How to Build a Brand

Special Report: How to Build a Brand

Many small businesses become successful at selling stuff but can’t seem to take it to the next level. Why? They have yet to build a brand. Building a brand is what all small business owners need to strive for to get noticed, gain recognition, repeat business, and enjoy the next level of success. Merely selling products or services isn't sufficient for long-term success. Small business owners must transcend transactional relationships and cultivate a distinctive brand to stand out amidst fierce competition. 

Building a brand fosters customer loyalty, enhances perceived value, and differentiates businesses from their rivals. Brand building goes beyond mere marketing or advertising efforts; it involves shaping every aspect of the brand's interactions with its target audience to convey a consistent message, evoke specific emotions, and differentiate it from competitors. Having a strong customer base for your product or service is important, yet the better route is to become a brand name that is recognized everywhere.  More opportunities will come to your business once you create an established brand. Here are 18 strategies to empower small business owners to transition from selling stuff to building a compelling brand:

1. Define Your Brand Identity: Begin by defining your brand's essence. Define your unique attributes like your mission, values, and personality. Then, be specific about your visual elements, such as logo, colors, typography, and imagery. Establishing a clear brand identity forms the foundation for all of your branding.

2. Develop Your Unique Value Proposition (UVP): Assess the competitive landscape to identify gaps and opportunities. Think through what sets your business apart from your competitors. Determine your unique benefits: Identify the unique benefits or advantages that your product, service, or brand offers. How do you want customers to perceive your brand?

3. Develop a Tagline: What catchphrase are you using to describe your company or product? When you brand yourself, you must keep it consistent. I’m branded as Melinda Emerson, “SmallBizLady,” America’s #1 1 Small Business Expert.  Use the same language in everything that you do, and the marketplace will understand and embrace your branding, and you'll become known for it.

4. Know Your Audience: You should deeply understand your target audience's demographics, preferences, and pain points. Conduct thorough market research to uncover insights into buyer behavior and industry trends. Tailor your brand messaging and offerings to resonate with your audience's needs and aspirations.

5. Brand Awareness: Increasing visibility and recognition of the brand among target audiences through strategic marketing initiatives, including advertising campaigns, public relations, live events, quiz marketing, content marketing, and social media engagement.

6. Brand Positioning: Determine how your brand is perceived relative to competitors and craft a positioning strategy that highlights your distinctive advantages and benefits. Develop clear and compelling messaging that communicates the brand's value proposition, story, and key messages to your target audiences.

7. Build a Strong Online Presence: Leverage digital platforms to amplify your brand's reach and visibility. Establish a robust online presence through an engaging website, active social media presence, and content marketing efforts. Cultivate a community around your brand and engage with customers authentically.

8. Build Your Visual Brand: Invest in professional graphic design to create visually compelling assets that reflect your brand's personality and values. Develop a cohesive visual brand identity encompassing logos, color schemes, typography, and imagery that resonate with your target audience.

9. Craft a Compelling Brand Storytelling: Storytelling is an essential tool for forging emotional connections with customers. Share the narrative behind your brand—its origins, values, and aspirations. Create authentic, engaging stories that captivate audiences and foster brand affinity.

10. Use Consistent Branding Across All Touchpoints: Ensure consistency in branding across all touchpoints, including your website, social media, packaging, customer service, and in-store experiences. Maintain uniformity in visual elements, messaging, and tone of voice to reinforce brand recognition and trust.

11. Deliver Exceptional Customer Experience: Prioritize delivering exceptional customer experiences at every interaction point. From pre-sales inquiries to post-purchase support, aim to exceed customer expectations. Personalize interactions, listen to feedback and resolve issues promptly to nurture long-term relationships.

12. Increase Brand Visibility: Speaking engagements and sponsoring giveaways at events or media appearances are some great options if you do not have the budget for traditional advertising. The more you get your name out there, the more you’ll become a recognized brand.  Plus, the upside to speaking engagements and media is they are both implied endorsements.  While advertising offers visibility, the downside is that anyone can purchase an ad.


13. Focus on Quality and Innovation: Elevate your offerings by prioritizing quality and innovation. Continuously refine and enhance your products or services to deliver superior value to customers. Innovate in response to evolving market demands and stay ahead of the competition.

14. Encourage Authentic Brand Advocacy: Cultivate brand advocates among satisfied customers, employees, and influencers. Encourage user-generated content, testimonials, and reviews that showcase authentic experiences with your brand. Foster a sense of belonging and community among brand enthusiasts.

