{"id":6700,"date":"2013-07-30T12:29:29","date_gmt":"2013-07-30T16:29:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/herculiz.com\/dev\/?p=6700"},"modified":"2018-10-18T20:13:52","modified_gmt":"2018-10-18T20:13:52","slug":"why-bother-branding-your-small-business","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brandtwist.com\/blog\/brand-culture\/why-bother-branding-your-small-business\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Bother Branding Your Small Business?"},"content":{"rendered":"

In this post, Why Bother Branding Your Small Business?, Malla Haridat shares the revelation that she, “\u2026never realized how important branding was to small businesses.\u00a0Especially those struggling with a clear and powerful answer to “why should I buy from you?” This\u00a0is part of our\u00a0guest blogger series<\/a>.\u00a0<\/strong>Malla <\/b>is an entrepreneur, strategist and Brand School graduate. Read more about Malla at the end of the post. \u00a0If you would like to be a guest blogger for BrandTwist contact Jamie@BrandTwist.com for more information.<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n

\"Big<\/a><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
I always thought that branding only made sense for big companies.\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0<\/em>I visualized an executive team strategizing about the vision and look of the company to ensure that all employees operated with one voice to give a consistent \u201cfeel\u201d for customers.<\/div>\n
.<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
I never realized how important branding was to small businesses. <\/strong>Especially those struggling with a clear and powerful answer to “why should I buy from you?”<\/div>\n
.<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/strong>I am a strategist for small business owners and help women entrepreneurs in the making take their talents to the bank. \u00a0You can visit my blog at\u00a0mallaharidat.com<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>for advice with a no BS approach. \u00a0I have been blessed to work with amazing clients who hired me to build small business camps and workshops. \u00a0But after years of serving corporate and not for profit clients, I realized there was a market I really should be serving – individual women entrepreneurs. \u00a0However, it has been a challenge for me to convey how I can impact individuals after years of focusing my marketing on the needs of large groups. I enrolled in the Fall ’12 Session of Brand School by Brand Twist and it gave me several insights on how to build my business.<\/div>\n
.<\/span><\/div>\n
\n
[sc:optin]<\/p>\n

I learned that branding is so much more than creating a tag line or choosing your color scheme<\/strong>. It is an opportunity to craft a clear identity for your company that allows you to focus on what you deliver. And once you tackle this challenge, it\u2019s much easier to communicate to prospective clients, the media and even your friends and family about what you deliver and why your company is better than others.<\/p>\n

I also learned how to design a clear framework around my services – what I would focus on and what I would leave off the table. For a solo entrepreneur who is often enticed to take on all types of work that sounds interesting \u2013 it\u2019s critical to have this boundary so that I don\u2019t lose focus from my company\u2019s core strength.<\/p>\n

So here are the top branding lessons I learned:<\/strong><\/p>\n

1. \u00a0 Creating a brand proposition is critical for a small business.<\/strong> \u00a0Yes, it\u2019s hard work. And yes, you\u2019ll have to spend valuable time creating and testing your brand while \u00a0you\u2019d rather be finding new customers. But the payoff is INCREDIBLE. The clear verbal message I have about my business is making it much easier for prospects to \u201cget\u201d me. \u00a0And it really paid off recently as I was awarded a finalist spot in a business pitch competition! \u00a0I never would have been able to hone my message into a 2 minute pitch that was clear, compelling – and won me a coveted spot.<\/p>\n

2. \u00a0 Incorporating the values of brands you love into your business can be a fun and enlightening way to engage new prospects.<\/strong>\u00a0I examined two brands that I love \u00a0\u2013 Embassy Suites and Trader Joe’s \u2013 and found themes that both companies use that have helped me to clarify my own brand. \u00a0What\u2019s so cool about that activity is that you examine companies that are not in your industry to better strengthen your own company. I found that their focus on over-delivering on value yet charging competitively was an idea that I could incorporate in my own brand.<\/p>\n

3. Get clear on who you serve.<\/strong> \u00a0It\u2019s amazing how many times I have heard other entrepreneurs share that \u201cI serve everyone\u201d in my business plan camps. It\u2019s impossible for even large multi-national brands with huge advertising budgets to reach everyone in the market. \u00a0And yet, when I first started looking at my target customer, I almost started to do the same thing. Yes, I knew that women entrepreneurs were a target but I hadn’t spent time in their \u201cshoes\u201d and really living and understanding \u00a0their concerns, needs and values to better position my product. It\u2019s about getting to the core of what keeps them up at night and the language they use to describe their problems. And while I am clear that understanding my target customer will be ongoing in my business, I am happy to say I\u2019ll spend less money on marketing because I have a deeper understanding of the copy and language I can use to attract her and the groups that I can start targeting.<\/p>\n

Branding isn’t just for the big guys. In fact, I think its even more important for small businesses because we have to stand out, and make sure that every single dollar spent on marketing and client acquisition pays off. A strong brand with a clear message\u00a0can help a small business achieve big things.<\/p>\n

\n
Brand School<\/a><\/strong>, our highly effective, premier branding program,\u00a0<\/strong>delivers the tools and steps you need to grow your brand and your business’ connection to your market. Get our free brand-building tips and receive immediate updates about Brand School\u2019s exclusive programs when you sign up for our newsletter at\u00a0BrandSchoolOnline.com.<\/a><\/strong><\/div>\n
.<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\n
\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
“I received huge value from Brand School. You can’t put a price on that experience.\u00a0I loved the integrated learning experience and\u00a0that we walked out of the series with a working brand strategy.”<\/i>\u00a0– Rachel Watkins, Brand Development for Large Businesses<\/span><\/div>\n
.<\/span><\/div>\n

\"Malla\"Malla Haridat<\/b>\u00a0is an entrepreneurship strategist and founder of\u00a0Mom<\/strong>\u00a0and Daughters Inc.<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0As the founder and CEO of\u00a0New Designs for Life<\/a><\/strong>, Malla is a nationally recognized expert in the specialized field of entrepreneurship education and has trained over 1,000 students. Her company was awarded the 2005 New York City Small Business Award of the Year by New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and has been featured in publications like The New York Times and on Martha Stewart Radio.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In this post, Why Bother Branding Your Small Business?, Malla Haridat shares the revelation that she, “\u2026never realized how important branding was to small businesses.\u00a0Especially those struggling with a clear and powerful answer to “why should I buy from you?” This\u00a0is part of our\u00a0guest blogger series.\u00a0Malla is an entrepreneur, strategist and Brand School graduate. Read […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,22,24,27,29,30,50,38,253,64,564],"tags":[40,41,60,42,45,80,76,52,561,54,562,563,78],"class_list":{"0":"post-6700","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-brand-culture","7":"category-brand-experience","8":"category-brand-implementation","9":"category-brand-personality","10":"category-brand-research","11":"category-brand-strategy","12":"category-entrepreneurs","13":"category-generating-ideas","14":"category-guest-bloggers","15":"category-insights","16":"category-testimonials","17":"tag-brand","18":"tag-brand-building","19":"tag-brand-school","20":"tag-branding","21":"tag-brandtwist","22":"tag-business-building","23":"tag-entrepreneur","24":"tag-julie-cottineau","25":"tag-malla-haridot","26":"tag-marketing","27":"tag-mom-and-daughters","28":"tag-new-designs-for-life","29":"tag-small-business"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brandtwist.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6700","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brandtwist.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brandtwist.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brandtwist.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brandtwist.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6700"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/brandtwist.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6700\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16366,"href":"https:\/\/brandtwist.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6700\/revisions\/16366"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brandtwist.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6700"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brandtwist.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6700"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brandtwist.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6700"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}