Branding your business is more than a catchy slogan or a nice logo. It is important to understand what a brand is before you begin working on branding your business. So, lets begin. A brand is the perception created by a large number of consumers about a product, a company, or even an industry. This perception can be created by advertising, marketing, and even social media marketing.
The most important aspect of branding is the way you build customer loyalty. You want to gain a sense of trust with your customers, so when they feel good about doing business with you, they will tell others about you. A successful branding strategy takes into consideration the fact that people buy from people that they like, so instead of focusing on creating a big buzz around your small business, focus on creating the buzz around your unique selling proposition. So what do I mean by unique selling proposition?
Simply put, your brand identity should be different from your competitors’ brand identity. There are many things that can be taken from your competitor’s branding strategy. However, your main goal is to make yours stand out from the crowd. For instance, many companies use social media to market their business. Therefore, instead of spending money on an expensive ad campaign, try using YouTube or Facebook to brand yourself and your products.
Another idea that many small businesses use is content marketing. Content marketing can be a very effective branding tool, but it takes a little more work than your average Facebook or Twitter account. What you want to do is create original, informative content around your product or service. For example, if you own a dog grooming business, you can create posts with tips and tricks for grooming dogs, as well as providing great pictures of your dogs. Then, on your Facebook page or webpage, provide links to your content pages and posts. This will help to get people interested in your content, and increase your customers attention span.
The last step in creating a successful branding strategy is to leverage your branding power with contests and giveaways. If you have already created a buzz about your product or service, consider running contests. Run them on Facebook and other social media to generate interest. People love contests and are more likely to take a chance on something that is being offered up for grabs. Branding your business this way will help you to not only increase your customer base, but increase your profits as well.
Creating a brand identity is very important for any small business owner. It can be easy to fall into a rut where your company is known by the same people over again. However, if you take a little bit of time and effort to create a unique selling proposition, you can keep your brand interesting. This will make your brand one that your customers remember and identify with.
