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As a young entrepreneur I was always looking for ways to brand my small companies. I didn’t want to hire a firm and I was always open to learning. These are some things I’ve learned along the way that you might find helpful.

My top 5 ways of building a brand for your small business - without paying a dime.

Build a Website A website is something that almost any small business owner can build and maintain on his/her own without too much difficulty. There are a dozen or more free services out there that will not only give you free hosting but help you build a website as well.

Market Your Website Using free directories and forums, begin to grow your web presence so that you start bringing visitors to your website. Also be sure to tell all of your friends, family, and clients about your new website.

Create a Positioning Statement Take an hour or so to sit down and brainstorm. Decide what type of business you have, who you are marketing to, and why you are different from your competition. Take this information and formulate it into a 30 second long statement that you can easily memorize. Now, whenever someone asks what you do, you can project a clear and consistent image of your company. These statements will also assist you in maintaining a consistent image in other areas of your company.

Call or Visit Potential Clients No matter what type of business you are in it can be very valuable to call or visit potential clients or customers. Even though cold calling is usually unsuccessful in getting a customer on the spot - it can be very good at placing your company in their mind. This is what branding is all about. Using your positioning statement above can compound results from this - projecting a consistent image of your company into whatever circle you are in.

Offer Knowledge to the Community Offer to speak out at a local gathering. If you are an expert in your field you should offer at least some of that knowledge to the community in order to further your image. It is relatively easy to find people looking for free speakers - use the opportunity to brand yourself to a room full of people. Another way to do this is to write free articles for magazines or newspapers or the internet. Getting your name out as an expert in your field will increase the public awareness of your brand. For free.

With a little bit of effort and some learning along the way, it is easy for small business owners to profit from even free branding. Try some of these ideas and see for yourself. Branding is not a joke, even for small businesses it is a neccessity

Mason hipp is a life long entrepreneur that is using his experience to help bring other people into success by helping them with Small Business Branding and Identity. His experience in this field has led to the creation of a unique company that offers clear and profitable Corporate Identity Services for Small Business

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Branding is a very important thing for very large corporations, but there is another kind of branding that is not often talked about. The branding of people. Politicians, movie stars and professional athletes are wise to spend time thinking about branding and hiring professional public relations specialists and image consultants. With the millions of dollars of endorsements available to professional athletes and movie stars it makes sense to have strong brand identity.

But how do you brand a Beach Babe as a sex symbol? The branding of society sex symbols is a tricky subject and if it is done wrong you can ruin a person’s career and they will be fed to the paparazzi, like a raw flesh to barracuda. The branding of the successful beach babe sex symbols can be seen in magazines like Sports Illustrated. Even Playboy Magazine has done an excellent job, without going too far over the top, although they do push it to the limit too often.

Once a young starlet is branded as a Beach Babe sex symbol her career will really take off both in the movies and in print modeling work. But she must be careful not to allow anyone to stereotype her in a way, which puts her in a bad light with her fan clubs or movie viewers. It is not difficult in Hollywood to be branded as a sex symbol, but once you are it is difficult to maintain the top tier level, as new sex symbols enter the realm. Please consider all this in 2006.

“Lance Winslow” - Online Think Tank forum board. If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance; http://www.WorldThinkTank.net/wttbbs/

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Gaining new clients that are excited about developing a corporate Web site, and are gung-ho to get started is a dream come true. Trust me - as a creative individual with a keen understanding of what the Web can do for a business - I know what I’m talking about.

But oddly enough, I’ve found that clients falling into this category seem to be missing out on other essential branding fundamentals. They are ready to get started building the empire of their dreams via a snazzy new Web site. They truly believe: build it, and they will come. Maybe so, but a Web site alone won’t increase sales.

It’s as if there’s an imbalance, and rarely do you find a client that fully grasps both ends of the branding spectrum and how they should work together.

There are several keys to developing a winning brand for your company, and an effective corporate Internet branding strategy is only part of equation
If you are going to take the time to develop a brand for your company, you may as well do it right the first time. Having to do it over again and again will cost you in consultant fees, lost clients, lost sales and lost earnings potential.

In order to ensure that you are on the right track (and that the consultant you’ve chosen to work with knows her stuff), you need to understand what these keys to branding success are.

In a nutshell, an effective brand encompasses many things, and not just an eye catching look. Consider the list below and ask yourself how much of this you were aware of already (feel free to print and use as a checklist when you hunt for the right consultant - or feel free to call us!):

This is the information age. Understand that your target market is most likely well informed - even before they find your product or service, they know what they are looking for.
Relating to your customers and your target market via your brand is more essential than the visual appeal of the brand itself (think Saturn).

When you are conducting all of that endless research, make sure someone carefully considers the emotional attachment your brand should create with your target market - if your business is all about quality + affordability, find a way to communicate the feel-good experience of getting a really good product or service at a great price (perhaps through imagery, perhaps through a tag line, or perhaps through your offline and online marketing messages).

Never discount the power of consistency in a brand. When it comes down to visual appeal, nothing is more detrimental than being all over the map with color and design. It’s amazing how many companies actually use their logo in several different color combinations. Make sure your logo, colors, design and presentation are consistent for print and Web. Variations may work but they must be complimentary.

Never regurgitate your printed marketing material into your Web site. If you are going to take the time to extend your corporate brand to the Internet, make sure your Web site uses compelling text (Web writing is very much unlike the corporate brochure), and isn’t just a repeat of your marketing material. After all, you want to refer others to your Web site via your business card, brochure, special promos, etc. Those on the receiving end will expect a greater benefit if they take the time to check out your company Web address (what…you didn’t realize your URL should be printed on everything, including your corporate vehicle??).

It seems like such an insurmountable task - how will I ever develop the right brand for my company?

That’s where we come in. We specialize in working through all these aspects with you. Our job is to understand your target market, based on the information you provide about your business. From there, we can put together a complete strategy to develop a successful brand for your company that encompasses print and Web.

If you want to attempt this yourself, remember - you must understand the key branding fundamentals. Take your time, do some careful research and read as many case studies as you can get your hands on. Take a good look at your competitors and see what they are doing (especially the most successful ones).

You’ll soon realize that there are all kinds of opinions and theories out there on what successful branding is about. Keep focused on what you already know about your company, your current clients and your target market. Make sure you understand what they want; not necessarily what they need.

Above all else, understand that in order for a brand to work you need to put together a complete branding strategy. One that encompasses the best forms of marketing to reach your target market, and most often this involves a combination of traditional methods and the Web.

Here’s to your continued business success!

Amanda Ayles is President of AmandaMarks Business Solutions, and helps businesses of all sizes develop their unique identity on the Web. Services include custom design for print and Web, content development and on-line marketing strategies. Visit her corporate Web site at http://www.amandamarks.com

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