One of the most important things you can do as a business owner is to ensure that the visual representation of your business is both professional in appearance and projects the right message to your potential customers. Branding for small businesses is key. If you don’t create a good first impression customers may pass you by and never return again.
Branding for small businesses
Your brand is more than just the logo on your letterhead or your business name. It is your complete corporate identity. An effective brand tells the world who you are, what you do and how you do it. Whilst at the same time establishing your relevance to and credibility with your prospective customers. If you have a quality brand, you may find you enjoy many advantages over your competition, especially when it comes to pricing. People are prepared to pay more money for items or services with a higher perceived market value. If you increase the perception of the value of your products or services by presenting a polished appearance, customers could be prepared to pay you more.
What are the advantages of creating my own brand for my business?
The main reason for creating your own brand is to differentiate yourself from your competition. You want your potential customers to choose YOU over anyone else. If you appear to offer a better, more professional service than your competitors, customers will be more inclined to come to you.
Another good reason is to make your sales force (even if that’s a sales force of one – you!) more effective and efficient – Imagine if you didn’t have to spend the first half of your time with a new customer explaining who you are, what you do and how you do it. What if your brand had already communicated that for you? You could spend ALL of your time with that customer focusing on sales, rather than explaining your business.
An additional benefit of good branding is that the efforts you expend increasing your brand awareness through promoting and marketing it to your target market automatically transfers to your products and services. So even when you’re advertising your brand, you’re indirectly also marketing your products and services.
How do I create my own brand?
OK, so you’re convinced that you need to create your own brand, but where do you start..?
Needless to say, it is essential that you have a firm grasp of who you are, what you do and how you do it. If you don’t, you’re going to have a hard time getting that message across to anyone else. What is the mission of your business? What are your core values? Once you have identified this, you can begin thinking about creating a brand that reinforces and supports your company’s ethos. When creating your brand you need to keep the who, what and how firmly in mind but also use the brand to establish your relevance to your target market and build credibility within that market.
Your brand is a key asset – it’s important to get it right. A good design agency such as BlueFlameDesign will be able to create your company’s branding and give your company a professional appearance that delivers maximum impact.
Why choose a design agency?
Using a professional design agency to help create your brand will ensure that your appearance is distinct and leaves a lasting impression. BlueFlameDesign understands the importance of creating an image that aptly represents a company and communicates its identity. The success of a business may depend on it – and it needn’t cost a fortune to create the right image. (Please read our other post Why pay for graphic design when I can knock something up myself? for more information).
How do I choose the right design agency?
There are literally hundreds of graphic design services available nowadays but you need to do a little research. Your design ‘partner’ should be experienced, established and have a varied client list. Have a good look at their website, check out examples of their previous projects – Do you like what you see? Do they have testimonials or feedback from previous clients? Would you like to see your work within their company portfolio?
Do I still need help in choosing the right graphic design agency?
Still unsure on which design agency is best for the job? Then look no further – BlueFlameDesign is a graphic design, brand and print management agency based in West Sussex that offers clients a wealth of experience across all disciplines. We work with clients of every shape and size in the UK – from start-ups through to small and medium-size enterprises, corporates and other large organisations.
We provide the full range of graphic design and print marketing services including brand and corporate identity, literature and document design, exhibition systems, banners and signs, window vinyl, and promotional items to name a few. So whether you are in need of refreshing your current brand or wanting to develop a new one – contact BlueFlameDesign as we should be your first point of call!