Why Branding Is The Magic Bullet For Your Business (Not Really)

Aug 17, 2024

4 min read

Let's cook up the perfect small business together using our pantry of ingredients. What ingredient would you add to your business?

A dash of hospitality. A clove of professionalism. A cup of expertise.

These are all great to put in your business, and yet, it still isn't tasting quite right....

We have forgotten the secret sauce. A spoon full of Branding!

Makes sense right? I mean, how long did it take you to build your flashy logo? Every large company has one and a unique catchphrase as if they are some sort of superhero.

These large corporations make millions, if not billions, of dollars and spend millions on their brand identity annually. So it makes sense that most small business owners feel the need to focus on branding.

Branding- The Holy Grail

This is the most powerful weapon that you can have in your arsenal. When you have brand recognition it's like having a sort of celebrity status for your business.

Customers will pay 1000 times more for the same product once you slap that logo on the product. Your product is now a symbol of status in this world!

So go on and create that flashy new logo, add some flare with snazzy looking colors and let all of your cash flow issues fade away.

If your having trouble doing it yourself you can easily hire anyone online to do it for you. Nike only paid $35 for their logo and they are world renowned today!

The Harsh Reality Of Branding

But wait, let's talk about reality for a second.

Branding comes at a price. A huge price actually!

You cannot just make a logo and colorful flare to maximize your business' brand identity.

So how is it really done?

Brand building, when performed like most businesses, is the most time consuming and expensive endeavor that business will undertake. Usually, they spend millions of dollars to show their logo every way possible including video advertisements, sponsoring sports teams, partnerships, conventions, and many others.

Everywhere you look people start to associate that logo with something meaningful.

Think of how much time and effort must be spent on doing this. Most companies have an entire branding department that receives a significant percentage of the entire companies annual revenue.

I would guess most companies spend more time and money on their brand identity than they do on research and development.

Yes, this is effective and does grow their business because they can reach such a large audience with the revenue the company makes.

But you, the small business owner, cannot reach this audience. Even if you did, could you fulfill an exponential increase in demand in a short period of time?

So while most small businesses spend their time and money on their brand, they are missing out on what is core to growing their business: attracting customers and making sales.

The True Key To Success

Now that we know the best strategy for your business is maximizing sales, we need to talk deeper on this broad key to success.

How do you maximize your sales?

Sales are driven from two key concepts. The first is direct engagement with your already existing customers.

You can do this by offering a sale for returning buyers, privileged information in your newsletters, customer loyalty programs. The list goes on.

The second strategy a local business owner should use to increase sales comes through marketing. But only marketing in a smart, strategic, and efficient way

You should not just throw some advertisement together and have your local news station blast it over the air.

Before you try adding customers through advertising, you need to ask yourself the most important question!

Who are my customers?

Meaning what type of person would actually want to buy my services or products. This is called knowing your audience.

You need to let the people who want the services you provide know that you are there.

DON'T SELL A HAT TO THE HEADLESS!

Once you know the type of people who want your service or product, you can target your marketing specifically to these potential customers.

This strategy maximizes the impact of your marketing and ultimately reduces the cost of your marketing efforts.

Imagine you sell women's hair products. Do you think it would be beneficial to your business if you put a flyer up in a men's salon?

Obviously not, that is what we call "Selling a hat to the headless."

To keep customers, you must actually provide a great product wrapped around a customer care that they cannot get anywhere else. This should be your priority and nothing else.

If it does not move the sales needle up, you do not need it!