How Branding Strategies Can Benefit Small Businesses | The Small ...

A brand is a perception that consumers form in their minds with respect to a particular product or company?s name, logo, design, color scheme or a combination of all these and branding strategies help companies to form and mold that perspective. Branding is an equally important activity in small as well as large companies. Branding has been around for centuries to distinguish one goods from the other, the only change is that in medieval Europe applying your trademark to a good was considered branding however in today?s times lot of other innovative branding strategies have evolved. A firm?s branding strategy indicate the number and nature of the branding elements which it applies to the product that it sells.

Meticulously developing brand elements through a holistic marketing approach is essential for small businesses. The likeability and the appeal of the branding elements plays a critical role in building awareness about the brand and positive associations with the customer. Brand elements include name, term, sign, symbol, color scheme, design or a combination of all. A new business should start with selecting a brand element on which they could base their further branding strategies like building trust or reinforcing it. The businesses should keep in mind that whatever brand element they choose should be memorable, meaningful, likeable, transferable, adaptable and legally protectable (trademark rights).

Branding your product especially becomes important if your business is new and relatively smaller in size. Since your competitions are already established brands therefore you need to put in some extra effort in building your own brand first. A brand gives a personality?to your product and helps the consumer identify with them. However to be noticed by the consumer, you first need to spread awareness about your product. An aggressive and quick brand awareness campaign through proactive publicity. Creating a buzz through word of mouth marketing is also an effective branding strategy for small businesses. This enables the consumer to immediately identify with a new name and all the brand attributes associated with it.

One of the most important points to keep in mind is that brand signals a certain level of quality that satisfied customers associate it with. This is true in case of both small and large business. In case of large business trust and loyalty is achieved by reinforcing the brand in consumer psyche whereas in case of small or relatively new businesses the brand has to build trust and assurance with the consumer. Small businesses should start with building trust through offering guarantee, delivering excellent customer service and providing genuine testimonials from satisfied customers so that future consumer is assured of the benefits of buying a particular brand.

Apart from the above mentioned branding strategies a business should keep in mind that branding of your product could be useless unless and until it is communicated to the consumer. The features that differentiate your product from others in the market need to be known to the consumer so that you can build a strong brand around it. Therefore branding strategies are an extremely crucial business activity for a small business and larger business alike.

Source: http://www.smallbusinesscourse.org/how-branding-strategies-can-benefit-small-businesses/

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