4 Branding Tips for Your Small Business in 2020
Think a brand is just for big businesses? Think again. Branding is critical for businesses of all shapes and sizes.
Many small business owners underestimate the power of personal branding. They have the notion that branding should be reserved for big companies like Safaricom amongst others.
Why bother? Your brand is what the outside world thinks of you. How do you want people to perceive you?
Don’t you want your business to stand out?
Here are 4 ways you can cultivate that personal brand:
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Define your personal brand
A personal brand “is what people say about you when you are not in the room.” What do you want them to think about when they think of you? Do you want to be known for any specific skill or expertise?
Highlight words or phrases that speak positively about you, especially those related to your business, industry and skills.
You could also include credentials, goals and values. For example; a leading HR firm, recruitment experts or team leader.
This will help you present yourself to your target audience
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Create a platform
Create your own website under your own domain name e.g. (www.nameofyourbusiness.com) so that when people search your name, it will be the first result.
You want people to connect with you and get to know you better.
Social media is also a great channel to promote your content and grow your audience. In this digital age, social media platforms give you a chance to keep up with trends in the business world and easily network with potential clients and investors.
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Tell your story
Storytelling has become one popular way of ensuring that clients never forget you.
People are always interested in knowing the story behind your journey. What brought you here? What challenges did you face on the way? What did you learn? What do you believe in?
A good example of storytelling is using testimonials.
You can showcase videos of clients talking about their experience after using your products or services. What did they like about it? How did it impact their lives? Would they recommend it to others?
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Be Consistent
If you want people to trust that you can deliver, you need to look the part.
Think about what you stand for and communicate that to your customers in everything you do, from the colors you choose to the words you use.
Provide a consistent experience to everyone, no matter how you interact with them (via social media, email, office, networking events, phone, etc.). When they repeatedly come across the same personality, it will become easier for them to recognize and recall you.
Kindly note that it takes time and effort to build a personal brand, the trick is to be useful and consistent but above all stay true to yourself.
Biggest Branding Mistakes
There are many great startups out there, startups that are bringing innovative products and services to the market, but the majority of them will fail.
Why is that? What are the biggest branding mistakes that entrepreneurs make?
Strategy
It is about a strategy,
- What are you offering?
- How are you offering it?
- Who are you offering it to?
- Where are you offering it?
- How are you bringing it to the market?
- Why are you better?
- Why are you different?
Competitive Landscape
You also want to look at the competitive landscape. How do you position your company and what you offer your products and services in the competitive landscape compared to others?
You want to think about your visual branding;
- About how are you going to be recognized?
- Remembered, revered?
- What’s the consumer needs state.
- What is that problem that the customer consumer has that you will be trawling trying to solve?
- And how are you going to do that?
Communication
Another thing is communication.
- How are you going to communicate what it is that you do
- Where are you going to communicate it?
- How are you going to go out there?
- How are you going to go to the market?
Branding mistakes startups Make
They focus a lot on money, money, money.
They think about the money, and they don’t think about the problem. It is that they’re trying to solve.
If you think about the customer, the consumer, and the problem they have and how are you?
You need to solve that problem then the money will come.
They also focus a lot on investing.
They think about cashing out about getting rich quickly by investing blindly without knowing the clients’ needs. Getting rich quick is the quickest way to fail.
They also tend to sometimes focus too heavily on the products,
Think About Product Product!!!
They think about the product, the product’s functionality, the cool factor, its features. It’s not about the product again, it’s about the problem that you’re trying to solve.
Startups think if we build it, they will come, and that’s not the case.
They Forget Customer Needs
The startup wants to focus heavily on what the problem is. What is the consumer the customer needs state?
What is that problem you are trying to solve?
If you figure out how to address the problem with your features with your benefits, then the money will come.
Failure to communicate
Startups need to focus on how you are communicating. You want to be communicating in the customer’s voice, not in your voice, not talking all about yourself and your product. You want to talk about the customer, the consumer, their problem, and how you’re going to solve it.
