Why branding is important for small businesses

1. Developing your
Business Brand
Ask what people think is a brand.

2. What brand is this?

3. What is a brand?

4. “A brand is a person’s gut feeling about a
product, service, or company.”
“A brand isn’t a brand to you until it develops an
emotional connection with you."

5. HOW YOU RUN
THE BUSINESS
HOW YOU
WORK
HOW YOU
RELATE
HOW YOU
LOOK

6. Why is it important?

7. Brands offer:
choice and relevance

8. How do they do this?
• By creating an emotional response
• Dividing people into “for me” and “not for me”
• Being reassuring - tapping into values
• Promising consistency
• Confirming beliefs
• Bypassing rational scrutiny

9. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

11. A Brand…….
is it really only for big
business?

17. What’s our brand?
Enthusiastic, effective, passionate, challenging, fun and friendly

18. Do I need a brand?
• If you are in a crowded marketplace
• If you are in a fast moving sector
• If you have no other points of difference
• If you want to add value

19. How do we build a
brand?

20. Branding is not simply :
• a clever name
• a registered trademark or logo
• an advertising slogan
• a supporting tag line
Brand Building is not an Event

22. Starting the brand
process
Vision
Values
USP
Customers
Benefits

23. USP
• Also called your unique selling proposition, it is what
sets you and your business apart from your
competition
• How your business services benefit your clients better
than anyone else can
Every business needs one

24. Examples of good USP’s

25. “Melts in your mouth not in your hand”
“When your package absolutely,
positively has to get there overnight”
“A different perspective”
“Clarity in Human Resources”
“You get younger looking skin”

26. 6 step process to a USP
• Target Audience
• “Pain”
• Benefits
• Unique
• Create a sentence
• Refine and condense
• Use it everywhere

27. Characteristics of a
Winning USP
It should:
boldly conveys the promise of big benefits for the customer
claim you are unique and different from the competition.
doesn’t try to appeal to everyone – keep it focused.
addresses the important concerns that the customers have.
be short and simple, concise, memorable and easy to articulate.
grab attention – it’s interesting or exciting.
be believable and credible – it makes no outrageous claims.
be persuasive and compelling – makes the customer take action.
be economically feasible for your business to support and live up to.