Starting a business is as simple as offering something for sale, but from the moment you are in business it can begin to be confusing what all you should do to be successful. This is especially true if you are starting a business for the first time or in a new sector. The concept of brands and branding is highly familiar to all us. Some of us “Drink Coke” and others follow Nike’s “Just Do It” but no matter who you are, it’s likely that you relate with some brands for various reasons. The reason this concept of brand matters so much to us as small business owners is because brands are not just for the giants. We want to talk about branding for your business, and why it’s important do establish a brand around your business.

  • Thematic logo, business card, and website
  • Never spam people with your business offerings
  • Getting your name out there

It’s important to recognize the role that brand recognition plays in the consumers likelihood to purchase. If a consumer has seen your brand before, and only remembers seeing it, they are more likely to make a purchase. If they have had a positive memorable interaction with the brand before in any way they are much more likely to purchase. If they have heard something good about your business from one of your customers, then there’s a high likelihood that if they are in the market for the services that you offer; that you will be a serious consideration for their search. These things are all built around your brand. The name, logo, image, slogan that they recognize and attribute to their past interactions with the brand to determine if they are going to make a purchase or not.

Put your mind in your consumer’s shoes for a moment. Say you recently saw a video Ad on Facebook for a new local business, the following week you get a postcard in the mail inviting you to come in and save with a deal, and then a couple weeks later you get an email from the business owner offering his or her services to you. How likely would you be to seriously consider the offering if it was something your business was in need of? Now, taking a different example, how likely are you to consider a business you have never heard of before sending you an unsolicited email about their services? The reason you are more likely to give up your time and possibly your money in the first example is because of brand recognition, and in this case; that was facilitated through marketing via multiple difference media formats.

What makes a good brand?

There are endless marketing efforts that you can invest serious amounts of time and money into to get your name, your logo, and your business out to your potential customers. This calls into question though, is just ‘getting your name out there’ enough to establish good brand recognition and have people wanting to buy from you once you have contacted them 3 or 4 different ways? Simply put, no. You must ensure that everyone seeing your brand is having positive experiences – experiences that come back later to make them say, “I would really love to buy from your company”

This begins with design. Having a properly designed logo, business card, and website are three keys to a solid foundation of branding for your small business. Your business cards are usually going to be the first company material that someone who is learning about your business in person is going to get to see and hold. For those finding you on the web, you will want to make sure that your website presents the message that your business is attempting to convey. For either of these cases, your logo will be front and center and you will need to make sure that your designs are industry standard. 

For more information on brand creation and marketing your business. Please drop us a line, we love to give you a free business consult.

David Ashby

CEO Bistreck LLC