I think it’s important to remind everyone of the importance of creating and maintaining your brand. You are in business for yourself – a choice you’ve made because you have the expertise to go it on your own, or maybe you chose an MLM or franchise because you’ve recently left the 9-5 corporate world. Even if you are perfectly happy with incremental growth, your product, your service, your company…is YOU. And your brand should reflect the message that you are trying to send to your customers.
The American Marketing Association defines a brand as a “Name, term, design, symbol, or any other feature that identifies one seller’s good or service as distinct from those of other sellers.”
However, brand is so much more than just a name and a logo. For a micro or home-based business owner, branding can be the last thing on your mind behind funding and product offerings but it is without a doubt equally as important.
Branding is your commitment to your customer. It tells the customer what they can expect from you and it differentiates your business from your competitors. It is not only who you want to be but also who you want to be perceived as.
Dharmesh Shah: “Brand is what people say about you after you’ve left the room.”
Without a brand, you are making it harder for customers to find you, and why make it harder when the market is already cluttered?
Brand awareness
Brand awareness refers to customers’ ability to recall and recognize the brand under different conditions and link to the brand name, logo, jingles and so on to certain associations in memory. It consists of both brand recognition and brand recall. Check out this article about brand awareness for your home-based business. http://www.homebusinessmag.com/marketing/branding/developing-brand-identity-your-home-based-business
Defining your brand is as vital part of the branding process. Without purpose and mission you are just creating pretty pictures and full. Learn more about defining your brand here.
Answering these questions will likely take some time. It is important to take your time to define your business and your mission.
Share your brand
Without a doubt being consistently branded is a vital step for each and every business, and it’s not just about a logo on your stationery. Each piece of material that represents your business should be consistently branded. We make sure that all of your Social Media Platforms match your brand but it goes beyond the visual. Make sure that when you answer the phone that your branded is conveyed. If you are fun company make sure that you and your employees make the client experience fun. Do not have one look and feel on your business cards and another on your website. Branding tells the potential client what to expect.
And for those who love numbers…
Here are a few statistics for small business owners to remember when deciding whether branding is still a good idea: Small Business Branding Statistics.