One of the areas we always receive a ton of questions is in the world of branding. It’s one of those areas of marketing that everyone’s heard of but if you ask them to explain it (or how to do it) they give you kind of a blank stare. Here are some branding tips for small businesses and entrepreneurs:

1) Placement of your logo. Too many small business owners stress over what their logo should look like. In reality you need to stress over where you place it. In your store, out of your store, online, at events, at others’ events, etc. Branding is a contact sport so be sure to place your logo as often as possible.

2) What does your brand stand for? I like to refer to branding as that “off-the-record” conversation people have about your company when no one’s really looking. Hopefully you’ve done a good job cultivating your customer experience (you’ll hear about this again later in the post) because they’re the ones that talk about your brand when you’re not looking.

3) Invest in your customers for advertising. This doesn’t mean you buy your customers. Instead, nurturing customer service and the customer experience are among the most critical aspects of your branding efforts. Also be sure to have an effective loyalty or rewards program. You want your customers to be raving customers that can’t wait to come back for more.

4) Don’t go global immediately. Yes, the Internet turns everyone into a global brand. But as a small business owner you need to own your own market first. I have a friend that is a dating coach. She wanted to be a national celebrity right of the bat. My advice to her was to own her market first, the rest will fall into place later. She’s doing just that and doing a great job as well (no coincidence that she’s great at what she does, too).

5) Speaking of going local…Get out into the community and either participate in lots of events or hold your own events. This is an excellent way to brand your company. Ultimately you want people to see your logo and realize immediately who you are and what you stand for. By interacting with them at local events you will build an emotional feeling within them (hopefully a positive feeling).

6) Have a professional Web presence. Understand the big differences in having a Web site or a blog. This post will not dig deep into the differences between the two. Instead, which ever one you choose (more companies today have both) you need to focus on having a professional looking site with plenty of opportunity to showcase your logo and branding.

7) Put your customers to work for you. I also like to call this the trade show mission. Invest some money in giveaways like shirts, caps, visors, pencils, and other neat little items where you can display your logo and brand. People use these items more than you think when they’re out and about around town. When others ask about the logo the customer will go into action and talk about you and your company.

Social media branding. By now you should be on social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn (depending on the focus of your customer). Many small business owners feel it’s important to use pictures of their face in their logo and avatar space but this is prime real estate for your company’s logo and brand. Use it wisely and display your logo instead (and everywhere else the opportunity presents itself).

Here are some other great resources to help you with branding:

The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding

Customer Satisfaction is Worthless, Customer Loyalty is Priceless: How to Make Them Love You, Keep You Coming Back, and Tell Everyone They Know

Logo Design Workbook: A Hands-On Guide to Creating Logos

Designing Brand Identity: An Essential Guide for the Whole Branding Team

How are you branding your small business? Tell us about it here!