15. Build Brand Partnerships: Once you build a brand, you can attract corporate brand deals. The more key partnerships you build both inside and outside of your core area of expertise, the more opportunities will come your way.  In the digital age, this is becoming even easier thanks to social media platforms, blogs, and other online sites like TikTok and YouTube.


16. Expand Your Product Line: Don’t just offer a service; turn it into a product. A brand extension leverages the equity, recognition, and reputation of the established brand to introduce offerings related to the original product or service line. This strategy enables businesses to diversify their revenue streams, reach new customer segments, and maximize the value of their brand assets. If your core business is interior design, you could license a line of kitchens, furniture, hypoallergenic bedding, and bath decor. Get creative and see what products you can develop. You can enter new markets while maintaining coherence with the core brand identity and values.


17. Be Persistent: It’s called brand building for a reason: it takes time, and your foundation must be based on expertise in a core area.  We all want it to happen overnight and to be the next big thing. But it takes a lot of persistence and years to build real customer loyalty.  If it’s rushed or faked, people will see right through it.  If done correctly, you’ll have a loyal following that will support your business over time.


18. Stay True to Your Brand Promise: Uphold the integrity of your brand by consistently delivering on your brand promise. Ensure alignment between your actions, values, and messaging. Build trust and credibility by demonstrating reliability, transparency, and accountability in all business dealings.

The Biggest Mistakes Entrepreneurs Make When It Comes to Branding 

This is an excerpt from my recent interview with USA Today. They asked me to provide practical advice to aspiring entrepreneurs on branding techniques to stand out in the marketplace. 

Effective brand building requires a deep understanding of the target audience, market dynamics, and competitive landscape. It involves ongoing monitoring, analysis, and adaptation to changing consumer preferences and market trends. Ultimately, successful brand building results in a strong, differentiated, and resonant brand that commands customer loyalty, drives sales, and sustains long-term business growth. By implementing these strategies, small business owners can transcend the transactional mindset and embark on a journey toward building a formidable brand presence. Embrace the power of branding to forge deeper connections with customers, foster loyalty, and propel your business toward sustained success in the marketplace.

I was interviewed by USA Today recently about my advice for small businesses with branding. I thought you would enjoy this interview too. 

USA Today: What are the biggest mistakes entrepreneurs make when it comes to branding their business?

Melinda Emerson: Small businesses market their brand too broadly, which is the biggest problem. If everyone can use your product or service, no one will. Don’t be generic with your small business; be specific in your branding. Speak to your target customer. Your brand should say what you and your business are about. I’m the “SmallBizLady.” My mission is to end #smallbiz failure



USA Today: Can a business be marketed effectively without a strong brand?

Melinda Emerson: I do not think a small business stands a chance without a strong brand. Your brand is everything you do, including how you dress, who answers your phone, and whether you are always late. Your brand is also your website, which is your welcome mat for your small business. You must make sure it’s tight and helpful.  How you conduct yourself on social media makes a brand statement, too. Is it clear who your customers are from your content? If not, that is a problem.

USA Today: What steps should entrepreneurs take to identify and define their brand?

Melinda Emerson: First, they need to define their target customer. Then, they need to carve out a specific niche and secret sauce to stand out. The niche can be geographical, product-specific, or based on a segment of your target customer. If your target is women, it can be tweens, young adults, single moms, professional women, soccer moms, or baby boomers. Just pick one. 

USA Today: What are the signs of a well-defined brand?

Melinda Emerson: When you become top of mind to anyone who needs what you do, your brand is well-defined. When you stop needing to explain what you do or what your logo “really” stands for, your brand is well-defined. When you get customer calls, and you are no longer selling but talking budget and availability, your brand is well-defined. 

USA Today: How does branding relate to a business's broader marketing strategy?

Melinda Emerson: Marketing starts with a well-defined brand. You must first know who you want to speak to in the marketplace.

Then you develop your sales goals; now you know I tell my reader to only focus on 30-day sales goals. So you can focus on weekly goals. Once you have your weekly sales goal, you design your marketing tactics to meet your weekly goal. How many calls, emails, tweets, handwritten notes, and networking events do you need to attend each week to generate your sales goals? Your marketing strategy should be tied to measurable results. If a marketing tactic is not measurable, it’s useless. But keep in mind that you must have a realistic goal. When you start using social media, it's not going to start raining money on your business immediately. It took me 18 months of daily tweets to get noticed and respected. 

USA Today: What marketing tools should be in every entrepreneur's tool kit? 

