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You want your brand to be recognized globally. Or maybe just in the local area. That doesn’t happen by accident (unless you are fortunate), it happens with hard work, dedication, and knowledge. As a small business, you are competing against more prominent companies, local and global, plus freelancers. But that doesn’t mean that you can’t be seen. It just means you have to do more with less. And that is no bad thing. Learning how to turn a shoestring budget into a well-branded company is going to pay off when you do have big money later on.

Let’s talk about the basics:

What is a brand?

A brand is everything that people will use to identify you and your business. It will be everything from your logo, and your website to your stationery and your content. Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, says, “Your brand is what other people say about you when you’re not in the room.” 

It is your reputation, and what that looks like on paper. 

Building Brands

This is the bit where you begin to generate press and recognition. Awareness about you and your brand will drive sales. Sales mean profit. All of your marketing campaigns should have goals attached to them, and there should be no money spent where it won’t give you a decent ROI. Ideally, you are looking for the following activities in your building model:

• Social media marketing
• Email marketing
• PPC
• SEO & Content generation and marketing
• UX – on your website or apps

The combination of these is a potent way to see your channels gaining both brand awareness and growth. 

Process:

Audience

Before you start building, you need to know who or what you are building for. You can’t sell to everyone, or at least not in the early stages. You need to get in depth over who you are talking to and trying to attract. And be specific too:

• Talking to young women who want to work in the tech space
• Working with family men who want to side hustle
• Selling to executives who have a lot of disposable income and none/one child

Who is it, and what do they want from you? 

Mission

What is it that you brand whats to accomplish? Again go into detail about your brand mission. “My company is designed to bridge the gap in childcare for families where both parents work,” or “My company will provide the freshest salads delivered to the office.” It defines your purpose. 

Research

Start looking at what brands like your brand do. Who are they targeting, what are their most famous ad campaigns, what kind of content do they produce? Don’t copy them, but find a way to replicate their success in your own way. 

Logo & Tagline

Visuals matter. After all, you want to be recognizable and distinguishable. The logo will appear on everything that you produce and should be something that over time, people see and know it’s you. Think of the icon sports brands – simple but effective. You might want to hire in help from a designer and a sign company to get this done to the highest standard. 

Voice

This is how you communicate with customers and potential customers. It should be in keeping with the persona that your company has and hold tight to the mission too. Authenticity will win people over faster than being a fake. 

Stay True

The logos and brands that you know best are the ones that stick fast to their mission, they always think about the future of the business and how they can make what they do work for more people. Always be your brand’s most prominent advocate too. 

Building a brand is a process that deserves the time and effort to get it right. Once you do, you will feel confident as you go forward and will see the rewards too.