Small Business Branding – Create a Strong Brand Identity for Your Small Business

1. Conduct A Research

Your brand's identity is more than simply a single logo. Style guidelines, marketing materials, and color palettes are just the tip of the iceberg. Instead, brand identity is the sum of your brand's visual, emotional, and verbal attributes. As a result, it has a direct impact on your customers' perceptions of your business and credibility.

With so much on the line, it's unlikely that the unique brand identity of your small business will emerge in an instant. It takes a lot of time, effort, and thought, but the payoff is well worth it.

In order to complete the process, there are several steps:

The first step is to conduct a thorough investigation.

Even if you don't, it's fine if you don't yet know who you are as a company. First, however, a little corporate soul-searching is in order.

You should ask yourself these questions while you're developing your brand identity.

• What three words would you use to sum up your business?
• What do I want others to know about me?
• Do I know what my firm stands for?
• To what extent do I wish to contribute to my industry?

Having a clearer idea of who you are and what you stand for can help you create a distinct and memorable brand that attracts the attention of potential clients.

If you don't know your target audience, it's impossible to build a successful brand identity. So, before anything else, spend some time getting to know your primary, secondary, and tertiary audiences. Set up personas for each of your customers that describe their interests, hobbies, and values.

Proceed to competition research if you have a firm grasp of your target audience's needs. For example, what are the aesthetic aspects, personalities, and themes of other companies in your industry?

As a final point, don't forget to interview your present staff members as well. They have a vital voice to consider in terms of how the company should be portrayed and what has worked or not in the past.

2. Create Assets

It's time to have some fun now that the hard part is over. It’s time to transform all your learnings into images. As an example, consider the following popular brand assets:

• Logo and color palettes
• Iconography
• Typography
• Images and graphics 
• Style Guide 

The 3 Cs of branding might be helpful while you're establishing your brand assets:

• Clarity 
• Consistency 
• Commitment

3. Defining Your Brand Narrative

A compelling brand narrative will help to solidify your company's image. This isn't strictly the story of how and why you got started in business, but it will include some of that information. In order to address these questions, your brand story should:

You need to remember that your brand story isn't just the elevator speech you use to describe your company to strangers. Instead, it's all about how and why your company's brand connects with customers.

4. Refine And Iterate Your Approach

It's perfectly fine if the identity of your company evolves over time. First, however, your initial brand identity should be analyzed and refined in light of feedback from customers. Then, find out what works and what doesn't by experimenting with fresh ideas and techniques. Using A/B testing, for example, you may observe which phrase resonates with your audience the most.

5. Get Creative With Your Brand\\\\\\\'s Visuals

It's time to start designing your brand now that you know who you are, who your customers are, what makes you unique, and what's succeeding in your industry. As with larger corporations, this is an essential element in building your small business's brand.

In order to develop your brand's appearance and feel, you'll need the following items:

• Style Guide: The intricacies of your design approach, such as your brand's color palette, fonts, and design do's and don'ts, should be worked out before you begin developing. With a brand style guide in place, you'll be able to keep track of all of the design elements and ensure that everyone involved in the design process is on the same page.
• Logo: When designing your logo, it should be the first thing you do because it will be a starting point for all of your other graphics (like your website and business cards).
• Business Cards: In order to run a successful business, you must have a business card that matches your logo and other design elements.
• Website: Your website is like a piece of digital real estate for your organization. You want it to appear and feel consistent with the rest of your branding when visitors arrive. Harness the power of branding services and design to build your story and assets.

When it comes to your small business branding, consistency is key. Otherwise, you run the risk of confusing your clients and losing them to the competition.

6. Promote Your Brand Through Content Marketing

With the correct material, you can establish yourself as a subject matter expert in a particular product or any industry. Fortunately, you don't have to spend a fortune on advertising to get your message out there. Instead, content marketing is a more efficient, less time-consuming, and more cost-effective method of promoting your brand.

There are a plethora of benefits to utilizing content marketing. 

• This is a great way for you to demonstrate your industry expertise and build a relationship with your audience. When it comes time to choose a firm to work with, you'll be the first place they'll think of when they need help.
• Content marketing is an excellent technique for building your brand. Strengthening the customer relationship and driving business are both facilitated by having a strong brand voice and then using that brand voice in all of your material, including social media.
• And if you're still not convinced that content marketing is a great strategy for small businesses, consider this: Even if you're on a tight budget, you may use content to your advantage.

