One of the reasons for launching IslePreneur is to promote small businesses and budding Grenadian entrepreneurs and also to provide content to aid entrepreneurs and anyone in need with ways to market their brand.
Marketing is an integral component to the success of any business and if not implemented the right way, your business may not thrive as well as it was intended to.
I must admit, I am no expert in business nor marketing. However, I do understand a few necessary things to help get to where I will like to be, once I keep at it. Blogging is a ‘day work’ in itself and in order to get my audiences’ attention, it is imperative I understand how to do effective marketing. I try my best to read on specific topics pertaining to small business marketing, specifically blogging, social media and branding since this is what I do and hope to be the best at it.
[ctt title=”Branding is what people say about you when you\’re not in the room – Jeff Bezos” tweet=”Branding is what people say about you when you’re not in the room – Jeff Bezos http://ctt.ec/h4z6b+ + via @islepreneur” coverup=”h4z6b”]
There are loads and loads of information on the internet explaining how best to market your business. From creating a winning marketing strategy to sites that provide templates to create something as simple as a Facebook or Twitter post. There is so much content out there that all this information can get anyone confused wondering where to start and how to get to that expected end. So I’ve decided to help you out a bit. For the next few weeks, I will be posting on some key components to marketing your business and getting brand awareness past our local Grenadian shores and to keep your customers coming back.
First, we’ll talk about Defining Your Brand. What does it mean to define your brand?
Before we get into Defining Your Brand, we first need to define two terms: brand and branding.
The American Marketing Association defines a brand as:
“a name, term, design, symbol, or any other feature that identifies one seller’s goods or service as distinct from those of other sellers.”
and Entrepreneur.com defines branding as:
“the marketing practice of creating a name, symbol or design that identifies and differentiates a product from other products.”
Branding has a lot to do with painting a picture in the minds of your audience or consumers. It is the process in painting that picture. You can do so, for example, either by creating a business name and/or logo. It can also be advertisement campaigns or a combination of all three in addition to other marketing strategies to create a presence for your business on the market. This the process to get your audience aware of who you are and the products and services you will be providing.
Le’ts assume that we are a new business starting out and we have just decided on a name to best suit the nature of our business.
Ok great! So we’ve gotten a name for our business. So what’s next?
After you’ve figured out your business name, it is equally important to let your audience know what you’re about. This is where you begin to define your brand. There are a few questions you can ask yourself to deliver a clear message to your audience, expressing why your business exists. See three questions below to help you start defining your brand:
- What is my mission?
- It is of high importance that you state your mission. This is where you will note exactly why your business exists. For example, IslePreneur exists as an avenue for small business owners on the island of Grenada to market their goods and services and to provide content on how to effectively market your brand. It is good to be specific with the products and services you will be offering.
- How is my brand different from what is already out there?
- Being specific with what your brand offers will allow you to set yourself aside from what is already out there. your brand is different from other brands. Listing benefits and features of your product/service is the best way to differentiate yourself from the crowd. People most likely won’t buy into an idea unless they know what it can do for them.
- How do I know that what I am offering is what people want?
- Simple. Okay, maybe not that simple but you can find out by asking. Do a market survey. Find out people’s wants and what they need. Your survey will determine if what you are offering is needed on the market. I am a believer in user innovation. This is where you solve your own problems by innovating. In other words, you create a product to solve a problem you may have encountered. For example, just before I started IslePreneur, I did a small market survey to find out if something like this will be useful and I got favourable results which encouraged me to get this thing going. Research is definitely a helpful tool to knowing exactly what consumers want and to guide you in the right direction in being able to deliver the right products.
[ctt title=”…your brand is your promise to your customer – John Williams” tweet=”your brand is your promise to your customer – John Williams http://ctt.ec/gQ03v via @islepreneur” coverup=”gQ03v”]
There is a lot more detail into crafting a winning brand which I will discuss further in upcoming posts. These questions are just to encourage you, get you thinking and lead you in identifying the characteristics of your business to begin the process of brand identity. Stay tuned for upcoming posts to help add more life to your brand.
If you are looking into starting your own business and not sure where to start, take a look at this previous post outlining 8 Key Questions Before Jump Starting Your Future.
Let me know what you think. Comment below if you found this helpful.
