Aligning your brand strategy for the SME industry
There are misconceptions about aligning brand strategy for many organizations. Brand strategy is not your minimalistic logo, your colors, or your product. The brand strategies for your business are those things that people can feel and perceive.
Brands today, in the small and medium industry, are over the place and many can’t differentiate themselves from their competitors. We have seen lots of small organizations in the honey business get containers, health certificates, and labels. The result of such regular branding is less market penetration and scaling for the business.
To help small businesses take the lead or become memorable brands; the following branding strategy components need to be integrated into its system.
Components of a winning brand strategy
Businesses like Coca-Cola did not become top of the mind by magic. It took hard work, process, and strategies that small businesses like yours should adapt and customize. Here are a few of them:
Message:
The message that your brand portrays to your audience determines how well it will be received. If you are in the business-to-business industry, then the message to your audience should not be too quirky. It has to be consistent across all your platforms. This implies that when you promote your product or services on your WhatsApp status, it needs to be consistent.
The message that confuses your customer may make you look like every other brand out there.
Create a community:
Small brands are beginning to understand the need to create a group of loyal fans. Loyal fans would buy from you irrespective of price when you satisfy their needs. For instance, the owner of barbing salon’s goal is to make men feel more confident in their looks.
A satisfied customer of that barbing salon will tell others about the business because they feel confident. We need to define the needs that we are satisfying if we intend to drive our brand strategy in our industry.
Understanding the reason for existence:
A business that doesn’t know why it exists or defines its sole aim as making money is only running on a short-term strategy. A long-term strategy aligns with why you are running your business in the first place. Is it to make a world a better place like Michael Jackson’s vision or to create a healthy life using your recipes? Defining the existence of your business helps to keep it running even when the shocks are down.
Adaptability:
Every few weeks or more, we get a tax notice or a government regulation, and even a policy that tries to set us back. Adaptability allows your brand strategy to align for quick changes. If your brand has tested Instagram marketing and it is not yielding the desired results, you may have to adjust your strategy. Your marketing system has to be flexible to accommodate new marketing tactics. A change in the appearance can of your product or designs increases your sales by more than 10%.
Customer Service:
Satisfying our customers through the services rendered is also key to aligning your brand strategy. Customers who interact with your business may have something to say about your approach. People want to feel loved when they buy from you. Your output must exude excellence at all times.
Building a lasting brand strategy
Brands that thrive for a long time are those who know how to make money as well as get attention from customers. Attention has now become the new currency in today’s social media world. Use your strategies to capture attention and convert them to sales. To keep people glued, your growth strategies must make people attractive enough to capture the attention of your customers.
Keep in mind that you are not building just another printing business. The goal is to build “The Printing Business.” To break free from the saturated market of small and medium businesses, you have to adopt this brand strategy to scale.
As a consultant, some of my biggest struggles with business is that lots of business owners believe they can wing some of these strategies. A great piece of advice is to take it bit by bit and make adjustments as time goes on.
