3 Ways To Build An Online Brand Out of Your Small Business

The first step towards creating a successful business is building a brand - and of course having that branding be consistent throughout your materials. While this might seem like an intimidating process, it’s totally within reach. So, how do you go about building a brand? Here are three useful tips for small businesses looking to make their mark in the market.

1. Branding is all about crafting a unique image for your business

What is your brand? Is it a logo? Is it a color scheme? Is it your voice? Is it the name of your business? All of these things are important elements of your brand, but they don’t tell the full story. Branding is about crafting a unique image for your business that represents your values, your personality, and your goals.It’s all about building relationships with your customers, your co-workers, and your market.

The difficulty with creating a “brand” for a small business is it takes a lot of creativity and time. Before you can build anything with your brand, you need to research your target audience. What style of business do you want to be successful with? What do you want your audience to do when they contact you? These are all questions that hopefully you’ve thought about before you decide on a name for your business, but haven’t quite been able to answer. So, what can you do then?

The answer: Use the research you’ve done to determine a few important aspects of your target audience. Once you have this information, form a hypothesis about your ideal target audience. What type of services do these people want to receive? Which services will align? How can your business create services and products that your target audience would want to use? Once you have concrete evidence that your target audience is what you want it to be, then it's time to create your brand.

Here's some practical advice for taking the guesswork out of creating a brand for your small business: Add a Mission (and Core Values) to Your Brand
Start by gathering some core values for your brand’s primary characteristics. These could be your company's name, a fun color scheme for your logo, the name of your entire company, or a few of the most important documents that define who you are. Make sure you know the reason behind each why and are implementing them. Maybe you don’t know why creating a business is important to your core values, but you do have goals you are working towards that are being fulfilled. Another big tip is always keep your branding consistent. See 5 Tips for Consistent Business Branding for more info.

2. The first step to building a brand is deciding on the look and feel of the brand

The first thing to do when you’re building a brand is to decide on the look and feel of your brand. Before you start anything, you need to know what your brand will look like.So, ask yourself seven questions. These questions will help you pull together an initial brand framework.
When you create your brand, first ask yourself if it will stick to a regular schedule — even if only on social media. Second, determine if it is consistent across the brand, meaning does everything match. A brand’s look and feel is how people will be able to identify and react to your brand. So, you need to know what you want people to know and feel in relation to your brand. The answers to these questions will help you set forth your brand value, positioning, and brand personality.

Your brand helps people to relate to you and your products and services. One advantage of building a brand is that it guides the customers towards a more detailed understanding of what you do and reassure them about the quality of your products. When you’ve set forth your brand, you’ll be able to break through any perceived barriers in the way of customer acquisition.
There are two types of consumers — those who cravings your product and those who need your product. People who crave your product will’ve a taste of it at some point in their lives and become addicted. When they do, they want it more, and they’ll go out of their way to get it. On the other hand, consumers needing your product need your product in order to feel satisfied. They want to purchase it but aren’t put off by your products like the craving ones.
Both consumers seeking your product and consumers needing your product can be easily identified with different brand values. Understanding user and consumer values is crucial, especially when it comes to your brand’s strategy.

3. Use your unique selling points to build up your brand's credibility

When you’re trying to build a brand and create a loyal audience, you have to differentiate yourself from your competitors and show your audience that you’re credible and worth following. One of the best ways to show your audience that you’re credible is to use your unique selling points, or USPs, to show them why they should follow you.

When creating your USPs, think hard about why you want to start a business in the first place. It could be that you want to start a business to alleviate your medical condition or become a better person, or it could be that you want to have fun and engage with your community. When you create a compelling reason why you want to start a business, your USP becomes crystal clear. Give it some thought before you write it down and go onto your website to begin formulating your USP. When you’re trying to develop a brand, one of the first mistakes you want to avoid is focusing too much on using only one piece of content to promote your business. To be successful, you need to create many different types of marketing content. When you have a unique selling point that is easy to remember and understand, you’ll be able to communicate your idea more effectively on your website. You’ll go a long way in convincing users and giving yourself an advantage over others in your industry.

Conclusion

A brand is a promise, and a promise is a brand. Think about the promises your company makes to your customers, and think about how you can be distinctive and different from your competitors. With a strong brand, you can help your business stand out and succeed.
Make sure you clearly communicate your brand promise to your customers. Explain what your company can do, and why your company is unique and better. For example, ask your customers: “what problem do you have with the way your business operates?”

Your customers will have a better understanding of your brand than other businesses because you will not be selling a different product — you will be selling your service. This automatically makes your customers want to support you. If you honestly and sincerely explain your products, you will realize that you are now on your way to building a successful business. Once you have designed your brand promise, it goes one step further. Focus on how your customers can know of your company. The key word here is “knowing.” The more you can clearly describe how clients can be services to, the better.

If a potential customer sees your logo on walls, on products, and notices what your company is all about, your business is going to succeed. Once you can say these things to potential customers, it’s easier for them to trust your business. Sometimes, you might only have a simple visual brand or logo. It is not that difficult — trust your customers and show them the uniqueness and promise of your business.

With some effort and creativity, even small businesses can develop a distinctive and powerful brand that will help them stand out in the crowd. Check out our Creative and Branding page for more information about branding for your business! If you are interested in other branding tips, check out our article all about tips for consistent branding.

Also, check our Kitchener SEO & Toronto SEO services if you want to take your business to the next level.