Whether today is day 1 of your entrepreneurial journey or it’s time to re-evaluate your marketing approach, our team of experts has put together a robust Guide to Starting and Operating a Small Business that goes into detail about the steps needed to create a successful marketing strategy. But first, let’s start with the basics.
What Defines Your Brand?
Every business has a brand, but the most successful businesses have brands that have been carefully and thoughtfully designed. Branding is the process of crafting your business’ identity, messaging, and overall ethos. Even though branding and marketing are closely related, they are different processes. Think of it this way:
Branding is the process of deciding on the story you want to tell about your company, both visually and verbally. Meanwhile, marketing is the process of going out and telling that story to consumers in a compelling way.
Many people think of visual elements when they think of a brand: logos, color schemes, particular ads they’ve seen, and so on.
If you don’t have a strong sense of your brand, it will be difficult to market your business. After all, if you don’t understand what’s special about your business and your products or services and what’s unique about your story, then how can you communicate it to anyone else?
To define your brand better, ✍️ down the answers to questions like:
- Why does your business exist?
- What is your business’ story?
- How does it relate to your own story?
- What problems can your products or services help customers solve?
- Why would customers choose your business over the competition?
- What other brands do you look up to?
- What do you want people to think of when they hear your business’ name?
Creating a Marketing Plan
Your business can’t succeed without an effective marketing and communications strategy, which is why you should begin developing this strategy from the moment you start planning your business and continue to refine it for as long as your business exists.
Read more about the steps involved in creating a marketing plan for your business by checking out our free Guide to Starting and Operating a Small Business.
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