Brand Building Tips for Small Business

Brand building is ESSENTIAL for small business to compete in our Big Tech, Big Box world! Through solid branding a small business can be recognizable, memorable, competitive and preferred. Your target market WANTS to find you! They want to remember you, hire or buy from you, and refer others to you!

Our job as a small business is to find the most effective ways to reach our target customers and offer them value so they want to take an action (buy, hire, follow, subscribe etc). It starts with effective branding.

What's the Goal of Brand Building?

Brand building is a strategic way to create an instant impression, visually. Distinct branding helps you or your business to become more…

RECOGNIZABLE
CREDIBLE
TRUSTWORTHY
MEMORABLE

BE RECOGNIZABLE:

We’re all inundated with constant marketing all day long, everywhere we look. Billboards, TV, cell phones. For small business, it’s important to stand apart and recognizable to your target market.

Whether it’s your face, your logo, your name or other recognizable element, the goal should be to stand out to your target market.

Tips to become more recognizable:

Use the same logo consistently (which can be a profile pic) across ALL social media platforms: this IS your first impression. Your target market will begin to recognize your logo/you the more they see you. To be recognizable, you have to be consistent in using this same image or graphic.
Your main logo will be more recognizable if you use a distinct color or color combination: good branding usually consists of just 1-2 colors so keep it simple and… recognizable!

When your target market recognizes you, you become more credible. And the “recognizable to credible” path is very important. This is the path to gaining customers (or followers, etc, depending on the goal).

Your customers want to FIND YOU, REMEMBER YOU and REFER YOU to others!

The challenge of a small business is competing with constant advertising and marketing everywhere we turn. It’s easy for small business to get lost.

The old marketing principle “Rule of 7” remains very relevant today: people generally need to see something lots of times before they pay attention and take an action. Remember, your target customers WANT to find you, hire you, buy from you! While the number “7” may or may not apply to your type of business or service, the concept is very relevant. It takes most people seeing something multiple times consistently to pay attention and take an action. Small business branding is the most effective way to attract attention, be recognizable and gain interest.

When your small business is recognizable, it triggers a perception of credibility. When a potential customer perceives your small business as credible, make sure to offer value of some kind: information, advice, free gift to solidify a more “trustworthy” perception. Once your small business is seemingly credible and trustworthy, that customer is FAR MORE LIKELY to hire or buy from you. And those customers can become your biggest sources of social proof, testimonials and referrers of new customers..

Brand Building Tips

Click the below buttons for more specific brand building tips and how-to’s for small business growth. Brand building starts with a good logo design! It’s important to create something recognizable and memorable, to stand apart from noise and competition.

Expanding Your Brand

Once you’ve created your unique brand, your next goal is to GROW IT! Expand your brand’s reach.

find where your customer base hangs out
attract their attention
provide value to them
find ways to earn their business
ask for their business, good reviews, referrals
keep in touch with them consistently (without being spammy!)

It takes some trial and error, research and time to find the best ways to reach your target customers. Not sure who your target customers are or how to find them? Read more about finding your Target Market here. The marketing principle RULE OF 7 helps when creating a marketing plan and staying consistent. Having a loyal customer base is the key to small business success. Loyal customers are your best source for social proof/testimonials, repeat business AND the best referrals.

But for the Rule of 7 to work, your small business needs a recognizable BRAND that’s relatable to your unique target market. To be recognizable, your target market needs to see you! Build a marketing plan that incorporates strategic ways to get in front of your target market, consistently. Click here for more information on building an easy and effective small business marketing plans.