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When you create a business, you are not only selling a product or service but you’re creating a brand for yourself and your company. What is a brand? Website after website will tell you something different for what exactly the “brand” of a company is, but to keep it short and sweet; a brand is the identity of a business. coffee branding @girlbosscoffeecompany Why Branding is Important? When you think of Disney World, what comes to mind? We bet it isn’t just the rides that you can think of! We think of the name, logo, music, customer service, cleanliness, it being family-friendly, etc… the list goes on and on! A brand is everything that ties together in the experience of your customers and future customers. Yes, even the reputation of your business is essential to the brand; sometimes helping or unfortunately hurting a business. Companies with a strong brand, or identity, are upfront and honest with their customers, transparent if you will. They’re loud and proud with the values that they stand for, have great customer service, have a prominent presence throughout various marketing outlets, and establishes trust with their customers, all which create a brand's life-long loyalty. The brand of a business is extremely powerful and it’s crucial to the success of your current or future business that you are taking all of the correct steps to ensure you have a strong brand. You are the face of the company, so it’s important that you get it right. Unsure of what steps to take? Don’t worry! Keep reading to hear about five brand tips to keep in mind when setting up the brand you want for your business. outside cafe @lecameleonmonfort 1. A Great Brand Starts with a Great Product The first of our brand tips is making sure that you have a product or service that is great! Without having an amazing product, customers aren’t going to want it- regardless or how much time, money, and energy go into everything else! The majority of the time when you hear about someone praising a business, people usually talk about how great “that pie tasted” or how “that product made my mornings so much less stressful.” This is the exact reactions your product needs to be driving in order for strong word of mouth marketing! the warm up @joanna.lin 2. Good Logo Goes a Long Way Having a good logo is crucial to the success of the business. It’s hard to fathom that there’s so much importance tied into a small symbol or font, but think about it. Anytime we see the Nike swoosh, we immediately know that it’s Nike. Anytime that cursive font is used, our minds immediately hear the introduction theme song where the sparkle goes behind the Disney castle. Having a strong logo essentially is important to become recognizable in the hearts of the consumer. To read more about why having a strong logo is important, check out “10 Things to Think About When Designing a Cafe Logo” By reading this you might just learn how to captivate your customers with a logo like Apple, you've been warned! holla coffee @brandmycafe 3. A Good Brand Makes Advertising Easier Businesses are spending more time and money on different forms of advertising now more than ever before. With the power of online social networking, the possibilities to reach potential customers is endless. Gone are the days where you take out an ad in the newspaper or magazines, it is now turning digital. Does traditional advertising like this still work anyways? “Americans spend more time than ever watching videos. American adults spend more than 11 hours per day watching, reading, listening to or simply interacting with media, according to a new study by market-research group Nielsen. That’s up from nine hours, 32 minutes just four years ago.” — via Market Watch With all the time Americans spend online, it’s a no brainer to invest in having an online presence. Some ways to do this is by creating an engaging Instagram account and maintaining a consistent Facebook page. Stay tuned in the near future for a more in-depth article on the importance of having an online presence and social media tips! social media engagement 4. Consistency is Very Important Consistency is important in maintaining a true follower base. Growth and change is always great for businesses, we aren’t saying to never change. Contrarily, we want your business to stay true to the core values that it was developed on and then make little changes over time. To put this to an image, think of a house. Once you strip everything out of that house, all you have left is the beams; otherwise the bones of the home. It takes change, and trends change so different furniture is brought in and maybe the kitchen countertops are different, but those strong bones are still there holding up that house. consistent business 5. Communication & Employees Communication with everyone involved in your company is extremely important to creating a great brand image. Believe it or not, the people that you hire can make or break your image within your community. There are plenty of stores that my mom refuses to dine or shop at all because of how “rude” or “unpleasant” the employees were. Crazy right?! Not really; believe it or not one employee can have a huge impact on your business. To put it into fiscal terms, Kinesis Marketing figured out how much that “one bad apple” truly could cost... “Many of our clients work in the professional services arena, where each employee represents roughly $100-$200k in annual top-line revenue. Assuming any bad apple would be sub-grouped with 3 or 4 others, their influence could span roughly $500,000 per year. At only 60% efficiency, this could translate to over $300,000 in annual revenue lost – all a result of just one person.” Here's an example... If a business is “shifty” and constantly changing their values, what do they actually believe in? For a real life example: take a military discount. If whether or not you have this is ever established with your employees and the company as a whole, then it will be up to your employees to make a game-decision call when someone asks for a military discount. Don't know what places offer military discounts, check them out here. Hypothetically speaking, let's say that someone comes in and says that they always get one, but your employee is consistent in saying no. This miscommunication with everyone involved in your business can lead to catastrophic circumstances throughout the online community. When a customer in line sees this and sends it out throughout social media... “veteran who once got a discount, now turned down at checkout”. It’s always better to be consistent in your business and if things do change, make sure to communicate that with everyone involved. well driven business The Way People Perceive Your Brand Your business is not just the products you sell or the services you provide to your customers, it is so much more than that. The brand of your business is the decider between success and failure. When building your company, it’s essential to look at all internal factors that could have an effect on your brand. Try thinking of your brand as your reputation. Nobody wants to give business to a company with a bad reputation right? Follow our more of our brand tips here and sell amazing products, have a great logo, get your name out there throughout various advertising channels, be consistent, and do not forget to communicate throughout all of your staff; do this and you’ll be on the right track to gaining a great brand image. What brand tips are you implementing on your new business? Let us know in the comments! If you have questions that we can answer don't be afraid to reach out too. Brand My Cafe helps small & medium-sized businesses, cafes and foodservice brands grow their identity through custom coffee cups, coffee sleeves & more. Join our exclusive Facebook group Restaurant Brand Builders to brainstorm ideas with passionate other passionate owners!

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