And is branding really that important?
You’re reading this blog because I’m guessing that you own a business, and most likely a small business. Did you know that there are actually over 30 million small businesses in the U.S.? That’s a lot of small businesses!
With all that competition fighting for internet and social media space, what is something that can set you apart from the rest?
IT’S YOUR BRAND
So what’s the difference between business and brand?
A business is just that. A place (whether online, storefront or both) that sells a product or service. The business takes payment, has accounting, customer service, technical support etc. It’s the daily grind of operations. Sure, you may have an incredible product and outstanding customer dedication, but that doesn’t necessarily connect to your customers.
A brand is a personality, a life, a vision and a direction that you give to your business. It can tell a story, a mission statement and your overall business goals. It doesn’t just tell people what you do, it tells people who you are as a company.
In a lot of scenarios, the business and brand can overlap and ideally they work cohesively together.
So, Is a brand really that important?
YES IT IS! And here are the five reasons why:
1) Trust and Confidence – When you see that a business cares about their brand, it’s easy to assume that they’ll also care about you too. It makes your customers feel like they’re working with people and not just the business.
2) Makes You an Expert – Once you’ve established trust and confidence, you automatically are considered an expert in your field. People want to always go with the expert. The more confidence you build, the more of an expert you are, and the more of an expert you are, the more trust you build. Being an expert gives you credibility.
3) Recognizability and Memorability – Golden Arches, Swoosh, Apple with a bite out of it, Red Bullseye. Without even showing you a photo of these logos, you know exactly what they are (and in case you don’t, it’s McDonalds, Nike, Apple and Target). Without their strong branding, you would never know a brand by a simple logo. Viewers spend about 2 seconds scanning what they are looking at whether it be a magazine or internet article. That recognizability is invaluable to a company.
4) Saves You Time – Setting up a brand is time consuming and an investment at the start, but once you’ve settled into the brand it can save you time. The guess work of what font to use, colors to select and imagery to post just becomes second nature.
5) Keeps Your Team Tight – A brand is like having another member of your senior management team. It keeps your employees on the same page and working towards the same mission. As I said earlier with saving time, your employees will automatically know what fonts, colors and imagery to use.
No matter what industry you’re in, there will always be competition. But, by implementing a brand, it sets you apart from the competition for all the reasons I listed above.
So, what does your brand say about you?
Keep STAKing,
Michelle Johnson
Owner/Founder STAK Marketing
Michelle Johnson is the owner, founder and Chief Marketing Guru at STAK Marketing. Our passion at STAK Marketing is to create beautiful STAKs of marketing strategies that help small businesses grow and reach their goals. STAK Marketing's expertise ranges from SEO to branding, e-mail marketing to social media management, PR to advertising and much more - making STAK Marketing a one-stop-shop for all your small business marketing needs .