Start Your Small Business Brand Strategy By Bringing You to the Table

by Frederika Angus

I bet you can recognize all of the above businesses without seeing the company name. Talk about brand recognition!

But what is branding anyway?

Depending on who you talk to, branding is often thought of as a name or logo. The visual identifier that everyone will see, remember and relate to. Maybe you’ve already been through the logo design process. You researched different colors and the emotion that they invoke. You spent hours determining what the perfect tag line or even company name should be.

While that is all good, people do not do business with logos and tag lines. Yes, those items can help attract clients to look at your company. Having eyes on your business is great! The goal is to also make a profit while you have people looking.

Have you ever been at the grocery store and selected a shiny red, apple that looked flawless? No blemishes. No bruises. Leonardo da Vinci could not have painted a better work of art. But when you get home and take bite, it is not at all what you thought it would be. The skin is tough and the flesh lacks flavor. The outer appearance was deceiving and as you got below the surface you were disappointed.

Does your business brand leave your customers and clients that way? The image and logo look great, but just under the surface, what they identified with on the outside isn’t there?

Small business branding IS the owner. It is about what the owner says, does and how you as the owner and your personality meets your client in every aspect of the business. Branding is how you build and maintain relationships, the manner by which you do business and serve other people. It is how at an individual level, rapport is established because your clients trust your character, not from theme music, logos or slogans.

People are attracted to you! The best way to begin your business brand strategy is with you. Every business has a personality and as a solopreneur, you must make sure that it is your personality (not the person you pretend to be in the shower when no one is looking) that is showing up everywhere.

Faking it until you make it no longer works in the marketplace.

Consumers are craving authenticity and real connection with the people they do business with. Your ideal client has to believe that you are credible and will deliver exactly what you say that you are able to do.

Bringing all of who you are to the table means that your brand is instantly as unique as you are. The one thing your competition cannot copy is YOU. They can make a similiar logo, or advertising campaign. They will never be able to replicate you. Save the money you would have spent on all the shiny objects and flash and utilize it for more effective and strategic advertising.

Perhaps you’ve heard the quote, “Be the change you want to see.”

When it comes to branding, be the brand your customer wants to see.

Talk to you soon!