Easy tips and strategies for branding your small business to get noticed, stand out and sell more products.
Getting noticed is the goal of marketing and advertising campaigns, plain and simple. If the public does not know you exist then selling your product to the public is difficult at best. Branding is a part of the marketing and advertising process that makes you stand out from the rest of the small business crowd.
The term is connected with the practice of branding livestock and the idea that in order for everyone to know what is yours, you must brand what you own.
Branding was initially used to control inventory, show ownership and to recognize your animals within another's herd. Today the term takes on a whole new meaning when it is applied to everything but livestock.
Many small business owners make the mistake of categorizing branding with graphic design. While graphic design has a role to play in branding, there is a great deal more to branding than a great logo and label. The world is a noisy place and branding can give you an advantage over your competitors.
UNDERSTANDING BRANDING
Here are some ways to begin the branding process. Remember branding can take time and money to implement. Receiving the benefits of branding does not usually happen overnight.
1. Define yourself by understanding your local market, as well as your regional and national markets and the role and place you want for your product or company within the market. Becoming a local brand may be all that you want or you could have aspirations to a larger market. Study and understand where you want to go.
2. Be the first. Domino's Pizza was the first to deliver a product that is so cheap to produce it is overrun with competitors. Domino's has the market share because they were the first. If you are the first to take on a new service the same could happen for you. Let the public know you are the first by taking advantage of publicity.
3. Offer what others don't. If you find yourself in a marketplace that is overrun with the same old product, distinguish yourself by giving the customer something that the others don't. The customer will perceive your product as being worth more with added services.
4. Create a strategy. Decide how you want the customer to feel about your product and then create your strategy around making that happen.
BRANDING ON A DIME
Let's face it. Most small business owners do not have the money needed to make branding happen quickly or easily. Instead they are stuck with small advertising budgets and little room for movement. Not to worry, there are always ways to build your brand and convey quality to the customer.
Something as simple as the way your employees interface with the public can begin the branding process. The right attitude, phone manners, and dress are enough to get the point across. Develop a professional look to your business process by purchasing the right graphics, locating the right uniforms, hiring the right people and developing the right scripts for customer interaction. Remember, you are the one that trains your employees they do not train you. So if you want them to interact on the phone in a certain manner, then train them to.
Approach your product advertising by being consistent. This means developing a recognizable means of advertising. Design a format that is always used to identify your company and use it for notifying the public of sales, coupons, and new inventory. Make the public aware that you exist and do it in a repetitive manner. The attention span of the general public is a blip on their daily radar. If you do not get in the face of the public you will not be able to create a brand.
Take your branding strategy a step further and establish yourself as an expert in your field. Become known locally through a weekly column, a weekly appearance as a television host or as the company that sponsors a particular annual event. Goodwill is part of branding.
Plan for the building of your brand by starting with the things you can afford to do. Keep the promise branding makes to your customer, that your product is the best choice, by backing up your strategy with the right people, attitude and training. If you are consistent and focused, branding will separate your product from the rest of the herd.
