Many start-ups and small businesses neglect branding. It’s frequently not considered necessary or is thought to be something for bigger businesses. Unfortunately, neither of these statements is true, and as a result, small businesses suffer.

Budgeting for branding is a big deterrent for businesses just trying to get off the ground. When every rand counts, professionally designed logo, website, social media pages, marketing materials, and properly designed business cards are sometimes hard to budget for. It’s why small businesses often have next to no branding strategy.

As a result, small business owners are forced to pass up opportunities to grow their business because they lack the funds. Ironically, many believe that branding is only necessary for bigger companies, despite the fact that they require good branding to compete with bigger companies.

Why should small businesses brand themselves?

 Trust from your audience is one of the most important things you can have as a business, but this isn’t always easy to gain. A business that’s missing critical branding elements will have an even harder time getting people to trust them.

Zig Ziglar an American salesman once said,

If people like you, they’ll listen to you, but if they trust you, they’ll do business with you.

Let me tell you what will happen if you don’t have solid branding first. Your marketing will fail, You will be doing the noise-making but the competition will be raking in the business because you both are offering the same service/product but his/her logo, website, online presence, and the packaging looks more standard/professional (trustworthy) than yours.

The annoying part is you might even offer superior service/product than they do. It sucks! Trust me, I was once in that situation.

Had a great convo with a branding genius a week ago. She said to me, “Having a business without branding is like planning to win the lottery. 

Branding: Much more than just a logo

Although a logo is a great place to start but a brand is much more than just a logo. It’s critical to have imagery that links your audience to your business so that they quickly think of you when they see your logo on a flier or website. To ensure that your audience is always reminded of your business, you must have a logo that accurately represents who you are and is used consistently across all media.

However, branding actually encompasses every aspect of your business, including your purpose and vision, packaging, store design, and website design, down to the smaller details, like your social media profile or the manner in which you offer, promote, and deliver services.

Branding carries more weight than you might think. It influences how people perceive your business. If you want more qualified clients, less headaches-clients coming into your business then you need to look the part.

Investing in strategized branding will help you improve your business or company by;

1. Commanding premium prices.

2. Attracting valuable customers

3. Decreasing marketing spend

4. Starts closing more sales

5. Your company value increases.

Before I wrap this up, let me ask you a question…

If you don’t think your business is worth investing thousands of rands in it, what would make your potential clients think your product or service is worth the investment????

I often see business owners/startups falling into the trap of thinking branding is a luxury. Naaah!

Basic branding such as the identity ( logo, social media pages, website) is a NEED not a LUXURY.

Let me add by saying there are 2 mindsets I noticed among new entrepreneurs/startups: 

Either “You have to spend money to make money” or “I’ll spend the bare minimum until I have some decent cash flow.. This can be harmful when taken to the extreme. 

Invest great money in your business from strategy to branding. Your appearance( logo, social media profiles, cooperate identity, websites) has to be top-notch.

Do this wisely, invest in professionals not quacks and you’ll thank me at your 10 years anniversary! Lol 

If you’re serious about leveling up your branding game from brand strategy, messaging and product/market alignment the first step of this process is to book an assessment with me so we can first diagnose the branding problem before the prescription. 

Here’s a link to book an assessment: https://benniedesignstudio.co.za/one-on-one-assessment/

If you know what the problem is already and you just want me and my team to help you craft out a brand identity (logo, social media pages, website, marketing material design) that really represents your business and will help you attract the type of clients you truly deserve just send me a message HERE. 

Looking forward to hear from you soon