Brand marketing - can it be simplified to make it relevant for a small business?

Posted: Dec 05, 2011
Author: WordJack Media

Have you ever been involved in the process of defining and brand identity for your business? Unless you work in an organization with a big marketing department, big ad budget or prized consumer brand, the answer will probably be no!

In fact, unless you have worked in brand marketing, it probably never occurred to you that a brand should and could get so much thought! Check out this brand identity book for "Santa", as a brand. Then imagine the layers with which you could define and shape a brand if you had the budget & resources, and branding was a critical success area for your business.

Now let's take it down a notch!

Firstly, let me be clear that strong brand definition is really important and key to the success of a lot of the successful consumer brands out there (think Nike, Coke, Apple, Ford, Samsung). But let's not try to drink from a firehose here! Read through this 4 point check/question list and think about your small business brand:

1. do you have a logo that you use consistently (think about whether you have a few that you use interchangeably, change colors, re-shape, crop, stretch it, etc)
2. what's one word you want people to think of when they hear your business/brand name?
3. what's the one word you NEVER want people to associate with your brand?
4. if your brand was a person, describe them (gender, age, clothing, confident, funny, serious, loud, formal, honest, most-often-says)

Then, after reading these points, ask yourself 2 questions:

Do I care how my customers would see my brand in these 4 areas?

Is everything my business does in line with my answers to these 4 points? (think about how you answer the phone, how you respond to questions, how you handle complaints, the employees you hire).

What have I missed? What's your key tip for small business branding that you would rate as critical above all others?