It's easy to get caught up in the excitement of creating great visual branding elements. But small business branding is much more than that. Let’s talk about what everyone gets wrong when it comes to small business branding.

Small business branding is more than visuals

This concept is the one thing that small business owners get wrong. Getting your logo, color scheme and tagline figured out is only a part of the journey. There is so much more than creating visual branding elements when developing your small business brand.

Your logo is not your brand. Your color scheme is not your brand. Your visual branding is only one part that you need to develop for your small business branding.

Having a slick logo and awesome colors is helpful. Unfortunately, it won’t bring you more customers or sales. A great color scheme on your website won't get Google to serve it up any higher in search results. A slick logo won't get you more followers on Instagram. An awesome visual brand can only take you so far.

Great keywords, an outstanding brand voice, a consistent digital presence - all of these elements help you resonate with your ideal customer. All of these elements, and more, add up to your small business brand.

Being married to the visual branding

You’ve already spent a lot of money creating your visual brand and you don’t want that money to be wasted. So you shoehorn them into your Facebook posts - whether or not they work.

Your visual branding should always align with your customers. If it doesn't, then potential customers will just move on.

As a small business owner, your branding needs to be flexible

If you create a logo and over time your customer base shifts, say from B2B to B2C, then you should definitely change the logo to match that new customer base.

If you personally are a fan of bright, shiny colors, but that isn't a color scheme that will match up with your customer's aesthetic,  then you shouldn't use your bright, shiny colors for your business.

You could come up with the most clever idea for a name, but if that level of cleverness doesn't click with your customers, then that name doesn't have great value for your business and should be changed.

Proper branding is a big picture

Your visual branding is only a part of that big picture.  All of your small business branding needs to align with your customer and their needs. You win once you align your brand elements to your customer.

If you are looking for help when it comes to creating quality small business branding, we are here to help.

Our Small Business Brand Audit is a great way to help you determine where you are in building your brand and where you need to go. It helps you identify your customer's perspective and position your brand based on your specific competitive evaluations. It also helps you to align your brand messaging by mapping your customer's motivations and determine where your small business stands on it's path to actually being a brand. This self guided brand audit is completely free and available to you at the link below. Join the program and complete it on your own schedule. The program consists of six videos as well as a workbook that contains instructional activities to help you transition your small business into a brand.