Small Business Owners: Rules in Branding Yourself or Your Business

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Small Business Branding: Inventive Ways to Create a Brand

 

Small business branding is an essential component to your success online, and so you should spend a bit of time on it. Brainstorming fresh ideas in a group setting can be useful, as can mindmapping. If you are an individual and are going to be branding yourself, there are many good online tools that can help you.

You may want to create a 3D cartoon character, to become memorable (and have your name associated with this new image) or use your own drawing skills to make a logo, or trademark image. You can use Fireworks to assist you if you choose to do animation, or Gimp and Photoshop for drawing a logo or design.

After all, a brand is the idea or image of a certain product or service which will stick in consumers’ minds. Your design should not only build brand, but also is important to create and maintain a good reputation. Companies (or individuals) who are utilizing web pages and SEO have a few things to iron out, before building a successful brand.

It will be important to “sync” your domain name up with the brand. In this way, the consumer will more easily identify the image Coke - Product Branding (of a specific product) which in turn leads visitors to easily discover the new brand. This process is known as

Business branding

or product branding.

 

Small Business Branding: Things to Adhere to in Establishing Your Brand

There are certain things to bear in mind as you go about establishing your presence on the Net. First of all, when you are posting to the social media sites, you need to first READ their Rules. And of course, you want to have brand identity – i.e, your domain name has to match up with your brand. Here are tips to keep in mind:

  1. Keep Your Branding Consistent across the Net – Gravatars, Logos etc.
  2. Create a Voice to Go with Your Brand – See Example
  3. Brand the Small Stuff too
  4. Be Brief with Your Message (Be Succinct)
  5. If you’re branding yourself, be uniquely you *
  6. Track your results

Okay, so when I mentioned “be uniquely you” in Number 5, here’s what I mean: when you are writing, stop and DO a check: “is this something I’d actually say?” If not, don’t use it ! Also, try drawing on your own life experience – that is, when you post you don’t just want to regurgitate someone else’s thoughts – take TIME to stop and think on how you’d express it, if you were communicating aloud. Communicating Aloud Also, before “putting pen to paper”, try dreaming up 5 different ways of saying something – in your VOICE of course. You can use this method to brainstorm, to help with your blog branding, and even for keyword research.

 

To Your Success,

Jan Ashby Sakura Project Founding Member

Jan Ashby

 

Related Reading: Ways of Branding Yourself – A Blog Post

Product Branding 101 – An eHow article

Branding and Website Design: 9 Tips

 

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