Brand Your Way to Success

Everything a small business does brands itself. Everything we say or do brands us as worthy resources … or not. But, the marketplace really determines our brand. It’s what they really think of us. It’s why they buy from us rather than the competition. It’s their reaction to what we communicate as our value proposition.

So, to effectively communicate your small business brand, consider:

  • Accurately describe your Value Proposition – what you do through the lens of who benefits from what you do. You don’t ‘fix computers’, you ‘solve technology problems for small businesses.’ You may need help with the specific details from colleagues, or even better, from customers.
  • Be specific. Many small businesses provide lots of different products or services. Identify what you do best, sell the most and produces the most revenue … and profit. This narrowing of scope doesn’t limit your appeal, it makes it much easier for the marketplace to remember what you can do for them.
  • If your company name no longer communicates that value proposition – or never did – time to consider re-branding. What makes more sense – ‘The Andrew Peters Group, Inc.’ or ‘Tech Solutions, Inc.’?

Read more

Branding on a Budget

Are you trying to promote your brand on a tight budget? Well then, it’s time to get creative with ways to get lots of free positive exposure. The concept of ‘target marketing’ requires you to precisely define and describe your ideal customers with specific demographic details – those who really need your products or services, value your approach to it, love your style, will always pay full price for it and will easily evolve into raving fans.

Read more

Branding on a Budget

Last month’s feature on the always hot topic of Branding generated even more reader reaction and questions. One of them asked about branding on a tight budget. My comments: Time to get creative with ways to get lots of free positive exposure. The concept of ‘target market’ weaves throughout my comments below. It requires you … Read more