The personality of a business is conveyed through branding. And it is of the utmost importance to brand your business well, as you want the consumer to understand who the brand is and its values and mission so that they know and understand what they are buying into. In a increasingly digital world, with the presence of so many social media networking sites, having a clear branding strategy is even more critical in order to stand out from the multitude of brands present online and offline.
So, how can you make a small business stand out in 2022? What branding strategies do you need to implement to clearly and consistently showcase your brand message and identity?
Creating a solid brand with a powerful identity and personality is how you can get consumers’ attention. A brand’s ethos is defined as the collection of that brand’s traits, values, mission and vision, the culture within and around it, as well as the community it embraces. Therefore, when you create a small business – and a larger organization as well – it is crucial you define your brand’s ethos and build a brand that is relatable and relevant to consumers nowadays. Only with branding strategies can you make a small business stand out.
Looking at why branding is necessary, the numbers show everything you need to know, given that more than 70% of brand managers think that building an audience is vital, and to do so, it is crucial to present the brand well. What’s more, the consistent representation of a brand on all its social media platforms can generate revenue, with as much as a 23% increase.
Therefore, there is no denying the importance of solid branding strategies. If you have a small business at the beginning of its journey, here are five helpful branding tips to adopt in 2022.
Find out Your Brand’s Personality
When it comes to developing your brand’s personality and identity, the first question that should come to mind is “who is the brand?”. Based on this, you can start unfolding your business’ traits and values. Something worth mentioning is that this can be a lengthy process, as it takes a bit of introspection and inspection until you have a clear idea of who you are as a brand and what it stands for.
But during this process, there are more questions you can use as the underlying method of discovering and defining the brand identity. Some of these helpful questions are as follows:
- How would you describe your business in four words?
- What do I want my company to stand for?
- What are the company’s values and goals?
- What is the ultimate mission of the company?
All these questions mentioned above can help you define the brand’s ethos and identity. It isn’t surprising that more questions emerge from these, like what you could do differently to change something in your industry. The more you discover and decide on the brand’s values, traits, and mission, the better equipped you are to embed them into the business and its culture.
Develop the Brand’s Visuals
It is of the utmost importance to develop the brand’s image in line with its identity. Under no circumstance should you underestimate how vital a brand’s visuals are for strengthening its identity and becoming recognizable to its audience.
If you have done the previous step of finding out the brand’s personality and have a clear idea of the brand identity, creating the visuals won’t be difficult. However, it can be a challenge, given that you need to create graphics and visuals that align with what the brand stands for. This means that the logo, color palette, website, and social media accounts must be cohesive. Otherwise, people can get confused about what is truly the brand identity.
Go For What Is Memorable, Not Modern
Branding can be a complex process. It is common for some businesses to end up overcomplicating their branding methods and strategies in an attempt to be as modern and relevant as possible. However, there are cases when this does more harm than good. For instance, brands such as Gap have tried refreshing their logos, giving their audience new and updated versions.
But the response was more negative, as they discovered people prefer a memorable brand instead of a modern one that only follows trends. Indeed, risks are necessary in any business and, sometimes, you need to take these calculated risks. The takeaway would be to stay true to yourself as a brand and only go for what is memorable.
Curate and Update the Brand’s Online Presence
While it is vital to put the brand first when building its identity, it is of the utmost importance to think about the customer once you have clearly defined your brand image. Curating an online presence is how you can effectively reach your audience nowadays, so existing on social media platforms is a must.
Experts from the digital agency dpdk.com point out that “a brand should create a solid online presence on social media, given that most consumers are using at least two social media platforms. What’s more, once you have created the accounts on relevant platforms, the content part of the brand’s online presence should be consistent and in line with the brand’s traits and identity. This is how you build the brand image”.
Hire Influencers Who Align with the Brand’s Values
Hiring a micro-influencer could be effective for a small business trying to stand out in 2022. These digital content creators have become so influential – hence the name – in today’s climate. They are seen as experts in their fields but also the type of people customers can relate to and interact with better. For this reason, you should consider hiring a micro-influencer who doesn’t have an immense follower base, making them more accessible.
If you know your brand identity well, you can find an influencer who shares the same values and mission. This way, the partnership has more chances of success, and customers will be curious to find out more.
Last but not least, you should get involved with social and environmental causes, and not be afraid to take a stand, as people are more and more aware of how urgent this is. Collaborating with an influencer who is as involved as your business is an effective method of getting known and standing out, drawing the attention of today’s consumers.
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