Small Business Marketing: Brilliant Branding Builds Business

By:Wendy Maynard

Copyright 2006 Marketing Maven

Branding is more than product recognition or a simple logo. It is the overall intellectual and emotional impression people have when they think of your company and its product. It is a strong and consistent message about the value of your business.

A memorable and trustworthy brand reinforces customer loyalty. It helps them remember that your business provides the perfect solution to their problems. Therefore, to succeed in branding you must understand your customers’ needs and issues.

Brand building is an ongoing business strategy that has an easy-to-measure cost in time, money, and effort. Its value, on the other hand, is harder to establish because it involves measuring emotional associations that may not immediately translate into revenue.

Branding is an essential element of success, however, and it should be reinforced during times when business is booming and when sales are slower. You want customers and potential customers to maintain a positive association with your company and its services.

You control the messages you send out through marketing, advertising, customer service, and your Internet presence. Branding is a combination of everything your company uses to present itself. Here are a few key elements to analyze and enhance in your branding strategy:

1. Professionally designed marketing materials (logo, stationery, ads, and the like): These tell customers your company is strong, confident, and credible. Your marketing materials should reinforce your company's image and positioning over and over and over.

2. Consistency in advertising: Develop a tagline to succinctly describe your company - and use it! Develop a campaign that can provide different messages, but it recognizable as your brand.

3. Excellent customer service - always! Make sure your entire staff positively represents your business image.

4. A strong and professional website: It must be easy for viewers to navigate and understand. It should let visitors know what your company does and why they should care. Provide compelling, easy-to-understand, and interesting content. Make it easy for visitors to make purchases.

5. Differentiate your brand: Make sure your customers and potential customers understand why you are different from the competition. You want to establish a superior benefit with you target audience that encourages long-term loyalty.

Branding is not what you say about your company and products; it's about your customers' perception of your company and products. To strengthen your brand, make sure you can answer the following questions: What do you do that is different from anyone else? Why do you matter to your customers? If you can't answer these questions, you don't have an effective brand.

ACTION ITEM: Take a good look at your company and product/service strengths. Determine your primary strengths and benefits and then make sure your branding strategy (marketing materials, advertising, sales, customer services, logo, etc.) reinforces this. Simple, eh?

Digg del.icio.us Blink Stumble Spurl Reddit Netscape Furl

Article keywords: marketing, brandding, small business, promotion, success, identity, logo, sales, advertisgin

Article Source: http://www.articles2k.com

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Wendy Maynard, the Marketing Maven, publishes REMARKABLE MARKETING, a weekly ezine for business owners, freelancers, and entrepreneurs. If you're ready to skyrocket your sales, easily attract customers, and have more fun, get your FREE TIPS now at www.gomarketingmaven.com/ezine.html

Top Small Business Articles
1). Taking Business Phone for Granted By : Kingston Amadan Located in Manhattan, my company occupies a small space in the basement of a upper east side brownstone. Because the space is so limited, we store our servers and phone equipment in the boiler room. I know what you're thinking, and you're absolutely right. It's not a good idea to put your most expensive equipment in a tiny room that feels like the foyer to hell.
2). Categorizing Business Plans According To Types By : David Gass Lists the different types of business plans and stresses the importance of planning.
3). Small businesses main problem? They need more customers. By : W. Dave Free In September of 2005 our company sponsored a survey of small businesses in the service areas. The purpose of the survey was to ask the business owners, many of them franchise owners, what their significant business hurdles were. The key areas of the survey were customers, growth, technology and research, and employees. You can see the complete results at http://seedsofgrowth.
4). Preparing Your Business for a Bird Flu Pandemic By : Bird Flu How would your business operate if half your work force were out sick? Would your business continue to function if several of your top key employees died? How many employees are cross-trained in other positions? A recent study showed the threat that most preoccupies the world's business leaders is a global influenza pandemic. This is why you need to start asking these questions now so your business can be prepared for a possible bird flu pandemic.
5). Phone Sales not Ready to Yeild to the Internet By : Kingston Amadan There is no question that the internet has revolutionized business. Many people are not only paying their bills online, but also ordering products and services at an ever expanding rate as well. Businesses with a web presence have opened themselves up to new market where many consumers take advantage of the ease of shopping from pages visually no different from a catalog.
6). Small Business Computer Consulting: Additional Qualifications for the Sweet Spot By : Joshua Feinberg To find the ideal clientele for your small business computer consulting, you want to target small businesses by their number of PC's, (10 to 50) as well as their revenue. Generally, companies that have anywhere from 1 million to 10 million in revenue are the sweet spot of small business computer consulting. In this article, you'll learn why you should target this type of business.
7). Small Business Strategies - Four Critical Success Factors By : Leanne Hoagland-Smith With many companies being small businesses, understanding what takes your company to the next level is critical. These Four Success Factors will help you gain that advantage.
8). 4 times your account is in trouble!!!!! By : Jack Chevalier 4 times your account is in trouble!!!!!
9). New Vending Machines – Where And How To Buy Them By : Peter Crump When you purchase new vending machines, you are getting the latest models with all the bells and whistles that make them attractive to customers. However, you do have to look for the cheapest prices so that you can save as much money as possible in the investment of getting started in the vending machine business. This is one of the businesses that is easy to get started with and you can determine the type and number of vending machines you do want to start with.
10). Interview with a Vampire - The High Cost of Recruitment to the SBO By : Dana Wallert Many small business owners and entrepreneurs don’t anticipate how much the actual hiring process can cost them in both cash and time. It can really suck them dry of their resources!

New Small Business Articles
1). Make Your Extra Cash Walking Dogs By : james lowe Here is a creative income venture for you if you like dogs
2). How to Choose a Watch Wholesaler By : Dustin Cannon Choosing a watch wholesaler is not quite as easy as it may sound. Sure, you could just find a company that offers this service and get started. But do you really want to take the chance of getting mixed up with the wrong people?
3). Get the Most Out of Tradeshows By : Shannon Cherry Learn how to make your tradeshows the most successful.
4). Things You Should Know Before You Attempt to Work From Home By : Ray Mann The idea of working from home has often been on the minds of many people today find how
5). Reasons Why Home Businesses Fail By : Terence Young The decision to start a home business can often be one of excitement and promise. There are many reasons why people start a home based business but to fail is not one of them.5 Reasons Why Home Businesses Fail
6). How To Turn Competitors Into Allies By : David Gass Gives strategies for turning potential competitors into allies, who can help you grow your business
7). 4 Things to Avoid When Marketing Your Small Business By : John Edmond Opening a new business is fraught with difficulty, not the least of which is just keeping up with 1001 things that need to be done. This article explains why marketing your small business should be of the highest priority.
8). Buying Your First Company By : Dave Kauppi This article gives some helpful hints on how to approach your first business acquisition as an individual investor.
9). Understanding The Need For Small Publishing Companies By : David Gass Explains the need for small presses in order to fill special niches in the publishing market.
10). How To Get Your Website Indexed In MSN For Free In Just 24 Hours By : Karin Manning There are many inexpensive and even free methods to get indexed in search engines almost immediately. This is great news for small businesses looking for affordable seo techniques. Today I am going to focus on the search engine MSN.