How Small Business Entrepreneurs Should Approach Their Branding

The changing digital landscape of the last decade has completely transformed the way we approach branding, both for ourselves as well as for companies. Allocating the resources,time, and creativity to perfect a brand image is as important as ever, but for many entrepreneurs this is one of the hardest aspects of running a business. 

For Startup Fortune founder Mervik Haums this challenge has led to a thriving business built around helping people find their brand identity and helping them showcase it to the world. Founded in 2018, Startup Fortune blends media, technology, and marketing to offer a range of content and services aimed at the up-and-coming entrepreneur or startup. Over the past two years, Haums has worked with hundreds of entrepreneurs and companies – a task that has revealed many common challenges and opportunities alike. 

The most obvious theme he has observed is that the resource gap between small and large companies can significantly impact a brand’s quality. Below is a list of strategies Haums uses to help small businesses and startups to reshape and redefine their brands.

1. Develop a Brand Identity

Brand identity refers to the visible elements of a brand – logo, color, design, etc. It's the manner in which a corporation, company, or business presents itself to the public and distinguishes a business in the minds of consumers. Put simply, brand identity is what you, customers, and prospective customers can see. Compared to larger corporations, small businesses don’t have corporate communication departments or teams. 

Regardless, they must still build a strong brand identity for their business. The brand identity design is to tell your company’s story in a way that creates loyalty, consumer awareness, and excitement. The good news is that the best brands usually come from a personal place – a place of inspiration, passion, or experience – something all small businesses likely have and can tap into.  

2. Consistent Social Media Presence

Social media is time consuming, but there is a formula that works. First, you need to be authentic in the content you are creating. With authenticity, you will make quicker connections with your audience, who will recognize there is no ulterior motive or sales tactics being attempted. Second, think about how your content provides value. Even if just for entertainment, content should be focused around providing something to the people that are taking valuable time out of their day to consume it. Lastly, be consistent. Most social media campaigns take time to scale and the key differentiator between successful strategies and unsuccessful strategies is the persistence and consistency needed to test, refine, and scale a winning formula. 

3. Prioritize Clients

Set aside some time to characterize your optimal client. Who will be right for your niche business? How old should they be? What kind of salary or training do they should have? What are they searching for in the organizations they work with? What makes a difference to them? When might they utilize your product or service and for what reason would they need it?  When you know who your target market is, it will be easier to provide real value that genuinely helps what your client is looking to achieve. This is called product-market-fit in the startup world.  

4. Don’t Underestimate Your Website

Creating a consistent brand identity is a vital part of convincing people who are visiting your website that your business is trustworthy and reliable. Everything ranging from the design and visuals to the content and copy should align with your brand voice and identity. The attention is in the details. As a small business, make sure your website colors match your brand colors and fonts used for the body copy should complement your logo's typography.