10 Branding Strategies Helpful For Small Businesses

10 Branding Strategies Helpful For Small Businesses

Many small business owners and entrepreneurs have a stigma that only big companies like McDonald’s and Disney can do branding. “It costs a lot of money,” they believe.

But that is not entirely true. Brand building is a must for everybody, and it doesn’t have to be too expensive. Especially in the age of global business digital transformation, there are plenty of things you can incorporate to make your business memorable.

These are some branding strategies that can help your small business create a memorable brand.

1. Don’t Try To Please Everyone

Target your customer. Don’t try to become popular or loved by everyone. Your audience is what matters.

Identify your audience that will stick to your brand.

If your company is an expert in hand-crafted shoes, then you aren’t going to please the person who loves to buy factory-made shoes from sales at a cheap rate.

Take your time and analyze what your brand’s strength is, and do your best to amplify it. I am sure that you will find your brand ambassadors waiting for you.

2. Be Human

Human beings eagerly connect to human beings, not faceless brands.

The best example I can give you is NASA. People generally consider NASA to be a suffy, nerdy organization, but decidedly fewer people know that it also has a human side. During the world trailer premiere of Avengers: End Game, they tweeted a solution to Marvel Studios to rescue Tony Stark, who was seen drifting in outer space.

That tweet gave a human side to NASA. 

3. Take Advantage of Live Events

Becoming THE SOURCE of knowledge in your niche is one of the best ways to create a strong brand.

And one of the most effective ways to become the source of knowledge is hosting events. These don’t have to be in-person events (unless you are a local business, in which case meeting with your customers in real life is always a good idea).

Hosting virtual and video events is both doable and effective for building your brand. Hosting live educational events positions your brand as being dependable and generous with advice.

vcita, a small business management app, offers a solid functionality to create, host, and market live events. You can either use the app’s native Zoom integration or whatever live social video format – Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and Twitter – to host your events.

vcita helps with creating a landing page, promotion and broadcasting your event. The platform provides tools to invite segments of your existing audience, and to follow up with registrants, after an event has ended.

4. Connect With Your Peers and Competitors

Always share the market with others, as there is room for all the brands. Rather than working solo, collaborate with other small businesses. Co-host events to market your product to a large audience and to build a strong brand appearance.

Follow the rule: think, meet, mingle, and work together.

5. Go for Micro-Moments

Statistics suggest that in the United States, shoppers spend nearly 5 hours of the day on their smartphones, checking their social media at least 17 times a day.

Google recognizes the potential of active users and utilizes it for knowing consumer’s behavior. They deliver a marketing message to the user precisely and briefly in a compelling manner within seconds.

This method conveys a message in a crystal clear manner when the consumer needs it. The logic behind this approach is that people always make a hasty decision during certain situations like choosing a restaurant or ordering the food.

It will be a decisive way for businesses to implement this mode to pitch the perfect advertisement according to the user’s activity and to boost their brand appearance.

6. Make Employees Your Brand Ambassadors

During the early phase of your business, having a dedicated brand ambassador is not a good option as it will take out a chunk of your capital. Rather than employing someone, let your employees embody your brand as they are often on the front line with the customers.

A wise man once said,

“Even the best branding strategy does not influence if all the things exist only on paper.”

Try to make each employee internalize and embody the essence of the brand. It will be easier for them to pitch the brand to the audience.

7. Use Your Logo Everywhere. EVERYWHERE!

One good thing to learn from big companies is that they always do their promotions by adding a logo to their merchandise.

Even if the stuff is too small, try to market your brand by showing off your logo.

The best example I can give is of McDonald’s. They never sell a single item without having their logo on it. It is one of the great ways to build brand recognition as people can recognize the brands easily which have visual appeal.

For small businesses, use this business name generator that comes with free logo for any name you find:

Here are also lots of awesome logo mockups to put your brand everywhere!

8. Don’t Try To Mimic The Look Of Chains or Big Brands

To stand out as a brand, it is essential that you have an innovative and unique idea. Imitating the success formula of a big company can cost you a lot of money, and it is not even guaranteed that it will be successful for you.

Try and carve out your distinctive way to attract customers. The key to customers’ eyes is to be original and authentic. Create a strategy that aligns with customers’ feelings, not mimics your competitors.

Airbnb is one such brand which utilizes the emotions of the human in their advertisements. In their advertisement “Breaking Down Walls,” they show the journey of a family. It was a heart touching story which helped them to elevate their sales and enhance their reach.

9. Utilize Social Platforms

Advertise yourself on social media to gain publicity. Start being active on social platforms like Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, etc. And post about your brand. It can be anything.

Try out showing behind-the-scenes videos and images about how you build your product, or you can also do podcasts to show the events that you have hosted. Such small strategies can do a lot for a company who has a small fanbase.

10. Give Back To The Community

Giving back to the community is a great way to build an authentic and ethical organization.

Organize or join local events to showcase your product or service that will provide a viable solution to people’s problems.

Many brands come up with innovative ideas to visit orphanages and hospitals to teach kids about the latest technology and gadgets. Such a small step makes a business memorable.

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay