23 Mar 2009

Branding your Handmade Business.


What is branding all about?
Branding is more than just the name you give your business. It is not only about your name and logo. It's also about customer perception of you, your goods, their packaging and the quality of service you provide. It's about the overall customer perception of the goods you sell, but also the concept you sell with them. What do you want your customers to instantly think of when they see your shop name or logo? That's what branding is all about.

Why should I worry about branding my small on-line shop?
Do you want your business to grow? If you do then branding is essential. If you want customers to return, bring their friends and spread the word about your goods you have to give them a brand concept to take away with them from your shop. They need to be able to rave about the goods, service and the attention to detail and they have to be able to associate that with a logo, name and product. This goes from the first contact they have with you/your shop to the moment they receive their goods and the after sales care they receive.

As has been said many times before, branding is in the attention to detail. Every person coming into contact with your business must go away with the same customer care whether they purchase or not. All purchasing customers must get consistent service and that service must be of the highest standard you can offer. All packaging, emails, business cards, letter heads, invoices, receipt and adverts have to tell the same story. They all have to build on the brand you are giving yourself.

Is branding really all that important?
The simple answer to that is yes. Think about some common things that people buy and think about how you choose the items you buy. Do you just look for the cheapest price when you buy a car? I'm guessing not. I'm guessing you will buy into one of the concepts that the car companies sell along side their cars. Volvo is associated with Safety. Toyota with fuel economy. Mercedes with luxury. This branding affects customers decision on what they buy.

You need to brand your goods to appeal to the people that you foresee purchasing your goods.

There is a lot of advice on-line about how to brand your small business. Take some time out to check it out and read up about the subject. It is a complex mixture or things that make up the final way people perceive your brand, so make sure you do the best you can to brand yourself well.

Check out these links as a starter, but there are hundreds of others out there.

Small Biz Mentor
Small Branding
9 Branding tips for small businesses
Branding 101
Keys to branding your small business

Look around and gather lots of tips and hints and then get to work branding your business.

Oh and for a bit of fun have a go at this Logo Game.

Written by Lynne of PiratePixieCrew and Hyperloop Hoops

8 comments:

  1. Am getting ready to check out the links you posted and thanks for the tips.

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  2. Really interesting thanks for all the info.

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  3. Already trying to brand, thanks for the tips!

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  4. I've had a hard time sticking with just one type of item - but am focusing more and more on painted glass items - and think I will stay with that - so maybe this branding concept will finally work for me -
    great post - thanks

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  5. thanks for the information, I am learning new things everyday online. Off to check it all out and start branding my business :)

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  6. This is great advice - I'm trying to brand as a recycled goodies shop with chicken doorstops. I hope it comes across!

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  7. Thanks for the links! I still don't have something in mind for my logo, though. I want it something to be really unique, of course - not just some circle thing with font or whatever. My friends from Tennessee are helping me build this business, and I'm getting my fingers crossed. Good thing I already have some loyal customers. What about search engine optimization techniques? Are they actually needed (aside from putting up your business blog). I guess a good company has good branding, huh?

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