Building a unique brand identity is absolutely essential to having a successful and profitable small business. Fortunately, brand-building strategies for your small business do not have to cost a lot of money.

The Problem: Your customers are constantly bombarded with marketing messages from your competitors. It’s hard to stand out and get your own message heard. You can try to have an edge by having a great product or service. But, your competitors just keep creating a similar version of your product or service — or even a better and cheaper version. How do you differentiate your business from your competitors?

The Solution: By building a powerful brand, you can have a business edge that your competitors can never take away. By creating a unique brand identity, you can maximize the effectiveness of your marketing.

A powerful brand identity can influence your customers to buy your product or service over your competitors — even if they have to pay more for it! A powerful brand can influence your customers to think that no one else, but you or your company, can deliver the quality or the benefits that they want.

A unique branding identity can help your business by simplifying your customers’ decision — whenever they need your product or service, they need only to think of you.

 

Creating a Unique Brand Identity for Your Small Business Doesn’t Have to Cost a Fortune

Do you think that you would have to have a lot of money in order to build a powerful brand identity for your small business? This is a common misconception. When we think of branding, we often think of IBM, BMW, Coke, McDonald’s and the gazillion dollars they spend to build their brands. But, there are creative ways of building a powerful brand without spending a lot of money.

Before you start developing your brand marketing strategy, you must understand the definition of brand identity and how it can affect the profitability and success of your business.

 

What Is Brand Identity?

A brand identity can be a name, a phrase, an image, a symbol or a combination of things that tend to identify the products or services of one company as unique or different from its competitors.

A brand identity can represent something intangible about your company, your product or service. It can be a combination of feelings and perceptions about your name, image, quality, reputation and personality.

At its most powerful level, brand identity creates in the mind of your customers the perception that there is no other company, product or service like yours.

 

6 Tips On Creating A Unique Brand Identity for Your Small Business

“To establish a favorable and well-defined brand personality with the consumer, the advertiser must be consistent. You can’t use a comic approach today and a scientist in a white jacket tomorrow without diffusing and damaging your brand personality.” — Morris Hite

Make a decision about your brand-building goals before you start creating your brand identity. You want to be clear as to what it is that you want to accomplish with your brand — what “image” you want for your brand. Once you have a unique brand identity, you will have to communicate your brand in all your marketing strategies consistently and repeatedly.

1. Your small business has to be better than or at least different from your competitors in order for your prospective customers to choose you over them. If you don’t see a difference, create one; so, you can set yourself apart from your competitors.
2. You can set yourself apart from your competitors by having better quality, price, service, integrity, reputation or a combination of different factors. You can set yourself apart from the others by being remarkable.
3. Make a list of things that are unique about you, your company and your products or services. Based on the information on your list, create your unique brand identity. Your brand identity should help you come up with good answers to the following questions:  Why would anyone use your web site instead of your competitor’s site? Why would anyone buy from you instead of your competitors?
4. Find any market niche unfilled by your competitors or find any unsolved problem. Try to be the best solution for the worst problem that your prospective customers are having. Better yet, try to create and market your product or service as the best “pain killer” for the most excruciating pain your prospective customers are having.
5. Focus on the narrowest niche possible. Devote your resources on being the best in that niche. If your customers think of you as a specialist, you will maximize your income!
6. Select the best marketing strategies that can create increased awareness of your unique brand identity in your target customers. Communicate your brand in all your daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly and yearly marketing strategies consistently and repeatedly.

Communicate what is unique about your brand as often as you can. As your customers’ awareness of your brand goes up, your sales and profits should also go up.

By creating a unique brand identity, you will build mind share. It is not only the best competitive advantage that you can have — it is the most powerful business edge that your competitors can never take away from you!