When you wake up in the morning and get dressed for work, you are aware of who you are in your business and what you need to wear to get the job done. Your clothing choice fits in with the role that you play and the brand strategy that you play by.
You ensure that you pair the right shoes and the right suit or dress because you want to create brand awareness and imply professionalism to all who your expertise comes into contact with.
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But what is your business wearing?
Are you creating brand awareness by putting on the best dress(shirt) for your business?
As an SMD, you know that integrity is established through trust and the creation of a mutual relationship. Your customers believe that they are spending their hard-earned money in a place they can be sure will give them the return they are after. This confidence can be reinforced through your brand strategy and through the creation of brand awareness.
There are 5 aspects to consider when ensuring your business is dressed to impress:
1. Logo
Your logo represents who you are and what your business stands for. It is an important factor in creating recognition for your customers. When you think of some of the most successful companies today, you not only think of their brand but of their logo. We know Apple by the apple, Nike by the tick and Mc Donalds by the M – they are all points of recognition.
But can a logo actually attract customers?
It has the ability to both attract and put off customers. Your logo needs to be well-designed and easy to recognise by potential clients so that you can create brand awareness. Businesses will spend thousands of dollars each year testing out their logo on focus groups and adjusting to ensure their brand is recognizable.
But you don’t need to go that far – as an SMB you simply need to ensure the following points are in place to have your logo work for you:
- Your logo is crisp and clear
- It represents who you are
- It is enticing and attractive. Aim for memorable or clever
- It is scalable and will look the same when being made smaller or bigger
- It is versatile and can be seen clearly on any device from a laptop to a tablet or cellphone.
- Your logo should be related to your business and what you do.
- The same logo is used across all platforms, letterheads, emails and products
Want to know more about creating brand awareness? Check out this super helpful blog post on the subject!
2. Email address
Nothing screams unprofessional like a business email address coming from a generic email like @hotmail or @gmail. If you want your business to be taken seriously, then provide an email address or a series of emails that give the image of a company that has a person who will listen to what your customers have to say, even if they all land up in the same inbox.
Consider structuring your emails as follows instead:
- admin@yourbusinessname.co.uk
- inquiries@yourbusinessname.co.uk
- feedback@yourbusinessname.co.uk
- hello@yourbusinessname.co.uk
3. Colours
Did you know that the colour of your branding can tell a customer many things about your business? But are they the right things?
According to The Visual Capitalist, some of our favourite brands use very specific colours for a reason:
- Red is a colour that allegedly stimulates appetite. That may explain why fast-food restaurants like McDonald’s, KFC and Pizza Hut use red in their brands.
- Black implies sophistication. Some of the largest luxury brands in the world use black as a primary branding colour, including Chanel, Michael Kors, Prada, Dior, or Georgio Armani.
- Blue is believed to represent productivity. It has been the colour of choice for large corporate brands like IBM, AT&T, and Forbes.
- Green is a symbol of fertility
- Pink is chosen for a feminine feel.
Have fun with the colour psychology of your business logo. And if you start to feel overwhelmed by the weight of such a key business decision, by all means, employ the help of an experienced graphic designer to bring your vision to light.
Check out this list of graphic design job sites and let a pro get to work striking the perfect colour balance on your behalf!
4. Images
The images used for your brand from your email signatures to social pages need to be three important things:
- Professional, representing a business appropriately.
This means your contact details for WhatsApp, your Google image and email signature all need to carry the same professional headshot. It can be off-putting to a potential customer to send an email but your Google image is of your last trip to Spain.
Equally so, if you list a contact cellphone number, you want your image that comes up on Whatsapp to also represent your business even if you never intended to receive a Whatsapp message. People will save your number and they will sneak around to see who you are.
The same can apply to your Facebook page. If you have a personal page, ensure the image is not horribly inappropriate and ensure your settings are set to private. If you are a Facebook-based business, people will snoop around your private page and seeing pictures of the stag night you attended last weekend is not going to score you any points.
- Clear, not blurry or stretched.
Download your image or logo in a file that is suitable for where it is being used. Apps like Canva are a great tool for enabling you to get the correct sizing.
- Consistent, friendly and welcoming
If you are a powerhouse executive with an expensive suit and big bank account, you still need to have an image that encourages connection. Using the same headshot across multiple platforms allows for easy and quick recognition.
An important factor to also keep in mind is that body language can be the difference between a customer feeling encouraged to make contact, or deciding to stay clear of your business.
Take a look at this guide on preparing for your next headshot:
5. Contact details
Are you contact details the same across all of your platforms? This is especially important if a business has changed details over the years. Many companies will remember to change their website contact details but forget their social media pages which can be a major downfall when running a brand awareness campaign.
Tick off the following list if you are sure your company details are consistent:
- Website header, footer and contact page
- Website links to email addresses and social media pages
- Email signature
- Letterhead
- Business cards
- Pamphlets
- Blog posts
- Social media
- Backlinks and older posts
Creating brand awareness can start with the small steps we have shared with you, and doesn’t need to be a massive campaign. By ensuring these basics are in place, you are already creating a giant leap of faith for your customers as they begin to recognise who you are across multiple platforms.
In closing
If your business is dressed for success, you can be sure you have set yourself up for building relationships that can convert potential customers into lifelong consumers.