Creating a strong brand is an important step for virtually every successful business. Your brand gives your products or services a recognizable face, even if it’s just a logo that customers recognize.
Branding — building your company’s distinct identity, mission, and values — directly affects how your company relates to your target audience. It influences everything from your messaging to the colors on your website. In the same way that a strong brand creates trust with your audience, weak or inconsistent branding can steer customers toward other options.
Building a brand as a small business can be challenging. You’re likely dealing with limited resources, strong competition, and stakeholders who want to prioritize taking products or services to market. Despite the effort, branding is particularly important for small businesses. It helps you establish your name among competitors, especially more recognizable ones. Strong branding can also encourage stakeholders or investors to partner with your company and help it expand.
Let’s explore how you can establish and maintain a brand as a small business.
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Work on Visuals
Visual elements like your logo are among the first things customers see when interacting with your brand. Strong visuals make your company memorable in customers’ eyes, creating a lasting impression you want them to remember.
Start your work on visuals with a creative logo. According to Adobe, 95% of leading brands have a logo with only one or two colors. It’s a good idea to keep things simple and easy to read. Other visual elements like your website and product packaging should share the same simple, clean feel. This reinforces a singular brand identity and allows returning customers to quickly recognize your brand among other companies that offer similar services.
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Show, Don’t Tell Your Expertise
Every company can claim to be the best service provider. Instead of making claims about your company’s value, spend time validating them. Invest in customer service strategies that leave a lasting impression. Demonstrate your expertise through your work, whether you ship products or fulfill services directly for buyers. One customer at a time, your results will speak for themselves.
You can also capture and share your expertise in a digital format. With customers’ permission, build case studies that tell the story of how your company satisfied their needs. Share public reviews on your website that demonstrate your company’s value. You can even offer free consultative services where you provide value without ever pushing for a sale.
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Partner With Other Businesses
Working with other companies can help drastically improve your customer reach. You can also improve your brand’s reputation, earning credibility simply through association with other reputable organizations.
Partnerships create unique opportunities for your company to create additional value for customers. For example, a candle manufacturer could partner with a local coffee shop to cross-promote their products. Every customer who purchases a cup of coffee will also see candles for sale. This creates additional visibility for your products and helps improve your brand’s exposure in the local community.
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Develop a Brand Style Guide
Your company’s style guide is a roadmap, one that outlines the identity of your brand. It should outline standards for some of your brand’s most important elements, including your logo, website, and other marketing assets.
Every department of your business should rely on a style guide for messaging, even if they don’t directly interact with your customers. For example, our HR department can use a style guide when posting open roles. A PR team relies on a style guide when drafting press releases and media kits. Product teams should constantly reference a style guide when creating products, packaging, and labels. Make sure to update your style guide as the company grows to keep important details like your logo, slogan, and colors consistent.
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Be Consistent
Your brand’s style guide also helps your company stay consistent, whether you’re updating your website or responding to customer questions. Consistency is important for any small business, particularly in the early days of your brand. It’s important to stick to your mission and what makes your company unique, with more attention on your own progress than your competition’s.
Focusing on consistency also allows your company to embrace its space in the market. If your business is a boutique hotel, for example, you’re not meant to compete with major hotel chains. You offer a more intimate, personalized experience for guests. Emphasizing those benefits consistently across your brand allows customers who want that boutique experience to recognize your value.
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Offer Promotional Gifts
The right promotional items serve as powerful reminders of your brand. Whether it’s a custom coolie, lanyard, or a pair of sunglasses, promotional gifts enhance your visibility when customers use them. Offering thoughtful gifts is also a great way to generate leads, improve customer loyalty, and turn a prospect into a potential buyer.
Promotional gifts also contribute to word-of-mouth marketing, which is difficult to track but important for brands as they scale. Satisfied customers will tell others about your brand, referring other potential customers your way. Offering promotional gifts is a great way to create that initial wave of satisfied customers.
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Participate in Community Events
Contributing to a local event earns your brand valuable exposure in the community. It’s a great opportunity to give back to your neighborhood and engage with customers outside of a traditional storefront setting.
When you participate in a community event, you also establish your brand as a local business. And more than 70% of shoppers today say they go out of their way to shop locally. Contributing to a local event also highlights your brand as caring and community-minded, with a high degree of social responsibility. These characteristics can all influence shoppers when making future purchases.
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Determine Your Brand Archetype
Some brands help customers save time. Others help them unlock their creative side, make money on the side, or discover new places. Determining your brand’s archetype — the role you play in their lives — is a critical step in learning how you should position your products and services in the market.
Brand archetypes represent the psychological connection your customers have with your brand. Some brands help customers obey the rules. Other brands help customers break them. To create a stronger emotional connection with your buyers, try leaning into your brand’s archetype. Emphasize the benefits that your brand delivers in people’s lives, whether you offer health-conscious meals or manage financial portfolios.
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Create a Brand Story
Your brand story adds a narrative element to your brand. It should describe the reasons why your company was created, including any motivation behind your drive to solve customer needs. Include details like your company’s founders, start dates, and your goals for the future.
Keep your brand story visible and memorable. Emphasize the unique aspects of your company’s origin, particularly if you came from humble beginnings. If possible, tie your brand’s story into customers’ goals for their own lives. If you started your company because you love the outdoors, for example, make sure you highlight how your brand allows customers to embrace their own love for outdoor adventure.
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Leverage Social Media
Social media is a particularly effective branding strategy for small businesses. While you might not have a more modest marketing budget than your competition, you can use social media to connect with potential customers online. Social media helps introduce your brand to an estimated 4.9 billion users worldwide.
For many small businesses, social media represents a more affordable way to accomplish many of their goals. Telling your brand story, partnering with other businesses, and even advertising products or services is possible on a variety of social platforms. Social media is also a great place to respond directly to questions and feedback, building your brand right in front of present or future buyers.