A list of principles that can help small businesses succeed.
Congratulation! You’ve started your own business and are super excited to get it off the ground. I know you’re thinking success is in the palm of your hands. But don’t get complacent so early on. Keeping your business relevant, attractive to customers, and making a great first impression is just one part of it. To truly be successful, you also need to master brand building principles.
Here are 10 brand building principles we think will help you succeed.
- Be yourself: Being who you are will help you connect with the right clients, find the right employees and attract the right partners.
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Show your expertise: If you don’t know enough to help yourself, how can you possibly help others? Share what you know and do it well.
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Be interesting: Don’t bore people with boring stuff! Be fun, be exciting, share your interests and ensure that the content you create is always about audience-focused messaging.
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Be consistent: Your brand should have a clear, consistent voice across all channels. This includes your logo, tagline, and messaging. It’s also important for you to be consistent in how you present yourself online and offline (i.e., if someone meets you at an event and likes what they see, they should feel confident that they know what they can expect from your brand).
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Make it personal: You should be talking from a place of experience, not from a belief that’s been handed down to you or something that you read in a book by some other expert. (Or from this blog!)
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Keep things simple: Let your message be easy for anyone who reads it—and especially those who don’t read very well—to understand quickly and easily without having to do any extra work on their end (i.e., reading between the lines).
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Graphics and Videos: Use visuals whenever possible because we live in an image-driven world; people tend not to remember text-only messages nearly as well as those where there’s some kind of visual element to it.
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Identify who your audience is going to be—and who they won’t be: If your target audience is women aged 35-45 who live in New York City, then it probably isn’t worth it for you to focus on men or people outside of New York City. This will help keep costs down while ensuring that all of your efforts are focused where they’ll do the most good for everyone involved (including yourself).
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Communication: Make sure that every communication has a clear purpose. This can be something as simple as saying “thank you” or providing an update on what’s happening with your company, but it should always be relevant and meaningful to the recipient.
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Develop a marketing plan: Create a marketing plan that includes strategies for attracting new customers and retaining existing ones—and make sure it aligns with your overall business goals!
- Bonus: Don’t forget about yourself! Taking care of yourself will help you take care of everyone else around you.
Takeaway: Branding may take time and effort, but it’s an important part of growing a successful businesses. Thanks for reading our blog today.
