Image by Peggy und Marco Lachmann-Anke from Pixabay
By Emma Miller
The current marketing landscape is undergoing a massive revolution. Now more than ever before, it is important to develop an authentic presence and identity. Most of it is done digitally and that can come as quite a shock to many small business owners. The digital market is simply much more competitive. And that is generally true. Yet many, small businesses see amazing turnarounds and gain massive success in as many as a few months when they apply the right marketing principles. Despite the market being so gigantic, you can navigate it in several clever ways to get to the right people. To do this, you need to create a strong brand. Luckily, this can be easily achieved if you apply these golden time-tested rules.
Do your research
The key term in gaining massive success and brand recognition is understanding. In order to present your brand in the best possible light, you have to understand what it is that people want. No one likes to see a brand that is completely self-centered and unrelatable. This simply doesn’t resonate with people. That is why you have to carefully research who you are trying to target. You can create user or client personas, which serve to represent your ideal customers. Depending on how deeply you can connect with them, you can split them up into primary, secondary and tertiary personas. This will allow you to determine the next best step. Now you can search for the best custom packaging design solutions that will boost your brand identity and make your products truly stand out. You can align the image of your brand with the expectations of your ideal audiences, in order to get the best results.
Quality is key
One of the most notable features of businesses that last for a long time is the quality of their brand. It is truly important to understand the full scope of what branding is. Creating a brand identity is a continual process that should involve all of your assets. This is how great businesses are able to make their brands recognizable everywhere they go. At the forefront of crafting a good brand is using high-quality assets which also reflect your entire workforce. For instance, if you are running a business specializing in trade work, you should invest in some of the finest quality women’s workwear which can be used to get your brand across better and display a high level of professionalism everywhere you go. People can tell a lot about your business by simply noticing things like this.
Never stop growing
As your business scales and your company’s vision expands it is completely normal to alter your brand over time as well. You can make adequate adjustments to your overall image if you know where to start. Without a doubt, the first step to take in this regard is to ask and listen to your audience. Customer feedback, both positive and negative, can significantly help you expand your brand. Once you gather enough valuable insights you can perform A/B testing on the various features that you wish to implement. Some of them are bound to get a better respond and you can use these to later improve your brand.
Leverage storytelling
There is nothing more deeply engaging than a good story. This is what movie producers and writers do all the time. Everyone has had that feeling that they can’t get enough of a certain plotline. As a small business owner, you have the power to tell amazing stories too. This is certainly done in different formats, but that is where the beauty of running a business truly lies; you can be extremely creative using the variety of social media platforms. For instance, you can create an entire narrative behind a particular line of products that you are about to launch. You could create fun and educational content that will deeply captivate new potential customers and give more meaning to your overall brand.
Consistency wins
Lastly, no one can deny that there will be challenges as you develop your brand, every bottleneck will feel like you have reached the full potential of your brand. However, this is simply not true, since some of the best brands have undergone several iterations until reaching their current stages; developed through the pure power of perseverance. By continually listening to your customers, you can add new life to your brand and return that value back to your client base.
Developing a brand is one of the most exciting parts of developing a business. The possibilities are endless, and it is just up to you to apply the best rules for optimal results; perform thorough research, keep up the quality, iterate, tell stories and stay consistent.
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Emma Miller is a Sydney-based writer with a degree in marketing. Interested in digital marketing, social media, start-ups, and the latest trends. She’s a contributor at BizzMark Blog.
