactions to convey values that are important to your company. While a new logo design may have a place in branding, a logo by itself will not change your brand.
What can you do to improve your brand?
First think about the values that are important to you. Values that are important to me are: creative design, delivering high value and helping other small business to grow through creative marketing. I convey my idea of creative design through the design of my own website, marketing materials and design portfolio. I convey my message of high value through customer interactions, going the extra mile and fair and consistent pricing. I convey the idea of helping my customers by providing free articles and top quality advice.
You can take these same ideas and make them work for your business. First, you need to know your values. Take a minute and write down what is important to you, what are the values you base your business on. You probably already know what these values are, they drove you to start your own business in first place. What are you doing to convey these values to customers? Are you doing enough?
You already have a brand
As I said before your brand is basically your reputation. It's what people think your company represents. So you already have one. Go find out what people are saying about you. Do you like what people are saying? If not you've got some work cut out for you.
If customers everywhere are saying you're brand is old and slow and you are trying to tell people you are young and quick, there's a disconnect somewhere. Consumers are very savvy, if you are not what you say you are, they will know. When it comes to branding, you can not pretend, you must 'be the brand'. Sound too zen for you? Well it can be. Branding requires looking to the heart and soul of your company to determine who you are and then conveying that to the world.
