How to Brand your Small Business

January 19, 2022
Brand your Small Business

What do Small Businesses Need to Know About Branding?

In the world of business, branding means everything to an entrepreneur. It has the capability to launch a company to success or drag it down to oblivion. For small businesses, this is all the more true. Where big businesses have global recognition, small businesses have branding that creates customer loyalty to make them thrive in the long run.

Moreover, large corporations have considerable amounts of disposable income they can choose to spend on various marketing strategies to see what works, though the same cannot be said about smaller businesses. In a business where every penny matters, creating a recognizable brand without breaking the bank is the best way to financial and marketing-based success. In this article, we explore some of the ways in which you can brand your small business effectively, while saving on time and financial resources.

Importance of branding

A business brand plays a pivotal role in placing it at a top-tier position with respect to the target audience. Essentially, it influences every aspect of the customer’s perception in regard to the company. Branding includes:

  • Trust
  • Customer loyalty
  • Company’s reputation
  • Recognition

The brand of a business speaks to the customer about the products or services offered, customer relation types, employee relations, the company’s business values, social goals and promises.

Another integral element of branding is that it allows small businesses to stand out from the competition. Developing a brand beyond a logo implies thoughts and efforts. Using a media development strategy, a small business can highlight its potential to the targeted population.

Core strategies for branding

Certain strategies play an integral role in branding for small businesses. These include;

1. Defining the brand identity

Branding of a business is more than just a logo on a website. Branding is more about “who” the company is, what values it portrays, and the mission it relies upon. Branding is about how a company treats its customers and the looks of the virtual assets associated with a company. Essentially, before designing the logo of a business, small business owners should focus on defining their “brand identity.”

2. Be visual with your brand

Before defining a brand strategy, businesses need to focus on “who” they are, who their customers are, what makes their brand special and what services they offer in the industry. Once these steps have been followed, the next is to design the brand.

While designing a brand, it is important to focus on details of the design strategy like the brand colour, palette and font. A brand style guide is a blueprint for designers, business owners and employees. It helps navigate the voice and tone of a company while maintaining consistency.

Designing a brand also requires a logo that is integrally the company’s face. It is the first thing that potential customers will encounter and remember. Branding a business also requires business cards and a website. Essentially, business owners should remember to keep the brand logo, colour, voice and tone consistent throughout.

3. Establish a trustful relationship

In business, trust plays a pivotal role. Individuals prefer doing business with brands they can trust. As a small business owner, establishing trust can be time-consuming. In order to speed up the process, a company can look for partnership opportunities with other brands that their customers are already connected with.

In order to build customer relations, advertising, and marketing play an integral role. However, small business owners may have a limited advertising budget. In this scenario, content marketing, as compared to advertising, is a more reliable option.

Content marketing allows business owners to get their name at the forefront. It provides an opportunity for entrepreneurs to demonstrate their industry expertise. Once business owners have established themselves as go-to resources and subject matter experts, they will have the audience’s trust.

As a result, when the time arrives to choose a company, the audience will likely prefer their company. In terms of business branding, content marketing is an excellent strategy since it strengthens brand voice. A consistent brand voice in the form of content reinforces who the company is and the services it can provide to customers.

4. Be a reliable source for customers

In order to establish a brand, business owners need to prove their potential by action. Branding is more than just a logo, marketing strategies or customer attention-garnering tactics. It is also about how well a company connects with their customer and the reputation it garners.

In order to succeed in branding, a company has to follow up on its claims of providing high-quality services. A company’s customer service needs to be a top priority to establish itself competitively. If customers have positive experiences with a brand, they will likely return.

5. Building an emotional connection

A business’s top branding priority should be building an emotional connection. After all, people are loyal to brands, not their services. Strong brand loyalty in customers can ensure that they will always pick your products over others. Branding helps companies create an emotional connection with customers by meeting their level.

Suppose a company sets its deepest values and guidelines with respect to its customer. In that case, it is more likely to garner potential customers’ attention. One manner in which this can be done is by ensuring that the brand voice and tone align with the values of the targeted audience. Special media marketing strategies can be customized to meet the customer’s emotional values.

Step to create a unique brand

1. Creating your brand

The very first step to branding your small business is by understanding what your company’s motto, values, and aspirations are, and how you would like the world to perceive your company. Understanding your company’s identity makes branding that much easier, since branding effectively serves to establish your business’ identity amongst its competitors.

Apart from understanding what your company is, figuring out who your target customers are is an effective means by which you can accurately nail down your company’s brand. Who buys your products or services? What do they have to say about your business? These are some of the questions you can use to determine your business’ brand perception in the eyes of your most important group, your customers.

Moreover, understanding why customers buy from you can also enable you to find your business’ USP, or Unique Selling Point. USPs are a company’s greatest asset and are the sole reason as to why the company may be better than competitors. Whether it be price, packaging, or functionality, your USP is a great starting point for establishing a brand presence in the eyes of the general public.

2. Create a personality and visual

Once you’ve understood your company’s identity, it’s time to create its personality or brand persona. This is essentially how you will portray your business to your customers, competitors, and the market as a whole. Everything from design to the way you portray and talk about your products or services is all heavily influenced by the brand’s persona. The visuals you choose to depict your business are also dependent on the persona of your brand. From a visual standpoint, the best way to create a brand presence is to have a logo. A logo is like your company’s signature, an indicator that anyone can see and associate with your business.

Additionally, your website, product packaging, business cards, and even the overall aesthetic of your product/service itself need to be consistent in its branding to really engrain the image of your company into the minds of your customers.

3. Repetition is the key to branding success

The most important aspect to branding is the need to engrain your company’s brand persona into the minds of customers and the public. Usually, big corporations spend millions on TV advertisements, product placements, and celebrity endorsements. These kinds of resources are not easily available to smaller businesses, which may make branding seem like a difficult and tedious task, but that is not the case. Smaller businesses simply need to take a different approach when it comes to forms of advertising and branding campaigns.

Social media platforms like Instagram, Twitter, and Meta are great places to spread your brand’s presence effectively. Creating sponsored ads, collaborating with influencers, and even creating posts that capitalize on trends within these apps are great ways to put your brand out there without breaking the bank. Doing this consistently will ensure that every time an individual thinks of something related to your brand, your company pops into their minds, thus effectively positioning your business and ensuring your firm’s success.

Why choose SPC Free Zone?

At SPC Free Zone, our primary goal is to facilitate entrepreneurs in their journey. Our affordable packages with competitive benefits can streamline your business. Our customers benefit from a whole string of benefits like zero paid-up share capital and low corporate and personal income tax.Ready to brand your small-scale business in the UAE? Reach out to our friendly team for a quick and easy setup service.

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