Dressing Your Business for Success:
Or, I’ve got a logo, what more do I need?
BY STEVEN POWELL

Branding your business, your service, or your product is definitely NOT just for the big companies. In fact, many marketing professionals would say that it's even more important for small businesses. Why?

Put simply, the smaller the advertising budget, the harder it is to get the word out and be remembered for that “word”. Nike can take a generic slogan (Just Do It) and a generic logo emblem (The Swoosh) and throw enough money at them to make you notice and remember them.

Small businesses don’t have that option, and so, must be cleverer about positioning themselves on their consumers’ radar screens. In marketing, we want to reach out to our potential customers and “touch” them as often as possible. Generally speaking, a person needs to hear the same message 6 to 8 times before they react to it. If your brand usage is consistent (the look, feel and overall business message), your audience will be “touched” each time they hear your name, see your logo or hear your tag line. It’s all about consistency. Here are some branding issues that should be kept in mind for all your communications materials.

Logo: Is your logo prominently displayed and cleanly reproduced in everything you do? Be it emblem or logotype, nothing impacts your brand visually more than your logo. It’s on your card, your letterhead, your literature – even your corporate jet someday. Treat it with respect and others will do the same.

Company Colors: Did we mention consistency? Don’t change your color scheme just because you’re bored with it. If Hunter Green is the color on your brochure, then Hunter Green should be the dominant color in all of your materials.

Graphic Identity: Does your business card use an orange bar under your logo? Then that orange bar should also be on your letterhead, brochures and web site. Who knows? That orange bar could be just the trigger to remind someone that they’ve seen you before.

Tag Line: If your business card says, “You’ve tried the rest. Now try the best!”, then that statement should travel everywhere your logo goes. (Please, please, please… don’t use anything that generic.) From the direct product claim to the incredibly sublime to the maddeningly generic, if you believed in it enough to put it on your business card, then own it.

To sum up… consistency, consistency, consistency. For large and small businesses alike, the road to commanding the most impact and recognition possible from your marketing efforts is by branding your business consistently.