If you’re just starting out in business on your own or running a small firm, you could be forgiven for thinking that branding is something only larger companies need to be concerned with. Having a strong brand has two functions – it conveys what your business does better than anyone else and also ensures you are always seen in a positive light. Both functions can have a dramatic effect on your levels of success.
Many companies, especially smaller ones, manage to achieve success without ever having to worry about branding. If they did, however, they would be more successful still.
Start with the right products
A successful brand reflects the values and principles of the company behind it, so it’s important to ensure your company produces products and services of the necessary quality. There is little point in focusing on creating high levels of brand awareness if the customer service you then provide is subpar or the quality of your products falls too far behind the competition. Nokia was once one of the world’s most valuable brands but when it stopped making products that people wanted to buy, its business suffered dramatically.
The right logo
There are a number of pitfalls that you want to do your best to avoid. Chief among these is making things overly complex. It’s easy to look at big successful companies and imagine the millions of dollars and hours of time that went into creating the perfect logo, but it is often the simplest ideas that go on to become the most successful. While it is tempting to create a logo that somehow encompasses every aspect of your business, you’ll end up with a far stronger idea if you simply stick to the basics. Using an online logo creator, you can experiment with a range of ideas until you find the one that feels right.
Invest time and money
A brand is far more than a logo or company name. It’s also about the way you respond to emails or telephone queries, it’s about what your customers and suppliers say when they are asked about you. Choosing to divert time and resources into branding may be difficult as it won’t immediately generate new leads or income, but it will undoubtedly pay off in the long run. In many cases, the first time an entrepreneur thinks about their brand is when they encounter a problem with the image of their company. In reality, thinking about branding from early on in the process is the best way to ensure you get it right.
Create a community
Many of the biggest brands in the world don’t spend vast sums of money on advertising, focusing instead of building the communities who make use of them and improving their customer experience. Such companies have come to understand a fundamental truth: if people trust a brand’s community, they will go on to trust the brand itself. No matter how large or small your business, opportunities to build communities exist, especially in the online world by making use of social networks.
