Create Your Small Business Brand
Let’s talk Business Branding 101. More specifically, small business branding.
A lot of us have started our small business, unaware that you have to create the brand before you begin the business.
You need to know your method of reaching your customers.
Are you going to use a website? Are you only going to use social media? What does your image look like? What is your logo? What are your colors? What are your fonts? What is your message? What words do you say when you’re speaking to your customer? What words do you refuse to say? How do you want to be remembered? How do you want the customer to see your brand before they see you?
You can continuously adapt and overcome. You can change it up. You can innovate. But this must be a thought process you have.
Today, I’m going to tell you what branding is. Why is branding crucial to the success of your small business? I am going to explain how I use branding as an arm in my main business and one of my side hustles.
So many times in my other businesses, I didn’t have a standardized brand, and things would get confusing. The font would be different, my colors could change up, my logo was there, but I don’t know if it was recognizable. So I learned a lot about branding in the last year.
I started selling some branding packages on my website, the 365dayexitstrategy.com. Check it out, I know you’re going to love it. I created my brand kit: my logo, colors, and fonts, I then started my branding guide: my message, my words, my slogan, and my hashtags. It made me feel legitimized.
When I was hiring my virtual assistants, I could give them this branding guide, and they knew who I was. They knew what the business’s message was. They knew who The Real Teddy Talks was, 365-day exit strategy, Theodora International, all the arms of my companies. They could consolidate that into one message, and there was never any confusion.
I highly recommend a branding guide if you don’t have one.
Branding Basics
Logo
What is your logo? What does your logo look like on a dark background compared to a light background? Do you want a smaller version or a larger version? Are you going to have different color variations? All of this is extremely important.
Color
The next thing you want to look at is your color palette. Colors create emotion. It creates the mood. Colors create feelings and thoughts. So you need to choose the colors for your brand wisely. What type of feelings and thoughts are you wanting your customers to have?
Fonts
Next, we’ll talk about fonts and font pairings. Your font is the writing.
The style of writing that people see when they look at your logo, when they go to your website and when they see any graphics you create are representing your brand. It needs to be a standardized message. Whether your font is strong, elegant, fancy, playful, is the message you need to evoke. It needs to continue from beginning to end.
All of those things tell your brand story. Your brand stories are going to speak for you, even when you’re not speaking for yourself.
Let's talk about the steps to help create your brand.
Define your purpose
The first step to help create your brand, is to define your purpose.
Figure out what makes you stand out from the rest. What makes you stand out from your competitors? Why are you different? Write it down and remember it. Weave it into your brand message and repeat it daily.
I say at the end of my YouTube videos and my blogs, invest in yourself 1% a day and have exponential greatness at the end of the year. That is one of my brand messages.
Some people don’t know what exponential greatness is. I let people know that if you invest in yourself with at least minuscule amounts of effort, it will be a significant change at the end of the year.
Another thing I continue to talk about, is quitting your job in a year.
A lot of us either go into work, and sit in the parking lot before we talk in and say, “I can’t wait to get out of this job.” Usually though, you are not creating any action steps to get you closer to being able to walk away from it.
That’s why I’m here. I’m here to help you leave your 9 to 5. To end your traditional 9 to 5, and find other avenues of success.
These are my brand messages. These are what I’m here for. These are how The Real Teddy Talks helps you reach your goal.
How are you helping your clients achieve their goals?
Have a signature logo
The second step to help create your brand is to have a signature logo.
It doesn’t have to be fancy. It doesn’t have to be complex. When people see it though, you want them to know it’s you. They know it’s you by sight, by color, by font. You stand out.
I have about three different variations of my logo, but they all have the same base and family. So if you see my logo, you know it’s me. Your girl, The Real Teddy Talks, educating you daily on entrepreneurship, hustle, grinding and building generational wealth.
That’s the message I’m trying to provide you with. No questions, no confusion.
Integrate your message and logo
The third step to help create your brand is to integrate your message and logo into everything you do.
If you have a slogan, say it. If you have a tagline, put it on your website. Put your brand and your logo on every single thing you produce. So that when they see it, they know it’s yours. No questions. No confusion.
Pick your color palette and weave that color palette into your social media. Integrate it into your Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, YouTube, whatever else you’re doing. Make sure your brand message is aligned and is standardized across all platforms.
Creative marketing design
The fourth and final way to help create your brand, is a creative marketing design.
Your marketing materials need to reinforce your message. The logo, slogan, tagline, brand story, everything. Your business cards, your brochures, your website, all over social media, your emails, your email templates, they all need to represent your brand.
Your products and what you’re sending out to your customers must represent your brand.
You can use that branding message across the line in the packages you create, which won’t fail you. When anyone sees any piece of your business, they know it’s yours, and that is your branding. No questions. No confusion. They know it’s you!
We talked about how to build your small business brand—the basics of branding and the four steps to help you create your brand. Relay the brand to those working with you, for you, and around you, and live that brand every day. It will make a huge difference in your customers, revenue, profits, and customer satisfaction.
As I always say,
Invest in yourself just one percent a day and reach your exponential greatness and have phenomenal results at the end of the year.