Sneha Mittal — May 3, 2019 — May 3, 2019
Entrepreneurship comes with its own set of challenges and with so many options out there, it might be difficult for you to master all aspects of the business.
Marketing is evolving each day and even more with the technological evolution changing the way consumers live. When done right, marketing can help your business grow rapidly.
Are you a business owner who wants to grow your business but doesn’t know much about marketing? Do you want to attract more customers to your business? Do you want a quick checklist of things you can do to grow your business?
This post is a part of 10 part series which takes you through the basics of small business marketing.
Ultimate Small Business Marketing Guide Overview
The 10 part guide is divided into the following sections:
- Naming, Logos & Branding
- Your Product / Service
- Marketing Planning Basics
- Online Marketing
- Advertisements
- Promotions
- Pricing
- Email Marketing
- Social Media Marketing
- Content Marketing
- Grow Your Network
- Customer Focused
- Physical Evidence
- Teaching
In this post, we start with small business branding basics.
Naming, Logos & Branding
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Have a simple name
Naming your business can be stressful. Once you choose a name, you may never be able to change it again, hence, it is very important to select a name for your business which can stand the test of time. Think of your target audience and decide what kind of name you should be looking for. Ask yourself, if the name should be something professional or fun? Should it include the details of what my business offers? How do I want people to feel when they listen to this name? Should it be a long name or a short catchy one? Once you know the answers to these questions, look for business name ideas and finalize the one which best fits your criteria.
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Create your own logo
A logo defines your company’s identity and defines what your business stands for. It’s an easily recognizable symbol which when used across communication materials, communicates ownership. A memorable logo design can quickly grab customers attention and pique their interest in the product. Hence, it is important to have a logo which distinguishes you from the competition and facilitate brand loyalty.
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Find a catchy tagline
Next step in the branding process is to create a catchy tagline which describes your unique selling points and key benefits. When the customers come across your logo, the next thing they seek is a quick description of the business which can tell them if it is what they were looking for. It helps you differentiate your brand and helps your customers in recognizing your business. When trying to create a catchy tagline for your business, write down your USPs and try to sum them in a single line of fewer than 10 words. Use this tagline in your marketing communication.
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Choose colors carefully
Colors hold a significant meaning in marketing and human psychology. Colors can help you stand out while a poor color choice can have a negative impact on your business. Colors broadly align with specific traits and aligning your colors with the type of personality you want to portray for your brand can help boost conversions. In addition, color trends for men and women are also different. Hence, depending on your target audience you can choose which colors you want to use in your logo and associate with your brand.
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Stand for something
Branding is all about figuring out what your brand stands for and what kind of values and beliefs your brand portrays. Your values are the core of what you do and how you do it. People like brands that they can relate to and the brands which have similar core beliefs as they do.
Decide what values and beliefs you want people to think of when they think about your brand, and stand for those values. All your business actions should be a reflection of what you want your brand to stand for.
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Be consistent
The consistency of your communication across channels helps in building a strong brand. When you know what your brand stands for, you should be consistent in communicating those values in your communication materials. Your logo should be printed on all materials, your designs should be in sync with your brand colors and your business name should be included across all materials. Maintaining the consistency of your brand elements will help in making them more prominent and will leave a long-lasting impact on your customer’s mind.
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Build your buyer persona
A buyer persona is a fictional representation of how your ideal customer should look like. A buyer persona can help you understand your customer’s needs and help you tailor your marketing content to their needs. When trying to create a buyer persona, try to define details like their age, demographic, lifestyle, occupation status, family status, goals, challenges, education, shopping preferences, etc. If your product/service caters to different customer segments, then you can create a buyer persona for each segment. Once your buyer persona is ready, you will understand their challenges and needs and can then tailor your marketing content according to their requirements.
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Craft your own story
Storytelling is a powerful tool for any business. A great story about your product or service can leave an everlasting impact and increase customer retention of your business. If you’re worried that you’re not a great storyteller, then don’t worry.
Every story needs 5Cs: circumstances, curiosity, characters, conversation, and conflict. So, when creating a story lay out the circumstances, set the context, generate curiosity with questions and headlines, use conversations between characters to generate the story and last but not the least generate conflict to reach a solution with your products/services.
This post was originally published on Just Creative.
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