Big businesses have teams of people working on brand identity, and sometimes they still get themselves into pickles when it comes to branding. As a small business, you depend on brand identity to attract the right customers to your business. However, your brand identity may have problems that you’re unaware of, or that you don’t know how to fix. You don’t need a huge marketing team to address brand identity issues. Take an honest look at your business’s branding, and ask both yourself and your employees some important questions about how your business looks to the public.
You Have No Cohesive Identity
Why would you choose Ace Hardware over Home Depot or Lowe’s? Maybe you’ve seen a commercial telling you that Ace Hardware stores are full of employees who can answer your home improvement questions. Maybe you’re under the impression that Lowe’s is where contractors go, and you’re just a DIY-er. Though the three stores offer many of the same products and services, each has its own identity used to attract customers.
You’re an accountant running a small accounting business. But an ad that says “for an accountant, call this number,” doesn’t tell people what they need to know about your brand. If you expect your job title, your company title, or a short description to sell your business, then you don’t have a brand identity at all. Are you an accountant for businesses? For individuals? Do you specialize in tax returns? Do you rent space in a high-rise, or is your office in a converted house bridging the gap between residential neighborhoods and downtown? Answer questions like these to get started on building your brand.
Conflicting Messages Mar Your Brand
Have you ever heard someone say, “Pick two: fast, cheap, or good?” The implication is that something can’t be all three, and if it is, someone’s pulling a fast one on you. Conflicting messages in brand identity aren’t always easy to spot. They certainly aren’t as obvious as having two prices on one piece of inventory, or lying about when coupons expire. Conflicting brand messages are like trying to convince people that you can do fast, good, and cheap all at once. Customers may not be able to isolate why they don’t trust your brand identity, but they don’t feel good about your message all the same.
So, keep your branding simple. Don’t promise too much with your brand identity. Focus on what your brand does well. What problem do you solve, and how do you solve it? In the simplest way possible, why should people choose you? Just say you’re a lawyer focusing on property law, and don’t try to shove in that you’ve also got a penchant for intellectual property or are handy with a quick divorce.
You Can’t Attract Your Target Audience
Target audience is an important component of brand identity. After all, the audience you’re aiming for informs big chunks of how you brand your business or product. You wouldn’t attract senior citizens with the same advertising you’d use to lure in middle schoolers.
When failing to reach your target audience, you could be facing one of two problems. First, your brand identity might not attract your target audience. Second, you might be aiming for the wrong target audience. The way to fix this? Research. Find out what keywords people are using to reach your website. Take a good look at the customers who walk into your shop. Ask yourself if your product really works for the people you’re trying to sell it to, or if you could flip your advertising and aim for another group that would find the product useful. When you find something that works, build on it.
Execution of Your Identity Is Poor
So you’ve got a great brand identity planned out, but you can’t make it work in real life. This problem is complicated because it could come from several places. Maybe you’re an antiques shop, but your shoddy storefront says “cheap thrift store” instead of “high-end antique furniture.” Perhaps you’re a bakery specializing in online orders, but your website is clearly a Blogger template and doesn’t inspire anyone who looks at it to order cupcakes.
Sometimes you and your employees fail to address what you should be doing to promote your brand identity. Customer service, blog content, business cards: these elements need to fit within your brand’s identity. Ask yourself how the main components of your business execute your brand identity. Identify problem areas and come up with workable solutions, like sprucing up your storefront or hiring a professional web designer.
Employees Have No Style Guide to Reference
One reason for poor identity execution? No style guide. If you just read that and wondered what a style guide is, then you definitely need to read this. A style guide is specific to your brand, and it outlines for employees how to represent the brand in daily operations, communications, and advertising. Style guides contain anything from brand font preferences, print layout specifications, grammar and syntax guidelines, and more. Style guides help new employees grasp the brand easily, and give old hats a place to turn when they have questions.
Equally as important, style guides explain the essence of your brand. Your brand’s identity and intended audience go front-and-center in a good style guide. Examples might be a “fun, flirty” tone geared towards divorced 40-somethings, or a “professional yet edgy” tone that will appeal to career-minded millennials. Creating a good style guide takes time and iterations.
Finding these problems and employing workable solutions won’t happen overnight. Fixing one thing might not draw in the customer base you’re hoping for. Working on your brand identity happens for as long as you run your business, and you should be willing to adapt and change it as market needs change. Enhancing your brand identity will help your business, however, and you can start right now.
image: sneakerfreaker
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