Is Branding Important for a Small Business?

In setting up your business, there are many things you’ve had to consider. Impressing investors, onboarding new team members, securing office space, deciding if you're going to have a dartboard or air hockey table (we’d definitely opt for the latter, just putting it out there…).

What can often be lost in the process of developing your business is the fact that you really have to think of it as a brand. You know, like washing detergents, pet food and stairlift manufacturers. This is in some ways, a wholly different landscape from running a business, which doesn’t begin and end with a clever logo on a business card.

Branding is important because it establishes your mission, product offering and your businesses’ beliefs in a matter of a couple of brief visual seconds

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Create branding that’s memorable and instantly recognisable

No doubt when reading the above sentence, you’re already calling the symbols of Nike, Amazon, KFC and, er, Wimpy Burger bars to mind. Think about what they communicate in a split second and the ways in which they’re instantly recognisable. In some cases it’s an aesthetic hug; all embracing, reassuring and familiar at the same time. 

This is the sweet spot where you want your logo to be - you want people to know who you are, and you definitely don’t want to be hugging everyone. That would be very weird. And not great for sales, either.

Branding adds value

We’re not talking ££££ or $$$$ (well, not just yet) – we’re talking about the  intangible but priceless value your branding can add to your employees and future customers. Creating a brand can solidify your intentions and message, which in turn creates motivation and direction for your employees. If you can create a strong sense of identity through your branding, then this kind of belief in your business will radiate out into all other aspects and arms you develop. This in turn, generates a virtuous circle that filters into everything from customer interactions and office meetings to, crucially, potential business wins.

Creating a brand that projects your values

A brand is so much more than just a great logo – every company’s emblem or symbol isn't just bashed together – it’s actually carefully considered (often by cool creative types, sitting around discussing semiotics while sipping oat milk cappuccinos). There will be a lot of debate over the actual branding, but also in its colour, and there’s a good reason for this. We infer or attribute meaning about a brand, often judging them in microseconds by the colours they use. 

Think of established, legacy brands such as British Airways, Royal Bank of Scotland, Nationwide, Barclays, Boots and The Conservative Party – the dominant colour is most of these is blue, as it is often the colour associated with authority, responsibility, honesty and perhaps most importantly, inspires trust. Green is the colour of vitality, freshness, growth, balance, health, renewal and energy – think of BP, Whole Foods, Starbucks,and er, Carlsberg. Red, the colour of action, revolt, passion and urgency is also used to great effect for the Labour Party, Royal Mail, Virgin, Coca Cola and Ferrari. 

This kind of colour theory is essential to a brand’s identity. Another aspect is to give your brand an icon or character to go with your brand: Think of the Michelin Man, the Babycham deer, Mickey Mouse, or the Red Bull animals, charging at each other… being able to take a brand and “personify it” again, adds untold value to your brand.

Merchandise

When you’ve finally decided on your logo, consider putting it on a variety of “swag” which you can send to potential customers or that they can take away with them at events, presentations or exhibitions. As well as the usual key rings, notepads and pens, think about items that separate you from your competitors, are memorable and that will generate discussion when potential customers will take it along to their own meetings and presentations. We’re thinking about paperweight hand grenades or drone pencil pots that fly around the office dispensing stationery to anyone in need. Literally anything your imagination can conjure, and indeed anything, apart from those mini rugby balls that your pet or child will chew to oblivion or hide under their bed.

Phable explains technology through innovative branding and content marketing. We combine expertise in design, copywriting, Video, Social media, SEM and computer science.

 We know this industry.

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We are Phable – The creative agency for technology.