Small businesses usually live with the misconception that branding requires a hefty investment. And it takes away a huge amount of resources that only a global brand can afford. Well, that’s not entirely true.
To sink into reality, you need to understand that branding begins with the consumers and ends with them. So, if the audience is happy and resonates with your business, you have already begun the journey of business branding.
We have also seen many small business owners comparing their presence with global companies. A piece of advice to all such companies; every business is set on a different journey with a unique objective. And so, you cannot compare their big scale strategy with your baby steps.
Now that you know that customers are the leading point, we can say that the base of all branding strategies shall be your target audience.
The Journey from Business to Brand
A small company (business) does not become a brand immediately after designing an attractive logo. The Logo must earn the trust of the audience, which can only happen with successive branding activities.
And how do you gain their faith? By knowing and meeting the demands of the customer. A long yet effective road to branding now begins.
1. Bond Of Business Logo and Brand
It is really not necessary to create a brand logo that is very complex. What will be the use of your brand design, if the audience is not able to perceive the same? The clean and simple structure of the Brand name will be enough to convey the purpose of your business.
This brings an end to your first step of small business branding. Further, we shall talk about community relations.
2. Engagement with Communities
The communities of the Digital world are these social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc. The social networking platforms are a bridge to connect your small business values with the audience.
Thus, when you have a presence on one or two of the communities, the business remains visible in the customer’s eyes.
3. Business Voice with a Cause
Again we come to our ultimate perceiver; i.e the customer at large, while planning the brand message of the business. The likes & dislikes, behaviour, and region of the target audience shall define the tone of your message.
Every business has a unique way of presenting themselves in the market. As a small business, you have the liberty to design a friendly tone with your consumers for building an emotional connect.
However, every group of the audience may not associate with a friendly tone. In such a situation, the business knowledge for consumers will come in handy.
4. The Power of Consistency
“Consistency is the true foundation of trust. Either keep your promises or do not make them.”
― Roy T. Bennett
Creativity is truly a compelling art. Especially, for small businesses, as they can find time to invest in the same. However, in a business organisation, some aspects require consistency.
For example, we just discussed the tone of the business and how it resembles with the audience. Here if you keep changing the voice of interaction, the customers may fail to recognise the company.
Now let us picture a scenario with consistent environment and minimal changes. Do you see the audience finding you in the crowd of millions? Probably, the answer will be yes and concludes that a trustworthy relationship between business and the consumer.
5. Resonate with Audiences’ Emotion
For small businesses, the task of engaging with the audience at large is not very tough. Hence, such companies should make an emotional bond with the audience. How shall you do that? By conducting a campaign for causes that customers comes across on a daily basis.
6. Customers are the Brand Ambassadors
Who can be a better brand ambassador for your small business than the customers themselves? People have a natural tendency to connect with like minds.
You can pitch for social media influencers to talk and spread awareness about your business. Bringing celebrities into the picture might still prevail, but is not as effective as a common man’s connection.
7. Promises are meant to Keep
To be honest, this is not really a branding strategy. In fact, it is a gentle reminder to all those small businesses who fail to deliver their promise.
Every company faces a set back in fulfilling their words whether intentionally or unintentionally. Thus, you would want to make a list of every promise made to the audience. In terms of quality, quantity, and time so that the same can be delivered.
The reason behind this is simple; if you fail to deliver one or two promises, the whole foundation of brand trust can shake.
On the other hand, if you deliver what you say, customers will seek no one but you in the crowd of thousand business units.
8. Uniqueness is the Edge of Success
No blog would have spared in telling the importance of a unique business. But did anyone say how to bring that unique quality? The answer is definitely, No!
Don’t worry, unlike other brand build blogs we will give a glance on how to barge those unique qualities for your business.
Unless you don’t think like a consumer, you will not be able to produce or deliver any unique product or service. After you putting yourselves in their shoes, consider if the set of ideas are unique or not.
Well, it is not quite necessary to be unique with products. One can also bring creativity in the way the product or service is delivered.
The Gist of the Branding Scoop
Did you realise, every step resembled somewhere to pleasing the customer? Every process of the brand building had something to relate to the audience. Consider the consumers as the patrons of the business as every activity speaks or talks about their approval and disapproval.
Over and above these branding practices, there are more tactics floating in the market. Not every trick will land you on the right side of the curtain. And never forget the three C’s of branding; Consistency, Clarity, and Character.
