4 Basic questions to answer before branding your small business
We see a lot of small businesses undertake branding without knowing the answer to 4 basic questions about their business. Knowing the answers to these questions will help to create a powerful, meaningful and relevant brand for your small business.
The questions are very simple. Who? What? How? and Why?
Who?
Who are you and who do you do it for, is a simple yet complex question to answer, however when you get this right it will act as the foundation for the rest of your business. Why should people listen to you? What makes you and your message worth listening to? Where is your audience? Who are they? And where can they be found? All are some sub questions to ask when you’re making the first steps in branding your business. Get clear on who you are. ie. We are a boutique dental practice primarily servicing families, or I am a Landscape gardener servicing the bayside suburbs of Melbourne.
What?
What you do, is an easier question, as this is what you do everyday, however break it down to all the different sub-services or products you offer. ie. a landscape gardener may offer paving, pool landscaping, retaining walls, water tanks or japanese gardens as an expertise. Being clear on all these services will also help when you build a new website, with specific pages outlining each of your specialised services and/or products.
How?
How you do what you do is a two-pronged question. Firstly, how you do your business can relate to terms like fun, engaging, professional, detailed, excellence etc ie. the way you go about doing your business. These are more the values on how you operate your business. The second part is more mechanical. The process you go through in achieving a result for your customers / clients. ie. Discovery, Research, Concept, Design, Refinement, Launch, Review etc. ie. like our web design and development process. Each step of your process in delivering a result should be documented so it can be easily referred to, and trained for when new employees come onboard. Processes down to how the phone is answered all go toward how your brand is represented. Each touch-point your brand has with a customer/client speaks volumes on how your perceived and interpreted
“Your brand is what people say about you when you’re not in the room”
Why?
Your “Why” is the biggest and most important question to answer for not only branding your small business, but before even starting your small business. Why do you do what you do? It’s a very different, yet far more important question than what you do?
You’re “Why” will keep you on track when things get challenging (and they will) your “Why” will also not only keep you on track in achieving your goals, but provide the fire to innovate and explore new opportunities for your business. Simon Sinek explains it best in his incredible TedTalk - Start with Your Why
