Is branding important to a small business?

Your company is both a business and a brand.

It’s common for small business start-ups to make sales their primary focus - and branding is sometimes put on the back burner. But in fact, your brand is the most valuable asset of your business. A properly executed brand is the foundation for your sales and marketing efforts as it reveals the unique value your product or service has to your target audience. With the right branding, the benefits and ROI are measurable and immediate.

Why is branding so important?

• It gives you a competitive edge in the market. A well-defined brand allows you to stand out from the crowd for factors other than price.

• A strong brand builds trust and credibility with customers. It reassures them that they are dealing with a reputable and reliable business, which is especially important for small businesses looking to establish themselves in the market.

• In a crowded marketplace, branding helps you communicate your unique value proposition, personality, and offerings to customers.

• Branding fosters customer loyalty by creating an emotional connection with your customers. When customers resonate with a brand's values, story, and identity, they are more likely to remain loyal and become repeat buyers.

Your brand identity brings shape to your business and what you offer. It’s the combination of how your brand looks, feels, and speaks to customers. It influences the entire customer experience and ultimately affects how others view you and your business.

Follow some key steps to building a well thought out and distinct brand:

1. Do your research

• You will first need to understand your primary and secondary audiences.

• Learn about their likes and dislikes, hobbies, and values and establish target audience personas.

• Learn about your competition. How are other companies positioning themselves, visually, theme-wise and voice and tone?

• Solicit feedback from your employees, after all, they are closest to it.  Find out how they feel the company should be portrayed.

2. Build your ‘Creative’

Take all of what you’ve learned and develop your brand look and feel. Start with a logo and decide on a colour palette.

Use professional graphic designers and copywriters as it will define your brand and how you are recognized for the life of your business. Typography and iconography, photography, are also important and will form the basis of a style guide that can be used to by all those who are developing content.

3. Keep in mind the 3 Cs of branding

• Clarity: You want customers to get your message and brand identity immediately and not have to decipher what you are all about.

• Consistency: Use your brand consistently through every channel, every tactic and collateral. Consistency helps build trust and credibility with your audience.

• Cohesion: All elements of your brand identity must work together including design, messaging, and values. This cohesion strengthens your brand's identity and will resonate with your audience more effectively.

4. Develop your brand story

Your brand tells a story about how it relates to people and why it exists. When developing your brand story, ask yourself the following questions:

• What does your brand believe in?
• What pain points does your product or service alleviate?
• How does your business solve those problems?
• Why did you decide that your business should alleviate those pains?
• Where do you see your business going?

5. Revisit and refine

You want people to remember your product or services, solve a problem, or make them feel good. Over time, you can use social media to listen to the voice of your customers – or potential customers. Use it as a sounding board to help further define your brand story.

In today’s crowded digital market, it’s more important than ever to have a strong brand identity. But many times, small businesses don't have the skills in-house to develop a professional business brand. The good news is that there are agencies like Brandspot.ca that specialize in outsourced marketing for small business .