Introduction

Are you setting up a new small business? Do you feel overwhelmed by all the things you need to do to brand your business?

The Branding your New Business Roadmap gives you a general overview of the steps you need to take to brand your business. I have written this post to help you brand your small business and be clear about what you want your business to achieve!

Following these steps will help you gain clarity about your goals and vision for your business. You’ll understand why you want to be in business in the first place and learn how to build your vision and values into your brand from the beginning.

What is Branding?

Branding is your business’s personality or public “face.” It represents the human qualities, aspirations and goals that help you connect and build relationships with new and existing clients. The aim of branding is to help people notice your business and then to recognize your business as one they can rely on. In other words, to help people know, like and trust your business.

Guidance & Notes for the Branding Your New Business Roadmap

Take time to go through each of the following steps. Answer the questions and make notes for yourself. You’ll discover the areas where you have clarity about your business and, more importantly, the areas where you need to spend more time. It may be that you need to gather more information or resources. It’s better to do this reflection at the beginning than to discover later that you’re not really sure what you’re doing!

1. What is the purpose of your business?
   Your purpose is the lifetime aspirations of your business. Why do you want to start this business? What’s its reason for being?
2. Where does your business sit in the market?
   An important part of building a business is understanding your competitors: who they are, what they offer, where they market their products and services, and to whom. This will help you to see where your business currently sits within your chosen market.
3. Carry out an analysis of your competitors
   Who are your competitors? They may be people or businesses that you know, who have inspired you, or who have a high profile in your market. What do they offer, what are they doing well and who do they market to? Identify opportunities they might have missed! Don’t forget to check out their websites and social media platforms.
4. Are there any gaps in their offers that you can fill?
   How do your products and services differ from your competitors’? What areas do you cover that they don’t? What sets you apart from them? This is your niche.
5. Work out who your ideal client would be
   There are several ways of doing this. The first way is to imagine your “ideal client”: someone who would love your products and/or services. The second way, which I found more useful, is to think of someone you know (e.g. a friend, neighbor or family member) who would be a great potential client and use them as a starting point. Finally, consider who is NOT an ideal client.
6. What are their problems, and how will you solve them?
   How can you help? How are you going to do it, and what resources do you need? What commitments are you making to your clients?
7. Determine your new position in the market (your niche)
   Considering all of the previous information, is your niche the right fit for your market? If not, tweak your offers to make sure your business really helps potential clients.
8. Consider or reconsider the name of your business
   Taking into account your answers to number seven, is your original business name still suitable?
9. Consider what core values are important to you
   What values are important to you and your business? Your core values help you to identify the guiding principles that underpin your entire business. These values should be qualities that embody your business and “speak to you.” Your clients will be looking to see if your core values align with theirs!
10. Using your core values, write up your mission & vision
    Your mission is what your business will do daily to achieve its purpose and/or vision. Your vision is a future goal or outcome you want to achieve for your clients and your business. Next, create a tagline for your business. This brief but meaningful statement describes what your business is about in a few words, e.g. “Community and collaboration.” Try to use your core value words when writing up your mission, vision and tagline.
11. Put your core value words into core value statements
    Using some of your top core values, create core value statements, e.g. “collaboration” can translate into “To provide branding design services to small businesses through accountability, innovation and collaboration.”
12. Use color psychology to determine your colors & fonts
    Color psychology should play a major role in determining the color palette you choose when branding your business. It is a powerful tool if you know how to use it effectively. As such, knowing the personality and psychological values of different colors and how they can affect your clients is vital! See my blog post, A Guide to Color Psychology and Branding.
13. Use a mood or Pinterest board to gather inspiration
    It’s a great idea to start a Pinterest board to collect inspiration for your new business (or even for your ongoing business). Pin images, backgrounds, color palettes, font pairings, quotes, etc. that appeal to you. These ideas can inspire your choices for your website and social media platforms later on. You can use a customizable mood board to put different elements together to see what works well together.
14. Create a website and logo for your business
    There are lots of resources available to help you create your own website. Most people use a self-hosted WordPress installation to set up their site. WPBeginner.com is the largest free WordPress resource site that receives millions of page views per month for good reasons. Their blog post, How to Choose the Best WordPress Hosting in 2021, looks at some of the best WordPress hosting companies in the market. WPBeginner.com can keep you updated on the latest trends and help you set up your website for free! There are many free logo makers around. A helpful resource is an article called the Ultimate List of the Best Free Logo Makers and Generators. As the title suggests, this resource lists nine free logo makers, including Canva, for you to look at. There are also services available like Fiverr, where freelance graphic design artists can create a logo for you at little cost.
15. Determine your social media platforms
    Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, YouTube, etc., are all well-known social media platforms. Do not try to post and engage on all of them: you will not be able to maintain it. Instead, pick one primary and one secondary platform that is good for your type of business and stick with that. Don’t forget Pinterest. Although it is a visual search engine, it is a great platform to send clients to your website.
16. Create business pages for your chosen social media platforms
    You don’t have to have a business page on your social media platforms, but I highly recommend it. Business pages offer insights, analytics and other tools that personal pages do not have. All social media platforms have extensive help on how to set up a business page. There are also lots of blog posts aimed at beginners, so creating a social media presence is quite easy.
17. Set up an online shop, if required
    If you sell physical or online products or offer appointments for your services, consider having your own shop page on your website. Whilst many commercial shopfronts are available, e.g. Shopify, Etsy, Creative Market etc., you don’t “own” them. So if they shut down for any reason, there goes your shop!
18. Make sure you have written up a strategic plan
    A strategic plan outlines a defined path for your business. You need to have some kind of direction, even if you are a solopreneur! Because a strategic plan establishes a direction for your business, it helps you focus on the goals and targets you need to meet for your business to thrive in the future.

Conclusion

I hope you find the “Branding you New Business Roadmap” helpful. I have over 35 years of experience in all aspects of running a large private multi-faceted business in the capacity of CEO and then as a Member of the Board. I know what it takes to run a successful business, and I want to help you!

P.S. If you want a more structured approach to put your brand together, check out my Branding Your Small Business Workbook, with the bonus Tone of Voice and Communication Toolkit!