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Startup entrepreneurs often think that brand marketing is only for the big players in the industry. After all, when the word “brand” appears, it’s the common household names that first come to mind.
But building your brand is important for small businesses, too, especially if you want to grow to become one of those household names. Here are some reasons why you need to establish and develop your brand, no matter how big–or small–your business is.
Sense of Direction
Branding is more than just selecting a name, designing a logo and applying for a trademark. Brand development and brand marketing are about establishing and communicating the unique character and identity of your business.
Through the brand development process, you establish how you want your startup to appear to potential customers. It starts with brand positioning. Will you choose to be an environmentally-conscious enterprise? Are you price-savvy or high-end? What are the demographics of your ideal consumer? What values are important to your organization, and to your target audience? These are all questions you ask when establishing your brand.
By doing so, you create guidelines for future business-related decisions. Every choice you make should be in-line with the brand you create. This way your business looks professional and consistent, rather than a hodgepodge of disjointed themes, styles, and ideas.
Differentiation
Even if you’re not running a big corporation, every entrepreneur wants their business to stand out. A purposefully-developed brand helps distinguish your business and your product or service from the competition, giving you a competitive advantage.
Ask yourself, “what makes my startup different from the rest?” This question should be the primary focus of your strategy. It is what you want to push to your customers. You build your brand from the answers to that question.
Take, for example, technology giant Apple. It likes to set itself apart from its competitors by boasting its sleek design and user-friendly interface. And if you think about it, that is exactly what the company is known for.
Not only that, but a strong brand also provides some protection for your company. By developing and differentiating your brand, you can take protective measures to legally safeguard your mark. After all, you don’t want the competition stealing or copying your ideas.
Customer Loyalty
The long-term success of a business depends on customer loyalty. Clearly, without customers, there would be nothing to keep the business running. So it’s not only important to attract customers, but to encourage and incentivize your existing customers to continue to patronize your goods or services.
A strong brand makes a strong impression on your clients–and future clients. Customers come back to the names they remember, and the brands that they identify with.
Branding also sets consumer expectations. A strong brand helps to communicate what your business has to offer, and what quality of service they should be getting. And if your brand fails to meet those expectations, you can expect a lot of disappointed or confused customers in the future. So you’ll build your brand to help build trust between you and your target audience.
No matter what industry you are in, whether you have a large or a small enterprise, and whether you run a physical or virtual business, brand development and brand marketing will provide you with gains that your startup cannot do without.
