FIVE THINGS SMALL COMPANIES OFTEN GET WRONG – AND HOW TO PUT THEM RIGHT.

In a small business, there’s no need for a brand rule-book. The organization is small enough for all of its people to touch and understand the brand. Here at SENSECUBE MEDIA, we have a strong brand, but no written rules. Small companies – unlike the global supertankers – can adapt and tweak quickly. So why doesn’t every small business have a brilliant brand? Here are five things small companies often get wrong – and how to put them right.

1. Not thinking about the brand

Many companies just don’t think about their brand at all. They focus on the day-to-day, internal aspects of their business: their craft, their product, their technology – not on the ideas and feelings in people’s minds out there in the world.

Solution: every three months, step back from the day-to-day issues, bring some customers in, listen to them, find out what they value most about you.

2. Big spenders

Others think they can build their brand just by improving the website, tweeting and running adverts. But the ideas and feelings in people’s minds are influenced much more by reality than by communication.

Solution: switch your spend from advertising into creating a brilliant experience for your customers, online and offline, from the moment they first encounter you. And, in your advertising, give people useful content, not empty sales talk.

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3. Not communicating the brand values to employees

Many small companies fail to spread their brand thinking widely enough. The soul of the company is totally clear to the founder, but less so to their employees. The founder gets frustrated because their people are doing it wrong, and the people get frustrated because they don’t know what the right way is.

Solution: write down your brand values in 100 words or less. Some of our clients that we suggested these too did it and it’s working for them e.g Ladmore Nig Ltd, Eko Shoppers, Richcare Medical Diagnostics. You too should try it.

4. Failing to innovate

Often, small companies stay with a successful formula, even when it’s no longer successful. They don’t innovate, and they gradually become outdated. Brands are curious things: they partly depend on consistency and predictability, so that customers know what to expect, but they also thrive on novelty.

Solution: every six months, try something new. Get a new service or product out into the world. Think of it as a prototype, and learn from it.

5. Being too secretive

Many small companies are surprisingly insular. They like to do things themselves, in their own way. They keep their methods secret. But consumer culture today is much more open. People want to see behind the scenes, they want to share the secrets, they want to make things as well as consuming them. Solution: whatever it is your company does, share it with your customers to help them feel like insiders and spread the brand.

Through these five suggestions, any small business can amplify its impact in the world, and make a small company into a big brand. Just like what we are doing now (SENSECUBE MEDIA).

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Want to talk about Branding for small scale business? Call us on: +2348067737819 Email: sensecubemedia@gmail.com Sensecube Media | Lagos #sensecubemedia