The Basics of Small Business Branding

Small business owners hear terms like branding and marketing without understanding the definitions. To sum it up, branding and marketing simply mean, ‘being the customer’s first choice.’ Would you like your company to be the first that consumers think about when they want to buy online?

Branding creates and maintains a reputation that reflects the customer’s experience when shopping from your website. Customers build an emotional attachment to certain brands. Customer loyalty means tapping into these emotions and giving shoppers a sense of ownership.  A strong brand makes a company stand out on the internet. A brand can mean the difference between being lost in cyberspace and being a ‘name’ people associate with a product.

What Do You Sell?

A product or skill is not the only thing people can sell on the internet.

• Skills
• Excellence
• High-quality
• Relationship
• Extra value in the form of communities, newsletters, etc.
• Innovation
• Problem solving
• Trust

Every business can increase the value they offer their customers by promoting one of the above. Before choosing which one you’ll offer customer, it is important to understand what drives the consumers to buy. Many ecommerce businesses think the secret to success is ‘low price.’

• Trust – can you deliver ‘on time?’
• Security – Does your program focus on client’s privacy and security?
• Relationship – Can clients IM you, ask questions, follow the project step-by-step?
• Increase Customer’s Potential – Can you offer something no one else can offer?
• Social Standing – Can you make them look wealthier, sexier, more influential?
• Power – Do you have what it takes to increase your client’s power?
• Free – Consumers who are motivated by price can feel they are being ‘treated right’ if they give their clients something real. Not an ebook – but a membership or passing on an association newsletter.

Small Business Branding

When building a brand, say the same message with everything in your marketing plan:

• Business name
• Slogan
• Business logo
• Pricing & packaging
• Premises/website/location
• Where you advertise
• Presentation and communication style

If everything from the business logo to the website delivers the same message then customers are more likely to remember the company when it is time to buy.