Having a brand identity is extremely important to your business’s success. However, many business owners have misconceptions about brand identities that can damage their businesses.”Brand identity” is the result of the combination of consistent visual elements that are used in your marketing materials. A basic brand identity consists of a logo, business card, letterhead, and envelope. It can be extended to include a website, brochure, folder, flyer, or any other professionally designed pieces.I’m not a big company: I can’t have/create/build a brand.Just because your company’s not huge doesn’t mean that you can’t benefit from creating a brand identity. Even for the smallest company, a brand identity will make you look bigger than you are, will make you appear more professional, and will make your sales process easier. You’ll also have a starting point for designing all of your marketing pieces, and your brand identity will make your marketing a breeze as well.You might not be able to create a branding program that is as comprehensive and self-sustaining as those of some of the big companies, because you won’t be able to educate your clients like they can. Big companies with immediately recognizable logos and brand materials have made those logos and materials recognizable by spending a lot of time, money, and effort on educating the public about their brands. This is mainly done through advertising.But this isn’t to say that you should jump out there once you have built a brand and start advertising; for many small businesses, advertising is expensive and doesn’t offer a good return on investment.I run my business in a personalized, one-on-one way: building a brand would make my business impersonal.Building a brand identity isn’t necessarily a depersonalizing tactic. You can build a brand that’s very personalized, and even centered on you and the way that you work with your clients. You can even use the personalized way that you run your business as a differentiation tool. That personalization can be one of the pieces of your business that makes you different.Some major brands are built with this personalization. For example, Mrs. Field’s Cookies is built all around her story, techniques, and recipes.Having a brand identity shouldn’t change the way that your business works. There might be some slight changes when you start working on the inner layers of your brand, but brand identity just changes the face of your business to the public, making it look cleaner and more organized and professional. You can even design your brand identity to look personalized by using a signature, initials, or even your photo in your logo or Visual Vocabulary.Creating a brand is too much work.There is a lot of work involved in creating a brand identity and then creating the rest of the brand to match it. But it’s all part of the overall work that you should do when you begin your business: determining your differentiators, creating your brand foundation and creating some of your brand basics, and positioning your brand.Doing this work will give your business a clear path, and will make all aspects of your business easier. You will have the groundwork for your business laid out, and you’ll be able to build on that groundwork to create success.Beyond this groundwork, you shouldn’t have to do much work; if you pick a good designer, you should be able to take more of an advisory role. Beyond answering some initial questions about your business and brand, you should be able to sit back and make the choices between options presented to you by that hired specialist, throughout the development of your logo and brand identity.Your level of involvement in the design process will also vary depending on the amount of personalization that you have in your business. If you’re running a very personalized business, then you will probably want to guide the design process closely, since in a personalized business your logo should reflect your tastes and style. If you’re building a bigger business, then the style of your logo should reflect the industry and what’s best for your business; often, a designer will guide those choices.I can’t use a symbol that’s been used before: I have to be entirely unique.By using a variation of a symbol that’s been used before, you’re leveraging the recognition and meaning that the symbol already has. This is often the best course of action for small businesses, because you won’t have a large budget to spend on educating your audience on the meaning of a new symbol.What should be unique about your brand identity is the way that you use these symbols. You can develop new combinations of symbols to communicate your message. Or you can arrange the symbols in a different way, or use them in place of letters in your logo to make it more unique.Another way that you can make your symbols unique is to draw them using different techniques or effects, such as calligraphy or paint strokes, or using different proportions. These techniques make your symbols unique and interesting, and can also communicate more of your brand’s personality.

A worker shortage might be excellent news for the economy! Maybe, just maybe, firms will awake and see workers’ substantial contribution to their success. Some CEOs take unconscionable sums and destroy their firm’s value, unlike many frontline workers who create value. During the pandemic, CEOs took vast sums as they laid-off workers. Some firms sought bankruptcy protection, but hat didn’t stop their greedy CEOs from snatching hefty bonuses.

