Branding is a term often tossed about the business world that describes how customers and other companies view a certain business. There are some consulting companies that do nothing but help other companies develop their brand in order to help a business grow. However, many owners of small businesses are reluctant to invest in any type of formal branding procedures because it may seem like a waste of money, especially if funding is low.
But small business branding does not have to cost a fortune. In fact, every business has a brand, whether they have paid to develop that brand or not. Your brand begins the moment you make your first sale, and you must work diligently to make sure that your company's reputation only gets better from that point on.
Your company's brand is really a broad overview of how others in the marketplace, including your customers and competitors, view your company. Your brand is composed of many factors, including the quality of your products, the level of customer service you provide, your personal qualifications to sell or develop the product and your commitment to bringing additional high quality products to the market. Other factors include your company mission statement and how well you stick to it, along with how you rank next to other companies.
Another contributing factor in your brand is the appearance of your company's logo. Logos are visual representations that are designed to encompass the core essence of your company and set it apart from other companies. The best logos are instantly recognizable and don't require a great deal of customer analysis in order to understand what it means.
If you run an online business, you can learn a lot about how customers view your company by studying your website traffic over a period of time. You can recognize repeat customers and visitors, while running tests to determine if certain sales or products pull more traffic than others. Another way to build customer loyalty and to improve your small business branding is to offer more value for less money than your competitors or even offer heavily discounted or free products and services.
These are some of the many factors that work together to form your small business brand, and it may feel overwhelming to consider improving your brand. The good news is that not all branding development requires a major overhaul of your company. A good place to start refining your brand is with your company mission.
Chances are you started your company because you felt passionate about offering the product or service that your company sells. What makes your product different or better than other similar products out there? What user experience do you offer that sets your company apart form your competitors? Is your company the top performing company in this niche, or quickly gaining ground on the leader?
These are some of the many questions you can consider when it comes to improving your small business branding. Focus on improving and streamlining each aspect of your company's customer experience and you will be on your way to developing a strong and successful brand for your small business.
For further reference, read on small business branding and visit http://www.smallwebusiness.com/. Plus you can learn many great tips for starting a successful small business. |
One of the key points to help small businesses build their brand is to focus on one or two goals at a time. They must be specific goals - such as, "I want to increase the visitor traffic to my website and convert more visitors to customers." - then make a list of ways that this can be done, including ensuring that your website has clear messaging on how your company is distinct, who you offer services to, and provide endorsements from those who have worked with you.
ReplyDeleteSocial media websites relevant to your expertise is also a great (low-cost) way of building your brand/reputation and reach out to your ideal audience. Find those sites that your audience visits and contribute valuable content related to your expertise. Often you can provide a link back to your website for those interested in finding out more about how you can help them.
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