Brand Identity for Small Business

​By Julee Klein, Marketing Consultant & President​

Cut through the clutter with a clear brand identity for your small business.

Running a small business is like a never-ending game of whack-a-mole. New business owners face many challenges on all fronts. As a result, it can be difficult for small business owners to get in the marketplace and distinguish themselves from the competition – or maintain their competitive advantage. Effectively and consistently presenting your business to your market and drawing the right, positive attention to your products and services is imperative. 

Simply developing a logo is not a enough. You need a clear and consistent brand identity.

A memorable brand identity will help your small business.

By establishing a strong brand identity, you’ll grow and strengthen awareness of your company and its products and services and become recognizable, and more importantly memorable, by both your online and offline communities in the marketplace.

In the marketing industry there's a very old-school marketing maxim called "The Rule of Seven"  - a theory that a customer has to see or hear your marketing message at least seven times before they'll take action. But given today's cluttered social media platforms, marketing industry experts believe that it takes even more engagement to inspire a customer to take action. So what happens if your branding is weak and/or inconsistent? You'll definitely reduce your chances that the intended action will be taken - even after seven or more touchpoints.

A strong brand identity is emblematic of your company’s core values and can help demonstrate your brand’s mission. A strong brand identity aids in developing loyalty to your brand and in decisions to choose your products and services over competitors’.

The folks at CUSTOMlabels.net  have put together this helpful overview of the key elements and best practices for creating an effective brand identity for a small business:

customlabels.net

Consistency is key when it comes to branding.

Once you’ve established your business’ brand identity, apply that look-and-feel consistently across everything your company does, and every customer or client interaction. Create brand identity guidelines so each member of your team knows how to correctly apply your brand’s identity. This is the easiest way to ensure consistency on social media, on your website, in your physical office or shop, and in external communications such as advertising, signage, and other marketing opportunities. 

Bonus tip: Use an online design tool to ensure brand consistency.

If you use a design tool such as Canva for Work or Design Wizard, you can create a brand color palette, select your brand’s default fonts, and upload your existing brand assets like logo, images, and icons. This will help ensure that marketing team members stay “on-brand” visually when creating marketing assets, advertising, and social media graphics for your company.

Here's a peek at the color palette tool in Design Wizard:

And here's a look at the how you can set up your brand identity in Canva:

Once your company is “dressed” in your brand identity, keep showing up to the dance!

​Once you begin to see your company’s colors, logo, signage, and social media presence all look and feel the same, you’ll begin to see an increase in your brand recognition and engagement. Be sure to continue to “show up to the dance” and keep engaging with your customers and communities, both online on social media and offline at events and sponsorships. All of those interactions and engagements, along with your great-looking brand,  will help drive sales. 

Resources:

1. CUSTOMlabels.net
2. Canva for Work​
3. Design Wizard

Brand it.

Editor's note: JKM is not an affiliate of CUSTOMlabels.net, Canva, nor Design Wizard and has not received compensation for mentioning these marketing resources in our blog. 

By Julee Klein, Marketing Consultant & President​

Julee Klein is the President of Julee Klein Marketing LLC, a full-service digital marketing agency based in Morgan Hill, California. JKM is focused on serving small business owners in the greater Silicon Valley area. You can get in touch with Julee on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram @JKMktg

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