Why Hire A Small Business Branding Agency?

Every business, whether a startup or a large enterprise, needs branding. Full stop.

This is because your brand helps you connect with your customers emotionally, essentially making them feel good when they buy your brand or product.

Having a strong brand identity and a motto/slogan and tone of voice that they can relate to, helps people feel good at an emotional level when they engage with the company.

In a world where content is king, it is crucial for small business owners to be consistent. With the rise of agencies offering tailored small business branding services just for Small Medium Enterprises (SMEs), it has become more affordable and realistic to enlist professional help to leverage your small business.

Why Small Business Branding Matters?

Customers identify with specific brands for a variety of reasons. Mainly because of good products or services at a good price are the most common reasons, but what drives customers goes beyond that.

This is where the expertise of these agencies comes in.

For example, environmentally conscious consumers might be willing to spend a little bit more to buy from green companies that commit financially and otherwise to reducing carbon footprints.

Or a fashion label who is sustainable within their products and committed to bettering the textile industry may attract consumers who are willing to invest more in purchasing products that are expected to have a longer wardrobe life, than fast fashion from high street chains.

Your small business branding agency knows your product and the company is your voice within the marketplace. This is why consumer and competitor research is a vital part of the agency's process- to maximize your potential with your intended budget.

In addition to how your customers connect with your brand, there is an array of branding solutions for small business within the branding process.

From promotions, products, printed media coverage, online blog mentions and backlink, to advertising online and offline, competitor, consumer and marketplace research and social media advertising- in addition to crafting your visual identity.

The branding agency you choose, from our list of best agencies, will offer all of these elements to ensure positive results and a successful return on investment.

With a multitude of small business branding agencies offering different options, it can be difficult for small businesses to know what to do.

This is where branding agencies help- as it is a concentrated effort to leverage your brand across a variety of platforms, and makes sure your story makes it through to your customer.

Questions to ask potential agencies:

  • Have they dealt with similar companies such as yours?
  • Do they have similar marketplace relevance experience? If so, how successful was their strategy?

A branding agency can make all the difference for a small business in terms of monetary value.

small business branding agencies
A branding agency can make all the difference for a small business in terms of monetary value.

How Do Small Businesses Develop A Branding Strategy?

According to "The Balance SMB" when branding companies for small business develop a brand strategy, in particular for SMEs, they will identify three core components of your business to use as a blueprint for your branding tactics.

  • Purpose: This explains why you are in business and the specific customer needs you to fulfill.
  • Consistency: Be able to define what allows you to provide your services day in and day out.
  • Emotional impact: This is created by your branding agency, and what helps form a bond or a connection between you and your customers.

Your brand strategy from agencies should develop this and build upon it.

What Are The Small Business Branding Types?

As a small business owner, you may not have an unlimited budget or resources, that's why it's more practical to hire an agency, from our list of the best branding companies for small business.

Not just to craft, develop and deliver a successful branding project, but to pinpoint the exact type of branding your small business needs.

Take a look at some of the differentiation within the branding agency industry, which also applies to small businesses.

  • Product Branding: This is the most common and easiest type of branding for branding companies for small business. Product branding is a design that identifies and differentiates a product from other products. Product branding is very easily noticeable due to unique colors and logos.
  • Corporate Branding: This type of branding is used by businesses interested in creating and maintaining a good reputation. Corporate branding cuts across an organisation’s services, products, employees, corporate culture as well as corporate social responsibility- essentially a living brand from A-Z, which is created from scratch by small business branding agencies.
  • Co-Branding: Co-branding is a type of branding that associates the brands of two or more companies with a specific product or service. It can also be described as a marketing partnership between two or more brands as such, with the success of one brand rubbing off on the other.
  • Geographical Branding: This type of branding solution for small business is used for specific services and products that are characterized to a particular region. Geographical branding is more common than you think- it's infiltrated into society and everyday living.

Branding companies for small business practice geographical branding within the tourism industry, landscape attractions, cuisine, and tourism, which are usually advertised and eventually become associated with the region.

Choosing an agency from our list can be tough, with many factors to consider. Such as being an SME with a set budget, having limited in-house resources, or you're not completely confident within knowledge of the branding industry can be some examples.

You should have three core components within your business to use as a blueprint for your marketing tactics.

What To Look For In A Small Business Branding Agency?

There are several factors to consider when considering branding solutions for small business. You should identify ultimately what your business needs are, and search for a business branding agency based on those.

Matching your strengths and weaknesses with a top agency's skill set and expertise will bring you more success in the long run.