Creating the correct content is the most important part of a successful content marketing campaign. Identify the questions your clients ask and then develop content that answers those questions. It's important to remember that your customers are eager to learn as much as possible about your sector. If you can provide value to your clients and answer their queries, you'll gain their trust and, ultimately, more business.

7. Look For Ways To Collaborate With Others

The more trustworthy a brand is, the more likely people are to conduct business with it. Unfortunately, it can take a long time to build trust if you're a new company. So be on the lookout for partnerships with businesses that your customers currently use.

Customers are more inclined to trust a brand they already know and trust if they're introduced to it by another brand they know and trust, and as a result, they'll give you their business.

8. Become A Hero in The Eyes Of Your Customers

In today's hyper-competitive market, talking isn't enough. What you do after you've established a relationship with a consumer has a lot more to do with your brand's identity than just your logo and marketing tactics. The most significant component of your brand is the reputation you build and the things customers say about you behind your back.

This means that in order to be successful over time, you need to be a superhero for your customers.

If your customers have a pleasant experience every time they connect with your brand, they’re going to keep coming back, and they’re going to tell their friends, too. So look for ways to make the customer experience better in your company. 

Is it confusing to place a purchase on your website? 

Rework the layout to make it easier for your users to understand. 

Is it a hassle to make a return? 

Send customers a prepaid return label and clear instructions to make the transaction easier. 

The better you can make your customer experience, the more you’ll be renowned as a company that cares about its consumers and the more customers you’ll acquire as a result.

9. Use Social Media To Grow Your Brand

Today, a brand can be easily established by creating a community of followers and customers. You can use social media to increase sales by creating an online community and generating a large audience on your site by using a social sharing tool. Many brands are unaware of the benefits of social media to the user experience. It helps boost brand loyalty and build trust among the current fans of your brand. Small business branding services help you create a defined strategy for your business if you are new to this.

#Myth 1 Branding is significant only once your brand has grown!

Remember that your company's greatest value is not to be overlooked. A company's value can be attributed to its brand to the tune of 30% to practically 50%. As a result, your product or service becomes something unique and unreplicated: the value you provide to your target audience.

#Myth 2 Branding is expensive!

You don't have to spend a lot of money on branding. It's an investment in tangible property. Even if no one agrees on exactly how much it's worth, it could still be your most valuable asset. 

#Myth 3 Branding is way too complicated!

It's surprising that some individuals think branding makes things more difficult when, in actuality, not investing in branding makes things more difficult. You don't have to spend a lot of money on your brand strategy, even if you think your business is basic. Instead, make a list of all the things that make your narrative unique. Do everything you can to ensure that it is simple to understand, well-organized, and reusable.

1. Glorioso Super Nutrients

A Spanish superfood firm, Glorioso Super Nutrients, created seed packet-inspired supplement containers with an abstract circle shape to indicate the contents.

A branding agency in Barcelona created Glorioso's whole brand design, including the company's vibrant business cards. 

Image Credit: Hubspot

2. Robinson’s

It's hardly the first thing that springs to mind when you think of an auto body business. However, when you look at Robinson's Accident Repair Center's logo, you'll see that it's sleek and retro-inspired, with minimum branded materials and an interior design to match.

Image Credit: Hubspot

3. Doctor Manzana

Doctor Manzana is a smartphone and tablet repair store in Valencia, Spain, run by a doctor. A new brand identity was created for the company in order to attract a new audience for its services and products. The brand was intended to attract diverse clients, from fashionistas to geeks, translated here into several kinds of colors through a brand picture that continually plays with the angle of 54 degrees formed by a mobile phone's screen.

Image Credit: Hubspot

4. Lune Croissanterie

When it comes to making their specialty dessert, Lune is a future-forward bakery with a significant focus on science and technology. Then, it makes it natural that their logo, designed by a Melbourne-based agency, features a croissant-tailed spaceship.

Image Credit: Hubspot

There are many other small business branding examples that have grown from the ground. You can read more about them here.