How to turn a small business into a successful brand

How to create a successful brand from a small business?

I have been pondering on the topic a lot together with clients, on my own and with other people working in the creative industry. I bet that every entrepreneur is thinking about it in one way or another, and trying to solve ways to create a prosperous business.

Solving things is often easier together with someone: saying things out loud and talking about them with another business owner, for example, opens things up differently than what you can do on your own.

I've been spinning this topic around in my blog drafts for a long time, making changes and supplements whenever I've learned something new.

When examining the subject, the first thing to do, of course, is to define what success is. For some, euros/dollars/pounds act as a metric, for others, it's smiles. For many a meaningful life. I look at success as pretty much a synonym for well-being. I see entrepreneurship being a success when the entrepreneur herself/himself is doing well, when their work & life are in balance, when the company reaches the desired target group regularly and when financially everything is running smoothly.

Whatever your definition of success is, the basis of business operations is, of course, also a numerical wish: it's a good idea to be financially profitable.

There are a lot of aspects for success. I would place these on the top of the list:

Authenticity

When you do something you like to do, with joy and being yourself, it speaks volumes to many people. Also in genuine, unrushed customer encounters, communication feels particularly good for both parties.

And when an entrepreneur does what she genuinely likes, strives uncompromisingly for her goals and stands behind the work she does, it is also easy for the customer to fall in love with her brand and be convinced of her work.

Dedication

It is not the wisest choise to sacrifice your whole life for your work, but when you do your job well, you can also enjoy your free time peacefully.

If you are 'kinda working' all the time, without really focusing on anything, it will show. The lack of dedication affects both the meaningfulness and the end results of the work – and inevitably, quite soon, it will effect the company's bottom line as well.

Positioning

Selling everything to everyone is often not the easiest path to success. Instead, narrowing down your target group may well be. Focusing on a specific skill, genre or target group is often wise. It is sometimes called focusing on a niche.

Let's look at a photographer as an example. The field includes a wide variety of jobs, such as weddings, events, facilities, children, babies, newborns, families, pets, brand photography. Not to mention boudoir photography, press photography, art photography, and photography related to real estate brokerage. It is wise to focus on say only one or two areas of photography, for example, photographing children and babies. Or narrow their niche even more: focus only on photographing newborns. Why?

It is easiest to accumulate your own expertise by doing similar work a lot – and marketing is also cheaper when everything can be targeted very precisely at your target group and there are as little wasted effort as possible.

Here's a good article to read if you're interested in the topic: The riches are in the niches.

Storytelling

Storytelling is a powerful technique for entrepreneurs of any size. It helps the entrepreneur to convey the desired message in the most fascinating, memorable way possible and is a good way to grab the attention of the target group representative.

This is something to consider when you are defining your brand identity and when you are creating posts and promoting: What is the message I want to share? How can I do it without being aggressive in selling?

Remember that images, patterns and texts all tell a story – make sure that the story you tell is the one you want to convey.

Good article on this topic is: The Importance of Using Storytelling in Your Marketing Efforts

Coherence

Only a small amount of customers buy something from you at the first encounter. But when you appear in their eyes, either on the way to work or on their screens, at regular intervals with new aligned content, always looking the same, you will be more easily remembered. And memorable brands are the ones we buy from more easily than from strangers. When you feel familiar with a brand, it's easier to trust them and, in time, make a purchase decision. So, it's worth paying attention to the unity in style and messaging.

The strategically implemented and carefully defined visual identity stands out and makes it easy to build brand awareness.

Approachability

When a representative of your target audience is fascinated by the way you do or your work, they still need to feel the desire to interact with you.

First of all, it is worth considering how easy it is to contact you on your website. For example: Can they find your contact information with one click? And are you urging the reader to get in touch, calling them to action? And on social media, are you also active outwardly: do you comment on other people's stories, participate in discussions? This goes without saying but always make sure reply to the comments you get.

You can also think about the topic in reverse: Even if you are an entrepreneur, you are a consumer yourself, too. You constantly use goods and services and buy from brands. What things do you value as a consumer? What kind of things evoke you to make a purchase decision? And for what reason do you choose to remain a brand's customer? I appreciate good service, a positive attitude and delivering on promises. (That is probably why they are important values to me in my own business, too.)

Annika xx