10 branding tips for small businesses
“Your brand is the single most important investment you can make in your business”
This quote, by none other than editor-in-chief of Forbes magazine, Steve Forbes, is a truth to live by. Building a strong, solid and confident business is no easy task, and as a small business owner, it might be overwhelming and a tough start. Here at Wepik, we get how staggering and lost it can feel, so let’s walk this road together!
Define your brand identity
First thing first, how do you define who you are? Well — let’s take a moment to breathe and analyze your business — Is it a cozy café? A professional real estate agency? Is it a luxurious enterprise or a simpler one? To summarize, what are your values?
We can go even further by asking if there is a story behind the company, any relevant colors in your scheme (the psychology behind each color), and of course, how do you want your customers to think of you. Some helpful questions can be:
- How would you describe your business in three words?
- What difference do you want to make in the industry?
- Is there a way in which you’d like your brand to be known?
At the end of the day, branding is the compilation of expectations, memories, stories and relationships that, taken together, account for a consumer’s decision to choose one product or service over another.
Find out who your customer or target audience is
How can you sell a product or service, if you don’t know who it’s aimed at? It can look like a blatantly simple thought, but there’s a lot going on behind it. One of the best ways to define yourself and get inspired is by looking at what others are doing. What makes you different from them? Is it your prices? The quality of your product or service? Your location and venue? Pick that thread and follow it!
A top tool to find and outline your ideal customers is empathy mapping! You can gain a deeper understanding as well as improving your user experience by filling an empathy map. How to use this tool? Easy — define a set of simple and forward questions with things that the user will see, say, hear and do in their world and daily life.
- See — What is your user watching, meeting or participating in? Any TV shows, movies or books that may be all the rage? Maybe launching a flyer with an Easter egg can be an eye-catching strategy!
- Say — How is your customer’s behavior? Are they speaking badly of certain attitudes or products? Praising particular activities or even social media sites? This can make you shift your focus into platforms that are way more relevant to them.
- Hear — Let’s be honest — we all gossip. What’s reaching the ears of your user? They can be influenced by coworkers, bloggers, as well as family and friends.
- Do — We’re defined by our actions, not our words. That’s why who we are is something that can be seen in our daily attitude, the places we frequent — both private and public — and our attitude depending on the environment. Take notes of that!
Understand what’s important in your industry and boost that feature. Is the location the top trait of your café? Is what your customers will value above all else? Then share it in your advertising in a bold and forward way.
If your product has the best price-performance ratio, and your clients will prioritize cost above anything else, promote this asset to stand higher than the competition!
Craft a strong tagline and slogan
A tagline is a concise and memorable phrase or slogan that plays a pivotal role in defining your brand’s identity and communicating its essence. To craft a strong tagline, start with simplicity and clarity; it should be easy to understand and free from jargon or complexity. The best taglines are succinct and to the point. It’s crucial to ensure your tagline reflects your brand’s core value and unique selling proposition, answering the fundamental question of what your business does and why it’s valuable to people.
Memorability is key—your tagline should be easy to remember and make a lasting impression on your audience. Consider taglines like Nike’s “Just Do It” or Apple’s “Think Different,” which have become iconic for their simplicity. Uniqueness is another vital element; your tagline should set your brand apart from competitors and avoid generic phrases that could apply to any business. Lastly, your tagline should align seamlessly with your brand’s mission, values, and messaging, maintaining consistency throughout your branding strategy.
Decide your brand’s storytelling and message
Words and images have power. Finding a great story or message to accompany your company is no easy task, but it’s one worth enduring. Before all else, identify your point of difference—what makes you different from your competitors? Chances are, somebody is already selling your product or service. What’s behind the scenes is the key to make your brand stand out.
This message can also be told in a visual way, with a characteristic color palette or even fonts and illustrations. After all, the power of logos remains unmatched!
Develop your brand’s guidelines
Creating comprehensive brand guidelines is an indispensable step in shaping a brand’s identity and ensuring consistency across all communication channels. These guidelines serve as a blueprint, outlining how the brand should be represented visually, tonally, and experientially. They encompass vital elements such as logo usage, color palettes, typography, imagery style, and even the brand’s tone of voice. When meticulously crafted, brand guidelines provide clarity and direction for everyone involved in brand promotion, from in-house teams to external partners and vendors.
A well-defined set of brand guidelines isn’t merely about aesthetics; it’s about the lasting impression your brand leaves on its audience. By consistently adhering to these guidelines, your brand presents itself cohesively and professionally, making it easily recognizable and memorable. Whether a customer encounters your website, social media posts, printed materials, or any other touchpoint, the visual and tonal consistency reinforces your brand’s identity, creating a sense of trust and reliability.
