A couple months ago, I gave a presentation in Norfolk Nebraska to some small business owners about branding, advertising and marketing. It’s something I’ve spoken about before but I’ve never wrote a blog post on it. Most people who know me, know that I grew up in Winside which isn’t too far from Norfolk. I get back there about every month or so and I’m proud of growing up there. I know first hand some of the troubles and challenges that small businesses face when it comes to trying to stand out and market their services. Advertising is expensive, creating a web presence can be confusing and there are so many “experts” on social media saying different things that it’s not surprising many small business owners are wary of spending money on design.
Over the next couple months I’m going to do a series on the topics I cover for my seminars. It will hopefully give you a sense of how good design and branding can help your business to stop marketing and start branding.

What does branding mean to your company?

Some people confuse branding with getting a logo and business cards. They’ll get some cheap logo made with a swoosh and say. “There, I’m branded. Done.” In reality it’s much, much more than that.

Think of the Nike logo, by itself it’s just a curved graphic and does very little. The swoosh isn’t any more sporty, fast or effective than any other logo but it’s been built up over the decades to be associated with all those things. Now it strikes an emotional cord not because of the logo itself but because of the overall brand. A logo is not your brand, it’s simply an icon. An identity is not your brand is just a system used to lend a consistent visual voice for your organization. It doesn’t change who you are, it just augments how you are perceived by others.

Branding is not just marketing or advertising gimmick. It’s bigger than your logo or your marketing campaign. Branding is about asking: Who are you? Why is your business here? What makes you unique? Getting started with branding is about asking these questions. Building credible and memorable branding means being true to those answers and yourself. Real branding can’t be faked. There is so much commitment and passion that goes into starting a business or running an organization. Do you want to be seen as just another company or do you want to be seen as something more?

Effective branding is far more internal than external.

You need to be ready to ask yourself some hard questions, ask yourself: What is my business or organizations purpose? What is the point of what we are trying to do? What at-heart are you made of? THAT and that alone is what branding is all about. MEANING, not marketing. Marketing and advertising is about spreading your message externally, before you do that and you must brand yourself internally. Really define who you are, what your message is and who you want to talk to. That is the first step to any successful business. If you don’t know the answer to those questions then no one else will and your company will suffer for it.

In the end no one will know your business better than you will but don’t be afraid to get a creative professional’s help. They will assist you with taking those things that you love best about your business and being the owner and create imagery and visual elements that help reflect that. A professional can help you remove the unneeded elements and hone the unique characteristics into something that makes people want to learn more. It’s a process but it’s worth it.

Thanks for reading this installment, be sure to check out the next one where I’ll delve deeper into the things a business needs to consider when branding themselves effectively.