  • Budget: As you can see in our list above, we have provided you with a price estimate for each agency. As a small business, you must decide how much you are willing to spend on small business branding services? Are you hoping to save money and receive less hands-on assistance?
  • Brand fit: As a small business owner, ask yourself what type of branding agency would best fit the culture of your business and your personal taste? A branding company who gets along with you and understands your vision will bring the best results possible.
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A Few Small Business Branding Agency Tips To Help You Build A Successful Brand

Taking advice, and getting top tips from the top agencies can make all the difference for SMEs.

All agencies will offer you a bit of professional insight into the branding market, however, they'd prefer to help you on a professional level, to see small businesses flourish.

Take a look at their 7 top tips to help you build a successful brand.

1. Be Unique

Agencies will pinpoint why you are unique. Why is your business unique? What’s your story? What do you do that others in your industry do not do?

These factors are crucial to small business branding agencies, when honing your firm's Unique Selling Point (USP) not only because it gives your company identity, but its their starting point to build upon.

Think of it this way, as a small business, with a set budget, and you enlist a branding agency, they will need to know your business identity and tone of voice to create and market your vision into a money-making tool.

Hiring an agency from our list isn’t just about spending more money to be competitive; it’s about positioning yourself differently from them, to maximize your potential with your financial resources, but most importantly so that you can differentiate yourself.

small business branding agencies
You should have three core components within your business to use as a blueprint for your marketing tactics.

2. Grow Your Community

Small business branding agencies tend to choose 2 or 3 social platforms to concentrate on and be consistent with, rather than the whole range.

Because this gives them more opportunities to reach out, comment and reply to your followers and community- which ultimately puts the power of communication and marketing, directly into the agency's and your hands.

Social media users grew by 202 million between April 2018 and April 2019.

That works out at a new social media user every 6.4 seconds. With these impressive numbers, it's vital to choose a few platforms to be consistent with, to maximize your potential.

3. Have A Good Name And Logo

Top branding companies for small business will tell you it’s not enough to have a recognizable name. People commonly associate brands with the brand’s logo, rather than name.

They think about the logo, whilst keeping your audience and products/services in mind because, because they want your logo to reflect your company's tone of voice.

A good logo builds trust and a strong logo will help to pull your brand together. Think about the logos of some of the world’s most admired brands (Apple and Nike). How do you connect to them?

You should be 100% confident with your company name and logo, after all, the branding agency you go for, from our list of small business branding agencies will implement it within all aspects; your business cards, social networks, promotional materials, products, and pretty much everywhere in print and online to identify your company.

4. Find Your Voice

This is always an obvious tip that branding agencies state, but so important within consistency. This is why you hire an agency, to have an identity, and a tone of voice- as it connects the dots, as such.

Successful brands speak with a unique voice. Why is that? This is because branding agencies take pride in their research and development.

Think of it this way, think about the brands you admire- what makes them unique?

How do they communicate with you and other customers?

What do you like about their voice?

Top tip: You should always look around you within the current market for examples, so you can familiarize yourself with branding strategies, so that you are aware of what branding agencies propose to you.

5. Be Consistent

Promoting your brand across all platforms consistently increases revenue by 23%.

Why should you care about your brand consistency, when you have hired a small business branding agency? You should care as much as the agency, because brand consistency leads to familiarity, and familiarity leads to trust within small businesses.

Many small businesses mistakenly change their messaging, unaware of the branding strategy in place by the agencies.

For example, a company might take a more formal tone on their website but a very casual tone on their social media page.

This can confuse your current customers and potential customers. This is where your agency will stress the importance of consistency and being clear with each other regarding publishing content.

6. Keep Your Promises

Common as it sounds, you’d be surprised how many small businesses tarnish relationships with their customers by failing to keep their promises. Not done out of intention, but usually due to the fact that they are new to the industry and still trying to find their footing.

This is an essential key to success, and also a sign you need to outsource professional help, small business branding agencies are here to ensure any investment made, you gain from it- monetary wise, and within consumer recognition.

Branding companies for small business will say happy customers who feel good about your business, are your best source of referrals.

According to a recent report, a brand promise represents everything the company stands for and what makes it worthy of customers’ consideration. Also, did you know that only half of customers believe that the companies they do business with always deliver on what they promised?

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We’ve Ranked The Best Of Small Business Branding Agencies

In the final analysis of our topic, we’ve discussed what they can do for your business, in terms of how social media networks are a key tool to communicate and influence your customers, ultimately turning your hired small business branding agency into a great return on investment.

Listed above are our top picks of perfect branding companies for small business, which are most suitable for your company, in addition to important pointers to ensure your firm has the best branding possible, that sets you apart from your competition.

Scroll Up To Find The Best Branding Companies For Small Business And Pick Your Partner Today!