Branding Essentials for Small Businesses
Effective branding is one of the most critical parts of being a small business owner. It’s easy to underestimate the effort required to become a well-respected brand, and many businesses make early missteps or focus on the wrong aspects, which dramatically slows down their growth. That’s why Working Mum Kitty has put together this comprehensive crash course on branding for small businesses.
What’s a Brand and Why Do Customers Care?
A brand is essentially the concept of the product or service that’s in a customer’s mind. You communicate concepts about your brand and leave impressions on customers, whether intentional or unintentional, every time they interact with your business directly, via advertising or through word of mouth. A brand creates an expectation from consumers based on what they believe the brand is.
Reaching a Target Audience
To effectively market your brand and establish a base of loyal customers, you’ll need to discern who your target audience is. You may already know this based on prior knowledge of your product or the industry it’s used in, or you may need to hire research or marketing professionals to help you narrow it down. Once you have this data, you can make decisions on how to advertise effectively.
When to Hire a Brand Strategist
Small business owners sometimes make the mistake of thinking they can do it all themselves (and well), and this can lead them to make bad decisions when they don’t realize that they’re in over their heads. You can handle some smaller branding projects yourself, but others benefit heavily from a professional brand strategist’s touch. Large-scale rebranding, widespread advertising campaigns and even repackaging merchandise can all be made better using experienced insight.
Although they are similar, you might want to also hire a great marketing specialist. Branding is something that is long-term, so your branding strategist will focus on the overall identity and look of your company. Online marketing consultants can provide guidance on specific campaigns to promote certain products or services, and will make changes depending on audiences. They may have design skills, or you may also need a graphic designer to work with them on projects. Other employees can try to handle design, but it doesn’t always go well. However, software tools can help with smaller aspects of these jobs. For instance, you can use a JPG-to-PDF converter to conveniently place multiple pictures into one PDF file.
Pay Attention to Warning Signs
It’s crucial to know when branding efforts aren’t working. Monitoring your sales and customer feedback to notice when recent efforts haven’t been effective is the only real way to know when you need to pivot your branding practices and try other methods. Remain open-minded and be willing to adjust your strategies in order to best attract your target audience.
Be Willing to Grow Your Skills
Depending on the industry that you’re in, it might be a good idea to brush up your skills, perhaps with a business degree. You can improve your skills and increase your knowledge of the business process, making it easier to run your business and plan for the future. If you have a busy schedule, you might consider doing an online business degree program. You should be diligent about choosing an online school, however, and make sure that it’s accredited and isn’t overpriced.
Make Good Branding Decisions
When branding or rebranding your business, it’s important to know what audience you’re branding for and get help from a professional when necessary to make sure that you’re branding effectively. Keep an eye out for results so you know whether your efforts have been successful and always be willing to adapt to new circumstances and expand your industry knowledge.
If you are seeking mindfulness while also reaching professional goals, join me, Kitty Smith, on my journey. I share my experiences in my blog and share resources that I hope other professionals will find helpful. Visit me online at Working Mum Kitty.
Photo Credit: Mart Production via Pexels
