Is Branding important for Your Business?

At the top of this blog is a photo of a puppy. But what was your first thought when you saw it? If you live in the UK and are of a certain age group, the answer is probably “Andrex”. (For those living abroad here’s the Andrex Puppy in action.) For those of a younger age it might be meaningless or perhaps a reminder of how popular puppy and kitten videos are on social media.

In the UK we also call vacuum cleaners “hoovers” even though Hoover is just one of the many vacuum cleaner brands. It just happened to have a first mooover advantage. (See what I did there?)

But how important is branding for the small business in 2019? One of the best business books about branding I’ve read is by Ted Mathews and is called “Brand : it ain’t the logo”. It’s worth getting a copy if you run a business and going through his steps to determine what your brand actually is in practical definable terms.

Branding covers every aspect of your business’s activities and behaviour. From your logo (no surprise there) to the way you communicate with your customers and handle problems. But it certainly does not start with your logo as you might think I am implying here. It’s starts with you and your staff and the core nature, intent and personality of your business and defines how you want to be perceived in the marketplace.

In short branding is very important as it permeates everything, it’s not just the logo. Rebranding your business is not a task to be taken on likely but if you are serious about your business it’s an exercise well worth doing and can be transformative for you, your staff and your business.
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Talk to us about branding today.