Small business owners often feel that, whatever they do, there is simply no way to compete with what the prominent industry leaders are doing. That feeling can be hammered home, especially regarding the respective sizes of your marketing budgets. There is no way for you to match what major brands are willing to spend. However, you shouldn’t give up just yet because there is plenty you can do to promote your brand on a moderate budget. At the LO: LA Agency, we love empowering businesses so they can reach their full potential. Join us as we explore 6 cost-effective ways for small businesses to develop their brand.

1.    LOOK AT YOUR CORE BRAND VALUES

If you want to develop your brand, the first thing you must do is establish a solid framework. Consider which goals you want to achieve and how you want your brand to come across to your audience. Since your brand is an intangible asset, it can be difficult for small businesses to develop their brand. We suggest you take a step back and examine your original mission and vision statement. You can get to the root of your brand identity by exploring the values it stands for. Ensure that everything you do reflects those values.

Think about why you started your business and what you want to accomplish. Every product intends to solve customers’ problems, so what issues are you trying to solve? How does your product help customers, and how does it deliver its value? Once you stop thinking about your products as a profit for your business and start viewing them as ways you provide value and enrich your customers’ lives, finding the right voice for your brand will be much easier.

2.    CONSIDER REBRANDING

Upon their launch, most small businesses need to operate on a highly moderate budget. It’s quite possible that you didn’t have the time or money to flesh out your brand when you started your business. Humble beginnings are nothing to be ashamed of, but you will likely outgrow your initial branding. If you aren’t sure whether you should go for a complete redesign of your brand, you can look for the obvious signs it’s time to rebrand.

When you decide it’s time to give your brand a facelift, you should adopt a design that will be familiar to your long-time customers. Rebranding is one thing, but don’t stray too far from what your customers are used to, or you will only alienate your audience. Additionally, consider a redesign that can serve your brand in the future since you don’t want to rebrand every year.

3.    EMBRACE BRAND STORYTELLING

There are efficient ways to create a compelling brand story without breaking the bank. Following our steps, you should have pinned down the values you want your brand to represent. Now it’s time to put them into words.

One of the most efficient forms of storytelling is a content creation strategy centered on your brand values. If you invite guest writers to contribute to your blog, ensure they don’t stray too far from the content you have been creating. To ensure your brand is accurately represented across all your channels and social media profiles, it would be best if you make a design bible or style guide.

Storytelling is one of the best ways for small businesses to develop their brand. Feel free to share your triumphs and successes with your audience since people love to hear a success story. However, you can also share your failures and struggles. As a small business owner, this can be a great way to get people to sympathize and care about your brand, which neatly leads us to our next point.

4.    CONNECT WITH YOUR CUSTOMER BASE

If you want your brand to stand out, you have to make your audience care. Evoke emotion in your audience if you want to drive more business with your customer base. It’s not enough to use brand storytelling. It would be best if you also use it to its full potential. That can include sharing user-created content (UCC) on your website and social media profiles.

Including customers as part of your brand story is a great way to attract audience attention and stand out from the competition. Invite users to engage with your brand by starting discussions on exciting topics. However, if you decide to go down this route, you should also take the time to respond to what your customers are saying.

5.    MAINTAIN YOUR PRESENCE ON SOCIAL MEDIA

We already stated that social networks are the best place to post your content. Unfortunately, this isn’t a strategy you should attempt half-heartedly. You’ll need to post regularly to gain the favor of the social media algorithm. Additionally, it would help if you didn’t post the same content across multiple social networks. Doing so will only disincentivize users from following you across various platforms. Try to adapt your content to the specific needs of every forum. If you realize that managing multiple profiles is too demanding, determine which platform is the most popular with your target demographic and make that your priority.

6.    DEFINE YOUR KEY OBJECTIVES

There are many avenues for small businesses to develop their brand. Realistically, you won’t have the resources to do everything at once as a small business owner. Therefore, you must decide exactly how you want to develop your brand. Do you want to work on improving brand recognition, trust in the brand, customer loyalty, or perceived brand value? Each of these aspects of your brand can require a different marketing approach. Determine your key objectives and focus most of your efforts there instead of stretching yourself too thin. Small and medium-sized businesses with moderate budgets that want to evolve their brand can check out our Brand-in-a-box as a customizable and cost-effective solution.

DEVELOPING YOUR BRAND – IN A NUTSHELL

As you can see, there are numerous ways for small businesses to develop their brand that doesn’t require a serious financial investment. You can accomplish a lot with a bit of effort and sincerity. Now go and start spreading the word about your brand!