10 Tips to Turn Your Small Business into a Brand

By Laura Elizabeth

Building a powerful brand requires a lot of patience, creativity and strategic planning. A strong brand not only helps a business in establishing trust and credibility but also reflects the personality and ethics of a business.

Many small businesses think that branding is only for big companies that have adequate resources. However, with appropriate skills, creativity, wit, and knowledge of the business, its audience and various marketing methods even a small business can be turned into a strong brand. If you are looking for ways to turn your small business into a brand, here are 10 tips that will give your small business a competitive edge.

Be unique

Many small businesses lose their identity in between several new businesses and existing big brands. To ensure that the identity of your business does not fade away with time, you need to offer customers something unique and innovative. Today, customers are always in search of well-designed, intuitive and reliable products and services. Thus, brands that are continuously looking for new ways of meeting their customer’s demands are widely preferred by customers.

Get inspired by other brands

Many times, small businesses idolise big brands in their niche and take efforts to be like them. However, instead of copying your favourite brands, you can simply get some inspiration from them. For example, if you like the logo or the tagline of your competitor’s brand, do not alter the logo or tagline and make it yours. To make your brand unique get some inspiration from different brands, find the purpose of your brand and create your exclusive logo and tagline.

Create a memorable logo

Every small business deserves a professional logo that can be used over the years. A logo reflects the personality of a brand and makes an everlasting impression on the customers. To turn your small business into a brand, invest some time and resources to design a professional logo that can be exclusively used for your business. Since a logo makes it easier for customers to identify a brand make sure your logo is simple, appropriate, memorable and versatile.

Use a brand tagline

While a logo reflects the personality of a brand, a tagline is a short phrase that delivers the message of a brand. It also demonstrates the spirit of a brand and its positioning in the market. Customers easily get attracted to a brand through its tagline. Thus, using a tagline that explains you’re the benefit of your products or services and the mission of your brand in a positive and outstanding way can help you in staying ahead from your competitors.

Know your customers

Customers play an important role in turning a small business into a successful brand. To establish a long-term and trustworthy relationship with your customers, you must take all the necessary steps to understand your customers. While creating a branding strategy visualise your ideal customers and the reasons why they must be interested in your brand. Furthermore, to know the expectations of your customers you can also conduct frequent surveys, ask your existing customers for feedback or have a simple conversation with them. This will help you in knowing your customers better and make a brand that is familiar to its customers.

Grow your community

Many successful brands have a loyal fan base that continuously supports the business. Although this fan base cannot be created overnight, you can use various resources to build up your brand community. For example, you can use different social media platforms to create a business page or profile for your brand. Social media can be a great resource for brands that helps in communicating brand messages to the target audience. Building an online community will also help you in displaying your affection towards your customers and in gaining the trust of your audience.

Be consistent

As compared to big brands, several small businesses try to alter their voice depending on their audience. Since your company’s voice is the language used by you and your employees to deliver your branding message, make sure that it is consistent both offline and online. To build and maintain a successful brand, try to use a consistent voice in all communications. Whether you are interacting with the customers in person, on a phone or instant messaging apps, use a similar voice to avoid any confusion. Additionally, ensure that this consistency is reflected in your company’s name, brand logo, tagline, social media content, website and marketing material.

Take your brick and mortar business online

Due to the growing demand for online shopping, many small businesses find it difficult to attract walk-in customers to their stores. If you are in a retail business, taking your business online can make a big difference in your sales. As smart shoppers prefer to check online for new products before visiting an actual store, having an online presence will also help your brand in reaching new customers from different demographics. Since not all small businesses can start an e-commerce store, you can tie up with other online shopping stores such as Amazon to make your products available online. Several small brands also use Facebook Marketplace or Instagram shopping to reach new customers.

Focus on customer service

One feature that differentiates a brand from regular businesses is its exceptional customer service. Customers feel valued when a business listens to them and appreciates their relationship with the brand. By providing excellent customer service, you can also build a trustworthy and credible relationship with your customers. Moreover, giving frequent rewards to your customers in the form of special discounts, shopping vouchers or free delivery options will encourage them to stay loyal to your brand.

Nurture your customers

Customers can be great brand ambassadors of a business. A satisfied customer will support and promote a brand to other potential customers, whereas, an unsatisfied customer might tarnish the brand image of a business. Although it might not be possible for you to please all your customers, adopting new strategies to nurture your customers can help you in spreading a positive brand message amongst your existing and potential customers.  

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