Whether or not you realize it, your small business already has a brand. This brand is based on the thought and opinions of your customers, potential customers, employees and business associates. However, if you have not taken action to brand your business the way you want it, you may not be happy with the branding that has developed.
The good news is that it is not too late to begin taking steps to properly brand your small business. Here are six steps to branding your small business and making it be seen as you want it to be.
1. Know what you want from your business. This includes your own personal values that you would like to see reflected in your company. This also should involve the focus of your business, what you want it to provide to people, and where you want it to go in the future. Make sure you think this through very carefully. If you do not know where you want your business to go, chances are, it will derail.
2. Understand who you want to cater to with your business. You need to have a handle on your current customer base, as well as the target audience you hope to reach. You need a clear idea of what demographic would be most interested in your products or services.
3. Let your customers know they are important. You can do this by being more than a business. Offer your customers personal service, and be available to them when you can. Make sure they know you as the owner and that they do not only see employees.
4. Understand everything that you sell. Make sure you know all there is to know about anything that you offer. One of the biggest blunders you can make is to sell a product you do not understand. How will it look when a customer asks you about the product and you have no answers?
5. Always be consistent. This is in the values that you consider important, the customer service standards you uphold, and the quality of products or services you offer. When it comes to making a name for yourself, you must be consistent.
6. Watch out for traps. Usually, these come in the form of some hot item that seems like the popular choice now, but will become old news in a month. Instead of going after all the trends, stick with the classic items that continue to be popular. Otherwise, you could end up with quite large amount of the trendy items that you cannot sell, and you will have the wrong image for your company.
