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10 Step-by-Step Business Startup Guide: Step 9

Dave J

May 03, 2007

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STEP 9: Establish a brand

There is one very important intangible asset I need to create and harvest in my business; a powerful brand. Brand here refers to the “summary” of my business identity, how unique is it from the rest, and why buyers should choose my product/service over other alternatives.

Branding is important for small businesses because many small operations do not have the funding to carry out a heavy branding campaign. Thus, a brand must be so powerful that it reduces a buyer’s perception of risk and makes the purchase a satisfactory choice.

In my research on what makes a brand a “super brand”, I have found out that a SUPER BRAND consists of six elements:
1. Brand Essence – Traits of the brand in terms of its purpose, uniqueness, personality and commitment to the consumers.

2. Target Market – The brand must be specific enough to the target market it seeks to penetrate and market.

3. Brand Name – A superb brand name has several criteria; emotional, easy to be remembered, has character and original.

4. Logo – It’s a visual image of the brand that communicates the brand essence.

5. Website – Dedicate a website for your brand with a domain name similar to the brand name.

6. Demand for the brand – Product performance or service quality, consumers’ experience dealing with the company all add up to a brand experience. Make them perfect so that the brand will bring more new and repeat business, even if the company diversifies to another field. Once the trust for a brand is established, the sales will keep flowing in.
Besides the six elements, I will be proactive in creating brand awareness. I constantly find out ways and means I could promote my brand to the public through “free” advertisements, media write up, newsletter, Q & A column, discussion board and classifieds. There are many media publications and online newsletters (and community or discussion forums) that allow me to advertise for free or for a very small fee. I won’t allow shortage of advertisement or promotion budget to slow me down in creating and enhancing brand awareness.

*Note: Unproven teories to not be shown to my readers! If you need any small business startup help, feel free to visit my Website

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