The Value of A Brand - Part II - Business
- Audell Scarlett
- Dec 9, 2018
- 4 min read
This is part two of my article about branding. This time we are going to focus on branding as it relates to business.
Let’s play a game of word association. When I say the following names what comes to mind? Nike, Gucci, Geico, Shake Shack? No doubt those all probably elicit a very particular reaction and thoughts. You can probably picture their logo or envision clips of their commercials in your mind. Indeed, these brands have spent decades educating us on what they are all about. They take their branding very serious and spare no expense in promoting themselves. These are the easiest examples, but what about the small business owner who doesn’t have a multimillion dollar marketing budget?
Well the great thing is that in today’s marketplace technology has really leveled the playing field drastically and has allowed smaller businesses to compete for the eyes, ears and hearts of consumers. Platforms like Facebook and Instagram, just to name a few, have really created powerful marketing tools for all businesses to leverage in their pursuit of customers.
An important step to creating a successful brand for your business is to create a name that is not only relevant but also memorable. A name can be the difference between a customer wanting to learn more about your services or them skipping on to your competitors. "David’s Dental Office" may sound appropriate but “Happy Smiles” sounds much more interesting. Just be sure that once you have chosen a name you like it, rebranding is not always easy and almost certainly very costly.
I think it's important to highlight a fact that I believe often gets overlooked in business creation. Make sure your business name is available as a domain name. Check one of the popular sites such as Go Daddy, Square Space or Wix. It's also important to check the name availability on popular social media sites such as Instagram or Twitter. Social media is as important as having a website, this is how you will communicate with your potential and existing customers on a daily basis. Your website will primarily exist as a summary of your overall business and your storefront if you sell a product online. You want to have a similar name on all platforms.
The next thing to consider is how competitive is the landscape in which you plan to operate? If for example, you make a product that is very difficult to duplicate and there are only a few other competitors that can make a product of similar quality you will naturally have less competition. In this instance your marketing budget and strategies will be more nuanced. You will spend much of your time simply highlighting the benefits of your products and introducing it to customers. If it is of good quality and inelastic in demand, it will sell.
If on the other hand, your product has many substitutes readily available to the masses then your marketing budget and tactics will have to be much more strategic (think of a pizza shop in NYC). The goal here would be much more geared to towards reminding your customers why you’re the person they should buy their product or services from. You will have to engage social media and other advertising channels much more vigorously in order to not only introduce your product but also drive customer retention.
This may sound very challenging but in fact, as I’ve mentioned, this is quite easy to achieve today with the help of social media platforms such as Facebook or Instagram. If done right, social media marketing can be successfully integrated into your business. When you are in a competitive market space it's all about making the customer feel connected to you and your products or services. You can post content that is relevant but also humorous. Remember my dentist example? Well if "Happy Smiles" posted a video of a baby getting her teeth brushed that is sure to garner a lot of heart emojis and might persuade some parents to bring their family to Happy Smiles. Or if our pizza store posted a video of tomato sauce being poured on fresh dough that is sure get a few hungry customers to stop in.
You should always consider what will appeal to your audience. There is no cookie cutter formula that will attract customers. A steakhouse will produce different content than a hairdresser would. This brings up a very important point. It is important to produce high quality content to represent your business. Many people think this can be done with your smart phone but it is important to consider hiring a professional to do some of your content work. Production companies have top notch equipment as well as talented editors that can dramatically improve the quality of your content. I encourage you to seek out a production company in your city and inquire about their rates. You may be surprised at how affordable they are. One such company is Esoteric Multimedia Productions https://esotericmultimedia.com/. They are based in NYC and specifically offer a production package to small and mid-sized business owners, among their other offerings.
Here are some fundamental questions to ask as you begin to think about branding your business:
What was the inspiration behind starting your company and how is the name you’ve chosen engaging and relevant?
Does your company exists in a very competitive space? How will you differentiate your brand and your product?
What experience do you want your customers to have when they interact with your brand and how will you go about creating that? Can you do it all yourself or will you need outside professional help?
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