Small Business Marketing Guide - DIY (do-it-yourself) BRAND MARKETING STRATEGIES to HELP YOU GROW YOUR BUSINESS

You might think that when you move your business brand online, you’ll lose much of the personal interaction enjoyed at a physical store or office. With a vibrant online community, however, not only will you interact with your customers and client base, but you’ll do so in a manner that’s far more efficient than any face-to-face conversation or phone call. These tips below will help you build and promote your online brand.

1. Lay the foundation. Think of the online arm of your business as the digital version of a physical store. You’d want to keep your storefront neat, clean and organized.

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This may surprise you, but “Guy’s Golden Touch” is not “whatever Guy touches turns to gold.” If only that were true. Instead, Guy’s Golden Touch is “whatever is gold, Guy touches.” The concept is that something that’s gold is easy to brand and sell, so the task is simple: find or create something gold.

This recommendation may impress you for a second but probably not much longer. It’s really a duh-ism as in “Duh, of course I should create something great. I had to read this blog post to learn this?” What I need to do is take you from this 50,000 foot strategic view right down to a 2,000 feet tactical view.

For this, I invoke the acronym DICEE. It stands for deep, intelligent, complete, elegant, and emotive. These are the five salient qualities of stuff that’s made of gold.

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Think of a megabrand—Coca-Cola, Apple or McDonald’s. Their logos and brand colors immediately jump to mind, right? Unfortunately, omnipresence isn’t achieved overnight. So let’s forget about logos and design for a moment. Not that those aren’t key elements when building a brand, but as a small business with limited resources, you’ll have to tap into other ways to make people remember your brand and your product.

One of the most effective—and cost-effective—brand identity tools is storytelling. A good story doesn’t just create a connection between you and your customers, it’s also something they’re likely to share with others.

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A blog can be a great tool for marketing your business and establishing yourself as an expert in your field. However, like anything you do to promote your business, it is important to make sure your blog is consistent with the brand you’ve built for your small business.

Here are some tips to keep in mind if you’ve decided to start a blog for your business:

1. Your domain is part of your brand: There are a lot of free blog-hosting options out there, such as Typepad, WordPress.com and Blogger. However, they tack their name on to your web address in exchange for the free hosting. So if you are Janey Smith, CPA and start a Blogger blog, your blog address becomes “janeysmithcpa.blogspot.com.” For just a few dollars a year, you can own your own domain — one that rolls off the tongue, sticks in the customer’s mind and looks great printed on a business card. Choose a domain you would still want when you have a loyal following and are interviewed by the Wall Street Journal.

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