A branding guideline, also known as a brand guide or style guide, is crucial for establishing your business’s unique brand identity among customers and competitors. Whether you’re a new brand or an existing one, you need a branding guideline to stand out. In this guide, we will provide you with a branding guideline that will help you make your small business known in the market.
Let’s start!
Branding Guidelines For Newly Launched Businesses & Existing Ones
Do you own a small business or are you thinking of launching one? If so, then how are you planning to brand it? It is essential to know how to make your business known in the market when launching a new brand. There are several key considerations to keep in mind when competing in a well-established market.
Here are the things you have to look after:
- Product Niche
- Marketing
- Designing
- Online Existence
If you follow this guideline, you will surely capture the attention your brand is seeking.
Product Niche
The first step is to select the product niche you want to work on. For example, are you going to compete in the retail industry, the cosmetic industry, the food industry, or more? Once you have defined the niche for your product, it will be easy for you to compete in that market. Take the cosmetic industry as an example. Choosing this industry will help you determine which audience you should target. For the cosmetic industry, we know that the majority of consumers would be women, but of what age, style, and preferences? Getting to know all of these things about your targeted audience will help you develop a brand strategy.
Talking of strategies, let’s move on to the next topic, marketing!
Marketing
Marketing plays a big role in global brand rollout strategy. Marketing is what tells you how to build a strong brand identity for your business. According to the father of marketing, Philip Kotler, “Marketing management is the art and science of choosing target markets and getting, keeping, and growing customers through creating, delivering, and communicating superior customer value”.
He also introduced the four major Ps of marketing, which are:
- Product
- Packaging
- Price
- Place
We already know about the product, how it works, and how it helps in targeting the desired audience, so let’s move on to the packaging.
Packaging
According to Kotler, packaging plays an important role in brand-building marketing. But how? Well, because it’s the packaging with which the customer first interacts. It’s the packaging that catches the eye of your customers and influences their purchasing decision.
If the packaging of your product is excellent, then it’s likely that the buyer will be impressed and make a purchase, but if it’s not, then it will likely sit on the market shelves. This is why it is recommended for you to get custom printed boxes for your products. Having this kind of packaging allows your brand logo to be printed, which helps customers remember where they bought it. Imagine a customer opening a high-quality logo and branding package to get their product; this will amaze them, providing the unboxing experience that they will never forget.
Price
Price also plays a vital role. People want an excellent product but at affordable prices, so it doesn’t nudge their budgets in any way. You must analyze the market to determine the prices at which your competitors are selling their products, and then you must compete with those prices. You don’t have to cut the profits, but you do need to offer some initial discounts when launching a new product, so that customers will be attracted to your product.
Place
Place also matters in marketing; you must ensure that your brand is noticed when you launch. It is important for small businesses’ branding and marketing. You need to choose a busy location where many people congregate, such as a mall or a bustling street. This way, your brand will receive the attention and recognition it needs in a crowded area.
Designing
Do you know that how you design your product also matters in marketing? Your product should not be just bland; it should have an artistic look that complements the customer’s purchasing decision. It should be noteworthy so they can share it on their social media platform.
How will design branding help your business? When will they publish your product with brand initials on it? Your brand will also start receiving word-of-mouth recognition from a range of groups for free.
Online Existence
We all know that when we go out to a store, what do we do when we see a new product sitting on retail shelves? We look it up on Google. This is where an online presence matters a great deal. For that, you would need to have an online presence. It could be through social media platforms, such as Instagram, Facebook, X (formerly known as Twitter), or your business site. This ensures customers that they are buying from a valid company that is also listed on Google My Business.
Final Thoughts
Following these basic branding guidelines for your small businesses and newly launched brands will help your brand grow in the market. Not only this, but if you implement these with the right techniques, you will be able to take your small-scale business to a large scale.
