Branding is an essential part of all business strategy – no matter the size of the company or the industry it is entering. While more SMEs are slowly coming round to the concept of brand building and realising how critical it is to their business strategy, we're finding a lot of confusion as to how smaller enterprises should practically embrace and implement it.
Business owners often approach an agency with a logo and some flyers and a website and say they don't know what's wrong, but ‘they aren't working'. What agencies then effectively have to do is redirect the client's ‘branding energy' away from these tools and start at the beginning – developing the essence of their brand and refocusing their attention on understanding their customers' feelings and purchasing experiences.
In this way going to an agency gives a SME an edge over its competitors as the agency helps it create a “brand”: a living, breathing thing that will connect with its customers on an emotional level.
At the small to medium enterprise level, this emotional connection is usually tied to the owner; the way he/she builds and maintains business relationships and does business. This means it can't be created by a logo or flyers or even a website, but will rather be created by active communication of “the brand” through marketing and advertising – where the tools start to play a role. And where working with an agency can make all the difference.
More and more agencies recognise the extreme risk and courage involved in starting a small business. They also appreciate that big businesses inevitably started off as small businesses – exactly why agencies should help them build an incredible brand from the very beginning. This commitment usually extends well beyond the creative to the financial, with agencies now tailor-making affordable brand building packages for SMEs.
The future of a SME often depends upon the success of its brand – a strong one can guarantee its survival. This is why more agencies are making a commitment to affordable, professional branding services, which includes SMEs from their conception.
“Professional” branding gives a SME a distinct advantage over its competitors. Becoming intimately involved with a SME from the beginning offers an agency the unique opportunity to quite literally build the brand from nothing. It also creates a strategic business foundation from which to grow.
Furthermore, by knowing how different advertising media work, agencies can ensure a branding campaign is effective; TV, magazines and radio are excellent platforms to introduce customers to something new – why we call them ‘push' media. The internet and Yellow Pages on the other hand are examples of ‘pull' media: customers typically know what products or services they want and use these media to compare prices. A well-balanced campaign then should be supported by both types of media – that enable you to make and fulfil the promises of your brand to your customers.
Although it might seem like a daunting task to create and build a brand as a SME, the reality is that they actually have a major advantage over large corporates such as Coca-cola and Nike. As a SME owner, you interact with your customers everyday. You know who they are, where they come from, what they want. That gives you invaluable marketing insight – an extremely strategic advantage.
You're additionally intimately involved with your brand and moulding it. You know its essence and personality. That means you add much more value than a marketing manager for example – you keep your brand personal because it quite literally is ‘your' brand.
When it comes to starting your own business then, make sure that your “to do” list really includes everything – from buying computers and getting a bank account, all the way to creating a brand…