Melinda Emerson: Every entrepreneur's marketing toolkit should include a mix of essential tools to help them reach their target audience, build brand awareness, and drive sales. Here are some must-have marketing tools:

A website is essential for establishing an online presence and showcasing products or services. Email marketing software tools like Mailchimp, Aweber, or HubSpot allow entrepreneurs to create and send email campaigns, manage subscriber lists, and track email performance metrics. Email marketing is an effective way to nurture leads and engage with customers. Social media scheduling tools like Buffer help entrepreneurs manage their social media accounts more efficiently by scheduling posts, monitoring mentions, and analyzing performance metrics across multiple platforms. Content Creation Tools like Canva or Adobe Spark enable entrepreneurs to create visually appealing graphics, infographics, and other multimedia content for their marketing campaigns, social media posts, and websites. SEO tools like SEMrush, Moz, or SpyFu provide insights into website traffic, keyword rankings, and competitor analysis. Understanding SEO is crucial for improving online visibility and driving organic traffic to your website.

Every small business needs customer relationship management (CRM) software like Insightly, Pipedrive, or Nimble. This software helps entrepreneurs organize customer data, track interactions, and manage relationships with leads and customers throughout the sales process. Leverage analytics tools like Google Analytics, Facebook Insights, or LinkedIn Analytics provide valuable data and insights into website traffic, user behavior, and campaign performance. Analyzing this data helps entrepreneurs make informed decisions and optimize their marketing strategies. Another valuable resource is customer feedback and survey tools like SurveyMonkey, Typeform, or Google Forms. These allow entrepreneurs to collect feedback from customers, conduct market research, and gather insights to improve products, services, and marketing strategies.

USA Today: What social media tools offer the biggest ROI for a small business?

Melinda Emerson: The social media tools that offer the biggest return on investment (ROI) for a small business depend on various factors such as the business goals, target audience, industry, and budget. However, some social media tools are widely recognized for their effectiveness in helping small businesses reach their marketing objectives and generate a positive ROI. Here are a few:

Buffer:

Buffer is a popular social media management platform that allows small businesses to schedule posts, analyze performance metrics, and manage multiple social media accounts from one dashboard. It offers features for content planning, publishing, and engagement, helping businesses save time and streamline their social media efforts.

Canva:

Canva is a user-friendly graphic design tool that allows small businesses to create high-quality visuals for their social media posts, ads, and marketing materials. With a wide range of templates, fonts, and images, Canva makes it easy for businesses to design professional-looking graphics without the need for advanced design skills or expensive software.

Mailchimp:

While primarily known for email marketing, Mailchimp also offers social media management features that allow small businesses to schedule and share content across social networks, track engagement, and integrate social media with their email marketing campaigns. It's an all-in-one platform for businesses looking to streamline their digital marketing efforts and drive results across multiple channels.

Google Analytics:

While not exclusively a social media tool, Google Analytics is essential for measuring the impact of social media efforts on website traffic, conversions, and revenue. By tracking social media referrals, user behavior, and conversion goals, small businesses can assess the effectiveness of their social media campaigns and make data-driven decisions to improve ROI.

Ultimately, the best social media tools for a small business are those that align with its specific goals, audience, and resources, allowing it to manage its social media presence efficiently, engage with its audience, and achieve measurable results.

USA Today:  What are the top 3 priorities for entrepreneurs who want to drive sales for their small business? 



Melinda Emerson: For entrepreneurs looking to drive sales for their small businesses, focusing on the following three priorities can be highly effective:

Understanding the Target Audience: Entrepreneurs should prioritize an in-depth understanding of their target audience. This involves researching their demographics, preferences, pain points, and buying behaviors. By gaining a clear understanding of their target audience, entrepreneurs can tailor their marketing messages, product offerings, and sales strategies to resonate with potential customers effectively.

Creating a Strong Value Proposition: A compelling value proposition is essential for attracting customers and driving sales. Entrepreneurs should clearly communicate the unique benefits and value their products or services offer to customers. This involves identifying the key features, advantages, and benefits that differentiate their offerings from competitors and addressing the specific needs or problems of their target audience. A strong value proposition helps to position the business as the preferred choice in the market and encourages customers to make a purchase.

Implementing Effective Marketing and Sales Strategies: Entrepreneurs should focus on implementing marketing and sales strategies that effectively reach and engage their target audience. This may involve a combination of tactics such as digital marketing, content marketing, social media marketing, email marketing, search engine optimization (SEO), and pay-per-click (PPC) advertising. Additionally, entrepreneurs should prioritize building relationships with customers through personalized communication, exceptional customer service, and loyalty programs. By consistently promoting their products or services through the right channels and engaging with customers effectively, entrepreneurs can drive sales and build a loyal customer base.

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