This consistency isn’t just cosmetic; it resonates with the audience on a subconscious level, allowing your brand to occupy a permanent place in their memory. Over time, your audience associates the visual elements, messaging, and overall brand experience with your business. In a world inundated with information and choices, being memorable and creating a strong brand presence is a significant competitive advantage. Brand guidelines empower your business to achieve this by providing a clear roadmap to effectively and consistently engage your audience, making them not just customers but brand advocates who readily recall and recommend your offerings.
Create your brand’s visuals and marketing materials
Humans are visual creatures. We rely on our eyes and perception to trust and follow up with what surrounds us. That’s why good design can be way more effective than what we normally credit it! To start setting up your brand identity, you’re going to need:
Logos
In addition to being necessary to set your small company apart from the competition, a good logo serves as the essence of your company. Your logo is essential to a brand’s identification since it embodies the main principles and goals that will draw in potential clients. Hence, you need a trustworthy logo for your business that can increase brand recognition.
Business cards
Giving out business cards is a common gesture in the corporate world. Wouldn’t it make you feel a lot more comfortable if the design you shared fully embodied your brand? With a polished and attractive design, it could showcase your company’s personality and corporate image in addition to giving all the necessary information about it, such as email, phone number, and address.
Find more Business Card Templates
Brochures
The ability to condense a lot of information into a brief document is indeed a great benefit of using brochures as a business owner. You also can describe your products and services in the flaps, both inside and out, especially if they have a folding design! For this, brochures can offer more information than other printouts like flyers, postcards, and letters.
You can convey the idea that your company is established and ready to print and distribute materials in order to reach out to potential customers by using produced designs. Let’s keep it a secret, but it’s also a very cost-effective technique!
Flyers
A solid flyer is essential to any successful marketing campaign you develop for your business; it must be legible and appealing to draw attention at first sight. According to a survey, up to 80% of participants said they retain knowledge better when reading it on paper. It’s one of the least expensive ways to keep current customers happy and attract new ones, and studies have shown that they increase brand engagement.
Social media
Information and uses surrounding social media platforms are already the most important data source used to guide company decisions. Eighty-five percent of participants concur that social data will dominate corporate intelligence in the future. That’s why sharing your brand via Facebook posts, Instagram posts, Twitter headers or even YouTube banners is great for reaching your potential audience with quality content.
Find more Coffee Shop Instagram Story Templates
Establish yourself as an expert in your field
Now that we know that Wepik is the perfect tool to design and create strong visuals in a professional-looking way, it’s your time to profile and personalize your brand image and communications to make your business look as one commanded by experts in the field.
This may look like an impossible task, but as we’ve already seen, pre-made templates are the solution! With our selection of multiple formats, all your advertisements and announcements can be found on Wepik in the shape of incredible customizable designs.
Look for partnership opportunities
No man is an island, and that’s why no business should! Finding a similar company or enterprise to work with can be a great strategy to position yourself within a wider audience, which can translate into higher market sales figures. It’s not an easy path, though, not all companies are compatible and not all partnerships start off on the right foot.
But enduring and undergoing as many as you can, will be a great lesson to absorb and consider as your business grows.
Offer the best experience to your customers!
There is only one boss, the customer! That’s why your business has to offer and share the best image and brand possible. Clients will judge not only based on their opinion of your products, but on the impression you project, the quality of your advertisements and, of course, how professional and cohesive your communications are. That is why many companies use CRM software to improve customer interactions.
Monitor, analyze and adapt
In the dynamic landscape of modern business, the ability to collect, analyze, and derive insights from data is nothing short of a superpower. For both online and offline businesses, data-driven decision-making has become the linchpin of success. By tracking and monitoring key performance indicators (KPIs), businesses gain a profound understanding of customer behavior, market trends, and operational efficiency.
Online businesses, for instance, can leverage website analytics to uncover user preferences, track conversion rates, and optimize user experiences, ultimately driving higher sales and customer satisfaction. For offline businesses, point-of-sale data, foot traffic patterns, and inventory management can be revolutionized through data insights, helping reduce costs and streamline operations.
Moreover, the ability to respond proactively to market shifts or emerging trends can mean the difference between seizing opportunities and falling behind. Whether it’s shaping marketing campaigns, enhancing product offerings, or refining supply chain logistics, data-driven decisions are the bedrock of staying competitive and achieving sustainable growth. In essence, data isn’t just information; it’s a compass that guides businesses toward more efficient, customer-centric, and profitable paths.
Your small business is ready to have a fresh and new vision that will improve its position, sales and market presence — and the best part? It’ll be free and ready in no time! Open Wepik and start selecting the templates that suit your business best, personalize and save them to re-use on future occasions, and download them as many times as you need!
Only on Wepik you can present your small business in a way that will stand out effortlessly and without spending any money, so what are you waiting for?
