3 Big Brand Tips for Small Businesses
I work with a lot of small businesses. They are almost always ambitious small business, who are competing against the big guys (large national or even multinational companies in their field). And they seek to make a big difference and have an impact that’s larger than their size.
I was recently asked for my top tips on building a brand for small businesses.
So here goes – here are my 3 big brand tips for small businesses:
1. Build everything from your purpose
I’ve spoken about this on the blog before. Your purpose is both your filter for decision- making and something to live up to – a promise you make your clients and customers. As small businesses, we have limited resources so it’s key that we focus on delivering our purpose.
2. Develop your personality – it’s your USP
If you base your USP or unique selling point on what you do, it is finite. Even if it is unique when you come up with it, eventually someone will come up with an equivalent, a substitute or maybe something with better features. However, your personality is how you do things in your own way. Which means that if you identify how you do things differently to anyone else, you can claim this and make what you do distinctive and stand out.
3. Play to your strengths – don’t try and do everything
This is probably where I see businesses going wrong most often. When you start a business, it’s tempting to try and do everything (or at least anything you get paid to do). I talked before about the importance becoming a master of what you do. No business is great at, or even good at everything. So if you try and do everything, you are not focusing on what you’re good at. And why would people want that from you? They might buy it once because they don’t know better or are in too much of a hurry to shop around. But over time, they will gravitate to people who are great and this will also impact the perception of your brand. Do you want to be seen as not great? Of course not. To be great at something, it takes focus. And if you’re trying to do everything, you can’t focus.
That’s it. 3 brand tips for small businesses. Do you have any tips to add? Let me know what works for your business and brands.
