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Importance of Early Branding in Small Business

BrandingA lot of small businesses start out trying to be everything to everyone only to realize that this was not an effective strategy. How do you better define your brand? And what does it even mean to have a brand?

Each day, consumers are exposed to over 3,500 brand messages. It’s important for a brand to stand out. A brand represents people’s gut feeling about a business. A brand is the difference between a pair of running shoes and a pair of Nikes. Brands represent everything that pops into our mind when we think about a company or its products.

For example, Wal-Mart is known for its low prices and wide selection. Southwest Airlines is regarded as the cheap bus of the sky with a corky personality. Apple is cool, innovative, intuitive, and stylish. How we relate to brands is a lot like how we relate to people. The instant we meet someone we start forming impressions about them. It works the exact same way with brands. Every time someone swipes a credit card or uses online banking, they are interacting with a brand.

A well thought out logo, slogan, or commercial will remind consumers of a business when a need for that specific product/service is needed. Who doesn’t recognize the golden arches of McDonalds, regardless of whether they eat there or not?  McDonalds is more than just a fast food chain, it’s a brand. But, ultimately, a brand will be built by what a company does not but what they say.

Consumers have a huge number of choices when it comes to finding what they are looking for. If brands can’t stand apart from their competition then they end up swimming in the sea of mediocrity or declining growth.

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