Five tips for branding your small business

Blogs 25 Nov 2022

Creating new branding or in need of a refresh? Ben Rothwell, Design Director at This Creative, shares his top five tips for creating a successful brand that makes an impact.


Branding isn’t just for start-ups. As your business grows, it’s important that it still reflects who you are as a business. It may be that you need to consider rebranding to align with core changes to your business, or maybe you could give your brand image a polish to ensure it’s the best it can be. After all, it’s what your potential customers will see before they even engage with you.  
 
Ben Rothwell, Design Director at This Creative, shares five branding tips to help you create a successful brand that your customers will love.  

1. Define your brand 

A strong brand can go a long way to boosting your awareness and attracting your ideal customers. Your brand identity is what makes your business memorable. It’s more than just a logo – it defines who you are. A well-designed brand can boost your credibility, ensure you make a great first impression, and even increase customer loyalty in the long run. A great idea gives your brand, product, or service real personality and persuades people to give it a second look. 

Start by looking at your business overall, from your logo and website to your wider marketing materials. Does your current branding accurately reflect your values, mission statement, and who you are as a business? Have you made changes to your business model? It’s natural for businesses to evolve over time, so it’s important that your brand grows with your business.  

2. Identify your brand’s target audience 

  • Who is your target market?  
  • What would appeal to them? 
  • Who does your current brand appeal to? 

Answering these questions will help you to narrow down your focus when you’re creating adverts, new packaging, or other promotional material. Look at your business plan or marketing plan for this information.  

3. Create a tone of voice that reflects your brand 

From your marketing messaging to your customer service, how you communicate with your customers should reflect your brand. Consistent copy and a tagline that sums up your brand go a long way to attracting potential customers.  

Your tone of voice will be informed by your market research about your ideal customer. For example, are you formal, friendly, upbeat? Whatever your tone, it should reflect your business and apply to everything you do. 

4. Research your competitors 

Taking a step back from your branding to look at what your competitors are doing can help you to have a fresh approach to your brand. 

  • What does their branding look like?  
  • How does it appeal to their customers?  
  • Is it effective at communicating its message?  
  • How do they market their products? 

Keeping an eye on your competition means you’ll be able to understand the choice your potential customers are facing. This way, you’ll be able to shape your brand to stand out from the crowd.  

5. Build your brand into your business  

Finally, your branding should be part of everything you do as a business, from your marketing materials to your customer service. Think about every time someone might encounter your business, whether they’re a paying customer or not. What impression are you giving of your business? Is your branding consistent across your business? 

Creating brand guidelines can help you and your team to stay on track with your branding and stay consistent. 

This content was written for FSB by This Creative. 

This Creative are a full-service creative agency. With a small team based in Manchester, they specialise in branding and communications work that delivers memorable results online and offline.  

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