Defining your small business branding is the fun part, right? It involves creating your business logo, picking your colors, and deciding how your business will look. So why is it a long, difficult process?
This is a common question for small business owners. Defining small business branding can be an expensive step. That doesn’t mean it won’t be fun, but it does mean it will take a lot of work.
Branding isn’t simple
First, small business branding is a process that includes many steps. It is often portrayed as simply getting a good logo, but it includes many other moving pieces. Anyone can buy a cheap logo from a content mill like Fiverr or Upwork. And not all of these logos are going to be crappy knock-offs of logos already being used. Some may even be good.
But once you have your logo, what will you do with it? Even if it looks really cool, it is useless without some kind of brand equity—or the level of sway your brand has in its market. And do you even know what your market is? Branding will include defining your target market.
Here are a few steps to take when working on creating your brand
1. Define a brand strategy
This is asking the difficult question: Who am I? You have to define who your business is. What does it stand for or against? Is it fun or serious? Innovative or classic? Is it about simplicity or complexity? Masculine or feminine? Approachable or authoritative? Gray or colorful?
The questions are endless, but you’ll need to answer enough of them to know what your brand is. Then you can create a brand strategy based on this. Look at your competitors and see where your brand fits in your market. Are you directly competing, or are you offering something that complements their products. Why is your business better than the competitors? What makes it rise above the competition?
Everything builds from this step, so if it is skipped your brand will be flawed from the beginning. You may create a neat-looking brand design that is flashy and exciting, but it will lack purpose and direction. This step defines everything else that is created—your logo, content marketing, mission, advertising, and more.
2. Define a target audience
Determining your audience is another step in the branding process. You may already have an audience, or you may be choosing to target a certain audience. Either way you need to get to know them.
Your likes and dislikes may not match what your audience likes and dislikes. This is important to remember. Once you have defined who your audience is, you need to do your research. You need to know what appeals to them and what turns them away. What they are looking for and what they have already found. What frustrates them and what excites them. Their needs will influence what you offer and how you offer it. You will decide how to market your products or services to them based on what they want or need.
3. Define your brand voice and image
Finally, consistency is essential to a strong brand. This is where the more well-known pieces of branding enter. The logo, colors, and fonts are all part of this. But there is more. Consistency includes how you present your brand on social media. It includes blog posts, emails, business cards, websites, press releases, videos … another endless list.
Consistency does two very important things for your business. It builds trust with your audience, and it creates recognition. If your brand is inconsistent customers will be concerned that your services match your branding—inconsistent. In addition, if you don’t have consistency in branding, customers will easily forget your brand or not recognize it.
Branding isn’t simple, but it can be fun
Even though branding is a lot of work, it is also a lot of fun. Connecting with someone who is experienced in branding small businesses can make this process far less complex and more enjoyable.
You will be able to focus on the fun parts—such as determining what you want your business to look like, who you want to target, and what your logo will be. You can leave the more difficult work of gathering and organizing the information, designing the branding, and ensuring consistency to the experienced person working alongside you.
If you are in need of someone to help you with this process, reach out at freelance@brennanhallock.com or 402.318.3924.
