As a small business owner, it’s essential to set yourself apart from your competitors. Branding will give your business an edge over all the other companies offering something similar. In the age of impersonal tech-based interactions, customers want to shop from companies that deliver thoughtful and personalized shopping experiences. Building your business into an engaging and relatable brand is a great way to connect with your customers more personally!
Are you ready to build a business brand that your customers won’t be able to resist? Here are some tips to help you get your branding underway!
What Is Branding?
First, it’s vital to understand what branding is. Oberlo explains that branding is the process of differentiating your business from your competitors and building a loyal customer following through a consistent theme or mission statement. Branding involves combining elements such as logo design, website copy, tone of voice, messaging style, marketing approach, and more.
You can think about your brand as the personality of your business. As such, it’s easy to understand why your customers expect your business brand to remain consistent across every touchpoint in your business, from your social media posts to your customer service emails. Every time you interact with your customers, your branding should be apparent.
Carefully constructing your brand will ensure your business is perceived as you intended. Suppose you pay no attention to branding whatsoever. In that case, your business brand may convey a completely different message from your intentions—this is why branding needs to be an active, ongoing process.
Branding Is an Ongoing Process
Branding doesn’t stop when you’ve decided on a business logo and created a few cohesive graphics to be used in your marketing campaigns. Branding is continuous! Your branding should play a role in nearly every business decision, especially when it comes to design issues, marketing strategies, and customer service optimizations.
One of the most important times to consider branding is when you launch a new product. Bringing a new product to market can be incredibly complicated. It would be best to decide whom you’re going to target and how exactly this group will benefit from your new product. Think about how this product—or the problem it solves for your customers—fits your existing brand. Here’s a go-to-market strategy template to help guide your research and planning as you brand your new product. Pre-made templates make it easy to streamline your product launch and ensure you don’t miss any essential steps.
Branding and the Customer Experience
Branding plays a critical role in your customers’ personal experiences with your business. Customers who feel like they don’t fit your brand may seek solutions elsewhere. However, customers who identify with your missions and brand values are more likely to choose you over your competitors, even as new alternatives come available. Loyal, repeat customers are far more valuable to your business than one-time shoppers who happen upon one of your Facebook ads.
One of the biggest branding mistakes you can make is trying to appeal to everyone. With vague branding, no customer will feel an emotional connection with your company. Forget about catering to people’s interests who fall outside your target audience. Give your ideal customers an experience they won’t forget. Your customers should walk away from your brand feeling like they’ve just made a new best friend!
Defining Your Target Audience
Before you can build your business brand, you need to understand your target audience, what they want, and how they make decisions. Every audience group behaves a little differently. Say you’re selling organic post-workout protein bars. Your target audience might be young, active people with limited food budgets and busy schedules. They make food choices based on health and sustainability and feel loyal to brands with similar values.
Learning about your target audience will help you understand what they want from your brand to adapt your brand messaging, value proposition, marketing strategies, and tone of voice to make your business seem relatable!
When to Hire a Professional
If you have room in your budget, hiring professionals to help with your brand strategy is a great way to ensure your business brand is polished, cohesive, and relevant to your target audience. Decide what kind of branding services you need. For example, if you don’t yet have a solid brand identity, look for branding agencies offering brand design services. Try to work with agencies with experience in your specific industry. You can always ask for examples of work! Most importantly, ensure the branding professional you hire has a solid understanding of your business mission and values and the message you want to convey to the world.
Developing your business brand might sound like a lot of work, but it can also be fun! Branding is all about giving life to your business, injecting personality into your communications, and offering your customers an emotional connection they can’t find anywhere else. Get excited about your brand, and your customers will follow suit!
Ready to bring your brand to life? Turn One Studio offers services like graphic design, website development, video production, social media management, and more! Contact us so we can discuss your needs! Call 631-223-8124 today!
To learn more about marketing your small business, check out our What you need to know to market your small business article.
