When they see your brand – be it on an advert in a magazine, social media or a business card – they must instantly know that the brand stands for you.

Branding is non-negotiable

The brand that you develop for your company is your calling card. It shows that people can trust you and are assured of the product or service that they will get when they go to you.

Think about Coca-Cola. They have developed a rock-solid brand strategy and ethos that is symbolised by the red label and font that they use for the writing on their bottles. People will seek out the Coca-Cola brand and will go to great lengths to do so.

As a small business owner, you want this brand power. You need to make your customers feel that if your product and/or service is not available at a particular location – they must want to actively seek it out – whatever it costs. That is the power of the brand and why it’s essential for you to have a brand for your business.

Brand-building essentials

Yes, a key component of a brand is indeed a logo and a slogan. You can’t conduct any successful branding campaign without it. 

As a small business owner, there are a couple of essentials that you need to know about the right way you should be building your brand. To start off with, your brand must fit in with your business objectives

Before you even start picking out the colour palette you want to use for your logo, sit down and brainstorm what the objectives of your business are. For example, if you’re operating a copywriting consultancy ...

Think about your goals, and ask yourself the following:

  • Do you want to retain a core of customers that you consistently produce high-quality copy for?
  • Do you want to expand your reach and offer the same services to others?
  • When someone hears your name or sees your logo, what is the first thing that you want them to think of?
The answers to these questions must be reflected in the brand that you build.

Get a professional designer

As a business owner, you want to portray professionalism to your customers and potential clients so that they will trust you to deliver a professional product and/or service.

The first interaction that many will have with your brand is your logo and website. These must be clean, crisp and sophisticated. To make this a reality, we suggest that you hire a professional graphic designer who will be able to interpret your ideas and thoughts and deliver a superior product.

Be consistent

Every interaction that the public has with your brand needs to be consistent and deliver the highest quality of service that you started out with on day one. Do not let your brand message be articulated differently every time your brand is mentioned. This will confuse customers and will ultimately lead them to look elsewhere.

A brand for your business can mean the difference between make or break for your company. "This means that you need to be the custodian for your brand and make sure that it is managed correctly. If necessary, we recommend that you study a brand management course, which will give you a solid grounding in how to cultivate your brand," says Lisa Schneider: managing director of the Digital School of Marketing

For more information, visit www.digitalschoolofmarketing.co.za or contact [email protected]. You can also follow DSM on Facebook, Twitter or on Instagram.