Creating a brand for your small business

Branding in the modern sense was born from the frontier days of the old west. Cattle were branded with hot iron stamps to distinguish ownership.

Just like the old days, many people still think that creating a brand for their business is merely creating a logo that everyone will recognize — just like the brand on a livestock. But a memorable logo is just the beginning.

Branding has expanded to include the values, skill level and principles that stand behind the logo. The residue of your brand is evident in customer’s trust and levels of long term relationships.

Branding is one of the most important aspects of any business. Developing a brand strategy can be one of the most difficult steps in the marketing plan process. Branding is a strategy including:

• Brand name: the name of the product or service
• Brand definition: the distinguishing name, symbol, logo, and colors 
• Brand positioning: what your business does well
• Brand management: the application of marketing techniques
• Brand equity: the marketing outcomes
• Values: what customers perceive about you and how you make them feel
• Consistency: brand attributes must be clear and understood through all your communications

While people commonly view branding and marketing as one in the same, across the spectrum of definitions, there is a distinct difference. Marketing is actively promoting a product or service to get sales results. Branding is the expression of the innate value of a business, organization, product or service. Branding is communication of characteristics, values, and attributes that clarify what this particular brand is or is not. Good branding can be the difference between a business that blends in with the crowd or stands out from the competition.

Branding should both precede and underlie any marketing effort. It is important to define your brand identity –‘personality’ before spending money on marketing your products and services. Your brand is the ‘personality’ of your business – it is what your business stands for and is known for. First you create the brand, then you raise awareness of it. The brand is what remains after the marketing effort has ended and what is associated with the product or service, whether or not, at that particular moment, a sale was made. Understanding how these concepts mesh is vital to every business’s bottom line in order to achieve return on investment.

Defining your brand is like a journey of business self-discovery. Branding begins with answers to these questions:

• What is your business mission — who are you?
• Who is your audience?
• What are the benefits and features of your products and services?
• What qualities do your customers to associate with your business?
• Measure — monitor your return on investment.

Marcia Bagnall is Director of the Chemeketa Small Business Development Center and instructor of Small Business Management Program. The Small-Business Adviser column is produced by the center and appears each Sunday. Questions can be submitted to SBDC@chemeketa.edu. Visit the SBDC at 626 High St. NE in downtown Salem or call 503-399-5088.