Even the tiniest business needs a brand it can boast with to bring in the customers – something that a small business owner you may consider too challenging and too big an undertaking to pay attention to.
Branding – and as we all know that means more than corporate colours and a logo – is essential though if you want your business to grow, so its worth giving your brand a kickstart in the right direction then paying attention to maintaining the momentum.
What you are building when it comes to your brand is the customer’s overall perception of your business. This covers every aspect of your business operations, from the quality of your product/service and communication to your personality and presentation. It’s a playing field on which, if you do it right, you can even compete successfully against bigger companies.
It doesn’t matter whether you want to ultimately achieve a national or international brand, or are a trades person looking to be the “go to” guy or gal in your local area, the process is the same.
The main requirement for making your brand happen is patience – it is not something you will achieve overnight. Even when you’ve developed a loyal following and a recognisable brand, you’ll need to keep working at your customer relations and keep your standards up.
CONSISTENCY IS KEY
Another thing that is key in brand building is consistency. Everything has to match up in style, tone and quality from your reception desk across to your packaging, advertising, website, social media and of course, customer service. Your clientele expect certain standards and behaviour from you, your employees and your brand, and if those standards start to drop off, so will your sales and reputation. It is incredibly difficult to recover from a blow to your brand (remember that famous story last year when a United Airlines passenger was video-ed being man-handled off of a flight to make way for a free-loading employee?).
The first step towards establishing a brilliant brand identity is to determine who your target consumers are, and then do some research into the target group’s behaviour and lifestyle. This will enable you to build a picture of your typical customer, which will dictate what sort of media will best reach them, what type of voice would be appropriate to communicate with them, what sort of content will interest them, and so on.
BRAND MESSAGE
The identity of your target audience will also help you to tailor your brand message to appeal to that customer. The brand message – or mission statement – is all important, because it forms the base for all your brand building activities.
TIP: YOUR BRAND NEEDS TO SUPERSEDE YOUR PRODUCT, OTHERWISE YOUR COMPANY WILL ALWAYS BE AT THE MERCY OF THE CONSUMERS’ NEEDS.
The heart of a brand mission statement needs to be why the consumer/customer should find your products or services better than those of your competitors. It should define what’s special about your brand and reflect your brand personality. This can manifest as a tag line (like Nike’s “Just do it”) but it goes deeper than that, becoming the emotion and philosophy underlying all your marketing activities and materials.
TOOLS FOR BRAND BUILDING
Your brand will continue to grow in strength and scope, ever evolving and doing its job of engendering loyalty, trust and new sales for as long as you continue to give it due attention.
It’s all about building a community around your business, and one of the best ways to do that is through use of social media. Don’t spread yourself too thin across a host of platforms, however – your brand message should dictate which platform reaches your audience best.
You can also use your own expertise and personality as an influencer – on a local or wider level – to spread your brand message. Invest your time and energy in the community, and make use of PR opportunities to put your business in the spotlight.