Gill Cummings-Bell BA (Hons). M.Sc. MBA. PGCE. MIfL.

To ensure that you are distinct, gain trust and loyalty from your customers, you need to think of your business as a brand and not as a business 

Building A Small Business Brand

Building a brand is the most important strategy a small business can employ to make it successful. In simple business terms, a brand can be defined as a collection of strategically selected associations that represent you or your company within its market or markets. The stronger the relationship is between what you do and whom you do it to (your customers), the more distinct your brand will be.

In the fitness industry many small businesses work alongside other small business competitors or within a larger company or brand. To ensure that you are distinct, gain trust and loyalty from your customers, capitalise on your market or develop a new one, you need to think of your business as a brand and not as a business. 

Strategy

The only brand strategy a small business should use is to build a credible reputation and to communicate your message in a meaningful way to your existing and new customers. But that’s the difficult task. Small businesses often start with the creative side of the brand identity – logo graphics, tone colours etc. – rather than starting with the credibility. 

To build your credibility you need to ensure the service you offer is consistent and meets the needs of your customers. The most important key factor is to understand the problem that customers face and deliver a high level of customer experience in helping them solve that problem.  You need to ensure your ‘service blueprint’ closes any zone of tolerance that a client

You should start by going right back to the core of what you do. Evaluate the why, the where, the when and with whom in detail. Is it a unique business? Does it solve customer’s problems? Is it better than the competition? This will help you to decide how to position yourself against the competition and how to communicate your proposition to your customers. Always look at it from the customer’s perspective

Communication

Once you have built your credible service you need to communicate the message to your market or new markets.

A large business can – and will – throw money at brand awareness on a national level. This is more difficult for a small business as the cost can be high and sometimes with little return. However, as a brand you do need to communicate with your markets effectively to build brand awareness, so killer communication is the key.

Killer communication is salesmanship multiplied. If you get it right, what you will have is very happy people telling other people they are coming to you. 

If you can define the problem that your customers experience, develop your service level, values and credibility around that – you can then sell them the solution. Branding then becomes your most valuable asset.

Your brand is your anchor and representative of your customer’s experience, with your name at the end of it. Take a brand such as Coca Cola. No matter where in the world you buy it, it still tastes like Coca Cola. Your brand equals your reputation, and your credibility counts. Therefore, if you have a superior service, you will have a superior reputation and therefore superior brand.

Why not join us on our new business and marketing module where you will learn how to blue print your services and set your services promise.