Branding is an essential part of any marketing campaign, especially for small businesses. It's how you communicate your company's identity to potential customers; therefore, consistency is key.
Image credits to Pexels.
While many business owners associate branding with logos and slogans, there’s a lot more to it. Today, we present a guide that explores everything you need to know about branding, including how it can make or break your small business.
Why Is Branding Important?
Brand loyalty is a primary factor in purchasing decisions for 74% of consumers, which means if you don't cultivate loyalty, your competitors will. Fortunately, doing so is easier than you might think.
Familiarity breeds trust, so the more consumers see your brand, the more likely they'll purchase your products. Interestingly, this holds even if consumers don't actively recall advertisements.
Called unconscious branding, this effect is a powerful tool for small businesses.
Speaking of importance, now is a good time to point out the need for cybersecurity. After all, cyber threats can sink a business before it’s even launched, and there are plenty of hackers out there who deliberately go after small businesses because they assume they’ll have lesser security measures.
So make sure you protect yourself and your customers by installing antivirus software with up-to-date patches, as well as regularly backing up your sensitive data.
How Do You Reach the Right Consumers?
It may seem like customers choose businesses, but companies actually target specific audiences to bring in a particular type of customer. Branding is essential in this process, so you need to understand what appeals to your audience.
To do so, gather demographic data:
Purchasing behavior
Lifestyle
Values
Personality
Values
Attitudes
Interests
Once you have a comprehensive idea of targeted consumers, you can shape your brand to appeal to them. Also, it’s important that you not overload your customers – or their inboxes.
So if you’re engaged in an email marketing campaign incorporating promotional information or coupons in PDF format, for instance, take a few extra moments to compress PDF files and make them more manageable.
Incidentally, this also applies to sharing internal communications with your business. After all, like most cases in life, the first rule is to do no harm.
How Can Branding Impact the Customer Experience?
Your brand isn't just an image. To consumers, it's a promise about what doing business with your company is like.
For example, if you build your brand around compassion and care, your customers will expect compassion and care when speaking to representatives.
What Branding Techniques Can You Do Yourself?
Startups and small businesses may not have the capital to hire design professionals, but that doesn't mean their branding strategies have to suffer. There are plenty of helpful websites, apps and software that you can use for DIY branding such as:
Website building packages
Lead magnet development kits
Social media tools
Be Consistent
Noticed how companies and businesses use their business as their domain name (e.g. facebook.com or twitter.com)? This is to re-enforce their brand name on their customers mind and make it easier to be recalled.
This a technique you should implement if you have a website for your business; make sure your domain name matches your brand name. If you don’t know where to get a domain name, you can get your own domain name from domain name providers.
When Should You Hire a Graphic Designer?
If you're tackling a new marketing trend, you're better off hiring a graphic designer. Visual communication professionals know how to take abstract concepts and turn them into a simplified image, and they continually refine these skills.
A graphic designer is an invaluable guide when you venture into unknown territory. Of course, when you outsource marketing, you need to develop reliable communication.
For example, you must figure out how to share images while maintaining their quality.
A great solution is using software to convert JPGs to PDFs, reducing the file size without compressing the files.
What Are Signs You Need To Change Your Branding Approach?
Your brand should be dynamic, meaning it changes with the market and your goals. If either of these factors sees a significant shift, you may need a complete rebrand.
It's best to implement a rebrand before you see a negative impact on sales, so keep an eye out for these warning signs:
Your business model experiences disruption.
You're expanding your market share.
Consumers don't emotionally connect to your brand.
Conclusion
Branding as a small business can be overwhelming, but there is good news.
With a comprehensive branding strategy that utilizes several marketing techniques, you can create a solid foundation for future campaigns.
Even if you have limited working capital, don’t despair; these days, there are plenty of resources to help you DIY your way to the top!
About the Author
Gloria Martinez loves sharing her business expertise and hopes to inspire other women to start their own businesses and seek promotions in the workplace. She created WomenLed.org to spotlight and celebrate women’s achievements.