BuzzWorthy Branding on a Bootstrap Budget

Category: BeeHive Blog Comments: 13 comments

What is branding?

Logos…. Taglines…. Images…  Yes!
Branding is the use of your business name, logo, tagline and images so that customers recognize and buy from good ol’ YOU!

Branding-Kymlee-Blog

Don’t get it confused though…Branding does way more than create recognition. It builds trust and loyalty within your market and also allows room for major growth within your business. Keep this in mind…Without a solid foundation, the house will crumble.

When you use an authentic Brand Image your campaigns are more successful, your market absolutely LOVES YOU, and you can expect to have a steady growth in sales year after year after year.

Some of the largest and most successful companies in the world have all used branding to build their marketing campaigns, which have also successfully grossed billions of dollars in company revenue.

Knowing who you are to your audience is what makes your Brand captivating.  Celebrities like Beyonce, Kim Kardashian and Martha Stewart have all been very successful in building their personal Brand.  It’s to the point that their consumers know them by heart, love EVERYTHING they do, and trust their products/services enough to purchase them with no questions asked.

FREE webinar - to Boost Your Brand!

Discover the "Top 5 Mistakes most Women make Trying to D.I.Y. their Brand - and what to do Instead". 

When you’re building your Brand, think of it as a long term strategy and infuse it into every marketing channel you have from the very beginning. If you’re a brick and mortar business in a small town, you should still follow branding strategies just the same as if you were a national franchise or corporation. There is no excuse to not use a branding strategy for your business.  Simply put, if you own a business, you need to brand it.

Lets begin with your Branding Strategy…
Your branding strategy does not require a giant budget. You can start small in various different ways (especially if you’re low on funds).

Here are a few tips to help you along the way (some you may have already started using):

1.)Voice mail – Every business has a voice mail for when there is nobody there to answer. Make sure you use your company name in the voice mail twice. Once in the introduction and secondly in the end.

An example might be “Hello, you have reached “My Company”. We’re sorry but we are unable to answer your call at this time, please leave us your name and number and we’ll get back to you as soon as possible. Thank you for calling “My Company”. Have a great day.”

This reinforces your company name and helps customers to remember your name from all the other names out there. Remember, there are lots of other companies, but only one “YOU”.

2.)Mail and Email Communication – Use your company name and/or logo at the top of all letter heads including email. Reinforce your company name in the signature area after your messages as well. Example:

Sincerely,
“Your Name”

“My Company, Inc”
www.mycompany.com

3.)Advertising – In all of your advertising, make sure you focus on how to include your company name and logo. With audio advertisements use your name twice (just like the voice mail example above). Once in the beginning and once at the end. With Display and television ads always make sure your company name or logo is always present and visible. Display ads will include online banner advertising as well. With Contextual advertising you should almost always use your company home page in the visible URL section, that way it simplifies the viewing of your company name. Using the extension of the URL may distract the viewers eyes from the name of your website, causing them to get confused and not remember.

FREE webinar - to Boost Your Brand!

Discover the "Top 5 Mistakes most Women make Trying to D.I.Y. their Brand - and what to do Instead". 

There are many other ways to add branding strategies into your marketing, so keep in mind that every mention of your company name is another way to reinforce who you are to your customers. Anything that involves your company should always be branded. Remember, a good branding strategy can carry your business a long way and strengthen your company for future growth.

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Kymlee is a Brand & Marketing expert for online businesses. Besides holding a Bachelor of Science degree in Marketing, she has also owned and operated 3 successful businesses; one service based and two retail.

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13 comments to BuzzWorthy Branding on a Bootstrap Budget

  • Lorii Abela  says:

    For a future business growth, there is a must to monitor brand conversations in social networks and blogs. Strengthening them will surely target what you expect to happen.

  • Sandy  says:

    great content, and it made me think of a few things I need to check on and fix. Thank you 🙂

    • admin  says:

      You’re welcome Sandy. Glad you enjoyed it 🙂

  • Marie Leslie  says:

    These are great simple strategies for brand building. There is so much we can do even without large budgets and staffs to build our businesses.

  • Holly Jean  says:

    This is one of my favorite topics! I chose to brand myself about a year and a half ago, so that I could develop products outside of my realm of business (real estate). I think it’s very important to do so, even if it’s just for you to develop a clean and professional or “you” image in your business community. Great tips!

    • admin  says:

      Yes Holly! It’s definitely one of my favs too 😉 Interesting that you would Brand yourself in a quest to develop products outside of real estate. What type of products are they?

  • Delia @ Happy Blogger Plaza  says:

    Excellent strategies and tools for the 101 of brand building. And they don;t have to cost a fortune. Thanks for sharing!

  • Katarina  says:

    Thanks, loved your post. A lot of great tips here…

  • Michael Kawula  says:

    I agree Kymlee whether you’re a franchise, national or simply a local independent Small Business Owner you need to brand yourself before the market brands you. Great tips!!!!

  • Roslyn Tanner Evans  says:

    It took me awhile to learn that branding is more than our colors, font and visuals. Good tips.

  • Beth  says:

    Funny how I have always said the name of the company I own (or worked for) at the beginning and end of my voice mail messages innately. I’m by no means a branding expert, but it’s good to know I’ve got that mastered 🙂

  • Jackie Harder  says:

    I love these low-cost ideas to get started on branding your business. It’s the little things that can make a big different. Great post.

  • Kristen Wilson  says:

    So very true Kim… branding across various platforms also makes it easier for folks to remember YOU when they see you on FB if they recall seeing your website, as long as you brand yourself the same. It is important and doing some of these little tips can surely be helpful! Great post.

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