Having a killer brand presence is a key way to help grow your small business. When creating a brand, it is important to consider all of the brand components as a cohesive package. These elements include brand collateral such as logos, colors, tag-lines and other messaging, online platforms (website, social media, etc), print media and other communications/graphics.
While it’s tempting to develop your brand based on your own personal preferences, your brand presence really must be created with your target market in mind. Look at your materials through the eyes of the consumer and make sure it seeks to connect with them and convey the unique ways you’re about to make their lives better. Seek fresh eyes - ask friends, family, or a business coach how they view your brand. It’s often hardest to create materials for your own brand, so bringing in an outside team of experts is a helpful way to develop a cohesive brand identity without spinning your tires.
What is Brand Presence?
Before we dive in, let’s take a moment to define what we mean by “Brand Presence”. We like to think of it as how customers are able to recognize your brand. For example, can customers see what you are known for based on your logo or social media profile? Do you have a consistent look, tone and voice across all platforms that helps people identify and connect with you? As mentioned above, it’s everything you put out to the public, so you want it to be strategic and cohesive.
For a small business, a strong brand presence will have customers actively seeking more information about your business rather than you running copious amounts of paid ads or going door to door. You want people to love what you have to offer and be so excited about it that they are willing to share with their friends, tag you in their posts, and help do some of the advertising heavy-lifting for you.
Ready to level up your brand? Give these tips a try and grow your killer brand presence!
Invest in design.
Paul Rand once stated, “Design is the silent ambassador of your brand”, and he’s not wrong. Investing in professional help to put your best foot forward and create a cohesive brand style is worth it. From color psychology to versatility, there is so much to consider when designing a logo and brand style guides. Trust the experts.
Set some guidelines.
Once you’ve got your killer logo, take the time (or better yet, have the experts take the time) to lay down some ground rules for its usage. Having a guiding document that lays out logo usage, colors, typography, photography, tone/voice, etc, ensures that anyone who’s creating materials on behalf of your company knows how to do so in a way that stays true to your brand. This is a foundational document that helps ensure that everything you put out there is consistently great quality that conveys your brand personality.
Invest in a website.
If we learned anything during the pandemic, it was that companies that invested in digital were much better equipped to survive. You don’t own what you put out on social media, so house your important content on your website as well. Building a website that reflects a professional brand also helps bring credibility and build trust. Depending on your industry, a well-designed website can help you boost sales and automate your work-flow, sales, or check-out processes, allowing you to work and sell more efficiently. 94% of users first impressions are based on a website’s design. Make it count.
Develop your social media presence.
Social media is a beast. There we said it. With it’s claws in seemingly every aspect of society it sure seems like a daunting task to manage a social media presence that connects with followers and delivers high quality content on a regular basis. It’s honestly such an intensive task that you really can’t do it too well without someone dedicated to the job. Here are a few areas to focus on:
Find the right platforms for your business (you don’t need to be on all of them) by considering your target market and their habits/preferences as well as the type of content your business is likely to put out.
Be authentic - people are sick of being sold to 24/7. Be genuine, stay true to your values and seek to build meaningful connections.
Post consistently - create a content calendar and plan as much in advanced as possible to help ensure a variety of content and hold yourself or your team accountable for posting. With that being said, don’t be so overly planned that you fail to post genuine, live content in real time.
Maintain a consistent design - this may mean using consistent filters, colors, fonts and styles. You don’t need to have the perfectly manicured feed, but you do want to maintain something that’s eye-catching, appealing, and looks consistent with your brand.
Get creative to build a following - partner with other businesses to do a giveaway, create custom hashtags, interact with other users, and run referral programs. Think about what sets you apart from your competitors and find a unique way to convey that given the tools/capabilities of each platform.
Produce Value
Speaking of identifying what sets you apart from your competitors… have that elevator pitch down. Understand your core value add and emphasize it. It’s essential to think, “Is what I am producing for my customer providing enough value in relation to what I am charging?” If the answer is “no”, no amount of killer branding is going to help you make a sale. You need to be providing quality products/services that people perceive as worth what you charge (and more). Consider ways to gather customer feedback (polls/surveys, post project surveys, personal follow-ups, etc), and be open to feedback and dedicated to improvements.
Provide free content.
People love free stuff, and in the internet age, it seems they expect a lot of it. You are an expert in something. Give them a taste of your value-add through some free materials. By offering free content with no strings attached, you garner interest in your paid content/products. Some ideas for free content/materials include blogging about industry insights, sharing tools/templates you’ve created, starting an informative youtube channel or podcast, or having product samples to send out for free. You don’t have to break the bank or spend all your time on this (this can be a great thing to hire someone to do for you as well), but it’s something that’s important to do consistently. It will attract users to your website, build trust, develop relationships and ultimately improve the likelihood of making a sale.
Get offline.
Yes, you heard that correctly. Work to find that elusive digital/real-life balance. Get outside, connect with others, sponsor events, find meaningful ways to be involved in your community. Building personal, real-life relationships with others will always be the truest way to create a killer brand. When you’re a genuine, involved, kind, and helpful person, it’s hard for people not to be attracted to you. You don’t need to go around selling yourself/your business 24/7. Be yourself, provide value wherever you go, and the sell will naturally evolve.
As you can see, there’s a lot more that goes into creating a killer brand presence than many may originally think. It’s a lot of work and truly takes a diverse set of skills and areas of expertise. It’s unlikely that you are an expert in all of those areas which is why it’s best to bring in some experts from time to time. People that may have an eye for design, may be lacking in writing skills. Someone who is highly organized or incredibly engaging may not be talented in creating artistic content. Creating a killer brand presence involves building a team that works together, under a clear set of brand guidelines, to always put your best foot forward.
The good news is, we have that team. Pixel Loon has grown over the years to bring on experts in a variety of fields, all essential to creating and managing exceptional brand presences. Want help creating your killer brand presence? Contact us to get started today!