Building a brand is a process. It isn’t something that happens overnight and it certainly takes more than a logo and a business card. Many super sized businesses like Nike, Honda, and Ikea and so on spend tremendous amounts of time and money creating their brand. Small business owners just don’t have that time nor do they generally have a budget to support such efforts.
The good news is that for small business owners – spending millions on branding just isn’t necessary. A small business owner’s number one branding asset is their personality. Stiff, quirky, loud, intelligent, adventurous, straight laced, whatever your personality – use it to brand your company.
How?
Well here’s the part that takes focus branding involves a commitment to the process. It requires frequent messages and communication.
Consistency – Yes, you need a logo, a unified appearance, and a slogan or a USP – unique selling proposition; however you also need to communicate with your prospects and customers on a regular basis. Consistently using each marketing tool as part of a unified strategy increases brand image and awareness.
For example, an email newsletter can use the same format, colors, company logo and even the tagline in each issue.
Planning – To make the most of each and every marketing effort and to enhance and strengthen your brand and brand awareness, it takes careful planning. It takes sitting down and not only making a comprehensive marketing and branding strategy but also sitting down on a regular basis and evaluating branding goals and strategies. Is each marketing and branding effort accomplishing its objective? What can you do to achieve better performance? Is each marketing tools resulting in a return on investment? Does each message strengthen branding?
Systems Systems are the processes you or your employees or contractors take. Systems are in place for each and every phase of your business from initial client contact to customer service and follow-up. For example, when someone contacts you via email regarding your products or services, what action steps are taken? When taking a look at your systems and processes what efforts are being made to strengthen branding? For example, if you have a slogan or tagline do you answer the business phone with it? When you respond to a customer inquiry is your logo and company information part of your response?
Time is the key ingredient – It takes time to create systems which integrate branding into them. It takes time to evaluate your marketing initiatives and optimize them for maximum branding results. It takes time to ensure consistency throughout your company’s actions. Set aside time each month to analyze your marketing strategy. Plan systems ahead of time, rather than winging it, and evaluate your efforts to ensure they’re consistent with the brand identity you want.
It doesn’t take a million dollars to create a fabulous brand. It takes time, commitment, focus and something you already have – personality and a brand identity. You know the image you want others to have of you and your business. Focus your efforts to make it happen.
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