3 Effective Small Business Branding Tips

As we go through the rebranding process for Real Marketing Solutions, we thought that it was the perfect time to drop some small business branding tips. There is so much that goes into branding (and rebranding), and it’s essential to think about each aspect.

We would hate for you to dive deep without being adequately prepared, so we dove in for you. Let’s take a look at logos and what to consider when developing your brand.

Designing/Redesigning Logos

When considering your logo, you want to make sure that it truly represents YOUR brand. 

Now, maybe you already have a design that you’ve used for several years, but your business has evolved and your logo should too. Updating your logo every couple of years is recommended.

We like to think of a logo as your brand stamp, like a shorthand signature—A logo is how people identify your business at first glance and should represent the personality of your brand and what your brand stands for. This is a tried and true small business branding tip. 

Here are some questions to ask yourself when creating or evaluating your logo: 

—Does your logo and brand represent where your business is at today?

—What is the message you want to convey through your branding?

—What words describe our brand?

—What type of client do I want to attract?

Think about how you want your audience to perceive your brand and start brainstorming ideas—the more perspectives you can get (from team members, friends, family members), the better. 

Then, you’ll start translating your ideas into a design, including shapes, colors, typography, and graphics—often times this is where you enlist the support of a graphic designer to help bring your vision to life. 

Now that we’ve established the logo, let’s move on to our next small business branding tip. It’s time to take a look at brand consistency and why it matters. 

Brand Consistency

Your brand is something that makes your company instantly recognizable—think Coca-Cola, Disney, or even just that little Nike ~swoosh~. Your brain knows, and that’s because those brands have done a fantastic job of being consistent over the years. 

To create your own brand consistency (and the loyalty that comes with it), here are some things to do:

—Set branding guidelines. This will include a color palette and proper usage of your logo, but may also include guidance around fonts, images, tone, and more.

—Organize all of your marketing assets so that when anybody needs them, they’re all there, and they won’t be trying to guess exactly which green is in your logo.

—Keep your brand’s tone and personality consistent across all channels and platforms—we’ll be talking more about this next week.

Your brand is the face of your business, and if you aren’t consistent, it gives off the impression that you don’t care very much. Your branding should look consistent no matter where it shows up, from stationery and signage to your website and social media graphics. 

Expand your branding guide to create best practices for each platform where your business has a presence. Email marketing won’t (nor should it) look the same as your print flyers; it’s important to keep the context in mind.

Then, when you’re creating content, think about how it will appear on each platform and create all pieces at the same time. This ensures that all copy and creative stays on point (bonus: it saves you time in the process). Now you’re set online, but what about offline?

Don’t Neglect Your Offline Presence

Last, don’t neglect your offline presence. Consumers want to recognize your brand wherever they are. If you’re speaking at a conference, your tone, message, and style should match what’s on the web, too.

Good businesses change and evolve over time, and your branding should evolve with it.

Your business may not be the same as it was when you started, and that means your branding likely needs to be updated to reflect those changes. Think of it as having a new story to tell. 

In most cases, you’re not changing branding completely—you’re just breathing some new life into it. Remember, you do want to stay recognizable. T

Other things to consider include how dated your logo looks and current trends in the marketing space. If a logo is too complex, confusing, or no longer relevant to your audience, it may be a good candidate for a redesign.

Note: If your logo is working well for you or you don’t want to redesign it, know that it’s perfectly fine to leave it just as it is. These small business branding tips are to get you prepared for the future!

Now That You Have These Small Business Branding Tips. . .

If you read these small business branding tips and felt called out. . . don’t fret. That’s why we’re here. As a digital marketing agency, we have an arsenal of skills that cover every aspect of marketing. We’ve got you covered. We offer a little something called the CMO Solution. You can read more about it here. 

You may have noticed that we rarely talk about things we aren’t doing here at RMS. Over the last month, we’ve been talking about branding because over the last 8 months we’ve been working on updating our logo and building a new website that reflects the growth of our company, the clients we serve, and the services we offer today. 

When you think of branding, the last thing you probably think about is your website, right?

But your website is probably one of the most important marketing tools to keep up-to-date in look, feel, and messaging, especially in today’s world where so much of business is conducted online. 

Was our old website bad…no, it was pretty cool, but it didn’t reflect where our company is today and the growth we’ve experienced. 

There were 3 key initiatives that needed to be communicated in our website redesign:

—We are no longer a one-woman show. We are a group of digital marketing professionals operating a full-service digital marketing agency. 

—We work with some pretty high-level clients and turn out high-level work. We wanted to make sure our expertise was showcased well.

—We’ve expanded our services A LOT and we want a website that showcases all we offer our clients.

Curious if it’s time for you to think about a redesign? We’re here to help! Visit http://bit.ly/RMSConsult to schedule a complimentary consultation today!