We have a worker shortage and firms are scrambling to hire whomever is willing. Some firms, like McDonalds have paid signing bonuses. Canada’s Loblaw and its competitors paid a bonus to frontline workers when the pandemic began. They stopped it after three months in unison with their competitors. When government confronted them about this collusion, they claimed it happened independently. Go figure! It’s like you caught your three-year-old with her hand in the cookie jar and she said, Mom, “Cookie Monster did it!”

Worker Shortage Inevitable With Shoddy Treatment

Loblaw’s behavior disturbs me. During the bonus period, profits soared. Per se, that’s no problem. I favor firms making profits. To be sure, I am against government taxing profits. But paying workers the bonus during the pandemic shouldn’t hinge on profits. It was just right. Meanwhile, my wife and I shopped at a Loblaw store and workers continued their excellent service despite Loblaw’s slight.

Leaders must realize frontline workers are the firm’s foundation and treat them well, not as cogs turning out CEOs bonuses! When employers treat workers like machines, they disengage. Gallup said, over several decades, they and other researchers found a strong link between employees’ workplace engagement and the company’s overall performance. Yet employers refuse to accept this. But there is good news: surveys show some firms break the mold and treat workers with respect: Cisco, Apple, Accenture, IBM, FedEx are a few.

Next Quarter’s Earnings Drives Businesses

Companies see next quarter as the prize, so they exploit workers and fudge next quarter’s numbers. I repeat: I am against government taxing business. However, I favor the Biden Build Back Better provision to tax share buybacks that the House passed, and it is before the Senate, even if it might have only a modest effect on share buybacks. Companies shouldn’t be spending billions buying back shares while exploiting workers.

Firms should present to shareholder meetings options to use buyback funds. Choices might include effects of paying bonuses to frontline workers with buyback funds. Shareholders should hear about potential strategic investments, too. Another option is stopping buy-backs for five years after layoffs. Executives, too, shouldn’t get bonuses within five years of layoffs. We must get rid of worker exploitation that enhances CEO bonuses.

Growing a small business can be a challenge. There is that initial excitement when you first become aware of the idea you wish to create, to then be followed by the immense amount of responsibility it takes to startup your own company. Start off small, try not to get overwhelmed and realize that not all great companies succeeded overnight.

Brand management is one variation of turning the company from a household name into an incredible story. What exactly is branding? Well, it includes utilizing various forms of media until you have gained enough recognition in your community to help elevate your business and its sales. Brand development involves delivering the message your company wishes to convey to the general public. It will pull the consumer in and motivate them. It can also breed customer loyalty which is imperative in any successful brand. There are several ways to do this, but first you must carefully review which options will work best for your company prior to getting started so that you do not waste any funds on excessive advertising.

Due to the tremendous amount of success with the world wide web, there are millions of dollars to be made for those companies fortunate enough to have the know how to market themselves properly online. Small businesses can change rather quickly, with the right brand marketing plan in place. For example, you may have the best products in the world and sell them at unbeatable prices, but if no one recognizes your brand, then you will not be raving in sales profits this month. If the general public can identify themselves with your company, then you will embark on a much more satisfying month in sales and exposure for all to become aware of. You would not believe the amount of business one can obtain just by making themselves a catchy slogan or tagline to promote their company. Millions of people each and everyday buy a product based on a tagline, based on a jingle they heard on a radio advertisement, not solely ever on the actual product they paid for.

Visual branding, like for example logo can help greatly a smaller company with not a lot of funds for creating a great gimmick. It can help the buyer become familiar with your line and your products. If you commit to making a product line that is of high value and quality and also commit to helping your customers with the utmost respect, you will fall into a successful business branding demise.

You will need to look at your company type closely before going forward with any plans to increase the traffic. For instance, if you are seeking more sales in your flooring business, you may not need to advertise in formats that are for teens or young adults such as a magazine or a fitness publication. Instead, seek out those means of help to obtain those additional clients that are specific to your average business client demographic. Grow from that base, get more referrals and do sales specials often to encourage new clients and make more money.