Small Business Talk
The Podcast to Grow your Business Faster
Why Is Branding Important for Small Business?
Show Notes
Branding is your identity, it makes you stand out, and it builds trust and makes you unforgettable. We interact with brands every day and so do your customers.
Big businesses all started small and the ones that lasted that grew all have strong branding.
Customers pay more for strong, solid, trustworthy brands. Think about your trip to the supermarket/grocery store – what attracts you more? The known brand in the bright packaging in the prime location on the shelve or the dull plain packed home brand version hidden at the back!
Did you know that most supermarkets make more money out on shelve placement fees than they do out of selling the actual products?
Why?
Because strong branding and positioning is important to their customers, both the product suppliers and you, the purchasers.
Why is Branding Important for Small Business?
“The internet is a great equaliser, giving small companies the potential to have a big voice” Hubspot said.
Having strong branding makes you look bigger and helps build trust within the market.
Especially online, no one wants to spend their money on a product that they don’t think will perform or that the business is too small to provide any backup or customer services.
What is a Brand?
“ A brand is no longer what we tell the customer it is – it is what the customers tell each other it is”. – Scott Cook
Your brand is everything, how you make your customers feel, your logo, your look, the experience you give them.
Your brand is made up of 3 things:
- User experience
- Communication
- Perception
User Experience
User experience is how your customers feel when they interact with your brand, it is so much more than just a logo. Great user experience make you stand out from the crowd and people remember. McDonalds has built their brand on user experience. It might not be the greatest user experience but it is consistent all over the world, year in year out, you know what to expect.
Communication
Branding is the way you speak about your products and services, the way you advertise, your packing, the whole way you communicate your offering. How you communicate your brand is then what your customers expect and if there is a disconnect in your branding, they won’t trust you. Ever wondered why big brands rarely, if ever change their branding. And if they do, they generally just modernise what they had.
Your tone and the voice of your business are set by your brand.
Think about bottled water!
All bottled water is basically the same and fulfills the same purpose, however, the packaging, messaging and communication of bottled water brands are quite different and so is the price.
Evian makes you feel young.
Fiji water – the exotic water brand, the finest always goes untouched.
Thank you – live changing water
Pump – no time to waste
They are all strong brands, bottled water and vastly different price points. Yes, your brand matters.
And when you feel like deviating, you can think does it fit with my brand? Yes or no and make a split decision.
Perception
Branding helps to clarify your message and builds identity. Branding helps you be consistent and prevents the digital disconnect that can be sales breaker.
If you are thinking about scaling bringing in team at any stage, then having a written down brand strategy can really help get them up to speed much quicker.
Good branding can help to stand out in the crowd and make a positive lasting impression to your audience.
If you are not branding yourself, you can be sure others will do it for you…
Why Is Branding Important for Small Business?
Listen to the full episode of Small Business Talk Podcast #066 to find out Why Is Branding Important for Small Business.