This post is going to address all of the small businesses who are struggling to make ends meet. Why might that be? Because the brand is not ready to be a brand. So many people are going into business prematurely at the minute because they have managed to secure funding from a source of their choice.
Once the money is in the bank and the idea is in the mind, a new business will usually try and get up and running as quickly as possible, rather than taking their time to make sure that the brand is actually going to make it.
This is one of the reasons why such a large percentage of brands fail within the first two years, most of them being within the first 6 months. A small business is so eager to make money that they forget the best way to make money is through marketing a brand that’s actually going to work. So, let’s focus on your brand and how we think you can get it to work for you.
Professionalism
Professionalism is one thing that many small businesses lack. Because there is such a rush to make money that’s all they think about rather than thinking about everything a customer wants and the business is going to demand.
A successful business will know what their brand is going to demand before it even does it. So you need to think down to the little things that are going to matter, such as forwarding my mailbox, VoIP systems, virtual office assistants, and how you carry yourself as a business.
If you can make your brand look incredible, professional, and modern, your chances of being able to attract customers are instantly going to go up. That’s why we think you need to focus on professionalism before marketing your business to the public, which is essentially launching your brand to the masses and hoping that it goes well.
Modern Branding & Website
Now onto being a modern business, which is what some small businesses seem to forget how to do. Because a small businesses budget is just so small, it’s easier to pay someone who might not be as qualified to help bring your brand and your website to life.
The logo may be sub par, and the website might be filled with all sorts of errors as well as that tacky look that some small businesses settle for. Even in this modern day of technology there are poorly designed websites with terrible graphics. It drains any ounce of professionalism away from your business.
So, if you can, make sure that you make your budget a little bit bigger for your website and brand creation, and create one people are actually going to want to look at. Focus on the use or colours and wording to entice people in. There’s a lot of psychology that goes into brand and website research that you could look into.
A Solid Business Plan
Finally, make sure that you have a solid business plan that you want to stick to. You might make tweaks along the way, but the main frame of the business idea needs to be solid and consistent if your business is going to work.
This includes everything from how your business will operate day to day to a complete marketing plan, including Search (SEO and PPC) and also potentially a mix of other media such as Radio, TV and out of home media to ensure you are promoting to the right people at the right time – and this all works regardless of the size of business you are, and for any size of spend its scalable from small to large.
