Is your small business branding helping you stand out?
hit different, v.
hit dif·fer·ent | \ ˈhit ˈdi-f(ə-)rənt \
: to experience something one has experienced before in a way that affects the emotions or senses in a more positive, pleasurable, or meaningful way
// This song hits different since I dumped that loser Brad.
Successful small business owners know that branding is a little bit like slang—if you don’t stay current, you might end up sounding out of touch. And just like slang, branding trends can go out of style just as fast as they appeared. Still, it is critical to update your branding from time to time.
While you shouldn’t attempt to be or sound like something that doesn’t accurately represent you lest you make your audience groan (like I probably just did trying to use “hit different” in a sentence, especially if my daughter is reading this), your branding does need to be up to date if you want people to pay attention.
Does your small business branding seem…stale? Have you been struggling to spark a connection with your audience? In this blog, I offer some tips for how to make your brand stand out as we head into the summer months.
Know What Sets You Apart
Every business has something that sets it apart from the competition—if it doesn’t it won’t last very long. One crucial way to get your small business branding where it needs to be is to identify what that “something” is.
What is your business especially good at? What benefit do you offer that your competitors don’t? If you can identify that special ingredient that sets your business apart, that’s an advantage you can capitalize on. Whatever changes you make to your branding need to revolve around what differentiates you.
Strengthen Your Strengths to Solve Problems More Effectively
Your business promises to solve a problem for your clients. As you have gained experience in your industry, you have grown into the expert that people are looking to for advice. People seek you out because you know your $#*@…I mean your stuff.
Your expertise is a major component of your branding, so continuing to strengthen the areas where you are already a master could help you gain even more trust.
Get Reacquainted with Your Brand Persona
Your brand persona is how you want your buyers to perceive your company. It is essentially a partially fictitious character that you create to represent your business in your marketing. In order to send a clear, consistent message to your audience, you need to know your brand persona like it’s a member of your team.
Make Your Small Business Branding Visuals Match Your Personality
You only have a few seconds to make an impression on your online audience—does the visual component of your branding catch and keep attention like your persona does? According to ZenChange Art Director Alex, garnering attention with design in 2021 does not necessarily mean loud, brash colors and angular shapes, as it has in the past. Many companies are opting for muted colors and abstract design choices, all while being themselves, of course.
In the end, it is up to you to tell your story how you want to with your small business branding strategy. I hope these tips help you come up with some awesome ideas for your brand that you can implement this summer!
Who knows? Maybe your message will hit different.