Why Well-Defined Branding is Vital for Small Businesses and Organizations.

If you're a busy business owner, I'll save you from reading this blog post with a little TLDR; Poor branding will eventually kill your organization.

That sounds like hyperbole - and to some degree it might be - but the simple fact is that really great branding makes marketing easier, faster, and efficient. Great branding makes up for other shortfalls that your organization may have. An otherwise unremarkable donut shop becomes the "it" place for a particular group of people in part because of well-defined branding. Sure, well-defined branding won't save you from poor management or a terrible customer experience, but it will make your $18 donut and coffee combo feel a little more "worth it", and it will drive others to want to find out why in the process.

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Marketing vs Branding

I once said what I'm sure is the most stupid phrase ever spoken; "We see with our eyes first". Worse, I said it to a client. Awesome. But what I was stumbling to try and put together was this slightly more polished thought: The market makes assumptions about your business based on what they see first - and what they see first is your brand. That's better.

"Branding" and "Marketing" are sometimes used interchangeably, but they are very very different. Think of marketing as the "how", and branding as the "what". Marketers say things like "We aim to capture a larger portion of this particular segment of people through content creation with a carefully curated message." Branding experts say things like "I hate pantones". Okay, that's an huge oversimplification, but it's honestly not too far off. This distinction is important to you, the business owner or Executive Director, because when you hire a marketing person (or dare to become one yourself) you better be able to trust that person with your brand. A marketer that doesn't understand your brand voice or image can damage your business.

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So why is well-defined branding so vital? Let's start with the philosophy, and end with real-world tangible examples.

How Branding Creates an Impression About Your Business

When we talk about good branding, it's tempting to talk about the big players like Coca-Cola or McDonalds. Those companies have massive brand value - literally, their imagery and brand voice alone bring in millions of dollars before they even drop a basket of fries. But even small businesses benefit from great branding. Often, small business owners are skilled in a particular area, and are not necessarily marketing or branding experts. I've worked with a lot of company logos that were cobbled together in MS Word with shapes and fonts, and emailed to me as a Word document. Side note: This is a good time to remind your boss that your logo should not be a .doc or .docx file! Companies like those might offer incredible services, fantastic products, and treat every customer or client like they're royalty. But when I try to find them online, or follow them on social media, or engage with them in any way, I might be pushed away as a potential customer because the branding looks cheap. And if it looks cheap, maybe it is cheap.

If your branding is too busy, I won't look at it. If your branding is too bland, it won't catch my attention. If your branding looks cheap, I will be led to believe the same about your whole business. If your branding is jumbled, I won't take the time to unscramble it. Do you see how before I've even tried to book your services, I've already made up my mind about your business? It's no different than dressing appropriately for the office, or brushing your teeth before a date. It's not because you or I are vain, it's because we all subconsciously make these little judgements about everything we see all the time. By the way, branding is not just imagery - It's your tone, your story, your vibe. A brand doesn't have to be instantly iconic and fun; Really well-defined branding can still be clean and professional without needing a mascot or an apparel line.

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How Your Branding Impacts your SEO

Let's look at practical reasons that your brand needs to be well-defined. I've worked with businesses all over Alberta where their name is different in 4 or 5 different places, their brand colours change like the days of the week, and they can't tell you what fonts they use or what their mission or vision is. One major problem with having a business set up like that is that search engines are far less likely to push your website or content to the top of the search results. Engines like Google index your website multiple times daily. If you have your business name listed differently in several places, search engines have a tough time identifying if all of those names are the same business or different businesses, and that lowers your credibility. When your credibility drops, so does your ranking via SEO, and so on.

For example, when I was setting up Rambow Consulting Group, I ran into an early-stage issue that other small businesses may run into during their start-up when it comes to SEO. Google's new Gemini search engine AI was mistaking my business for other businesses with similar names or businesses with "Rambow" in the name. The result? It was pinpointing my marketing consultancy as an industrial logistics company. This sorted itself out rather quickly because my website followed all of the conventional SEO rules, and my branding is harmonized across all platforms and instances online.

Another consideration is that branding is not something you can trust AI to do. I've been inundated with ads and videos presenting web solutions powered by AI that claim to do branding and marketing for you. To a degree, that is true, but only if you feed the AI with already well-positioned input early on - and even then, you might get a generic output! Asking AI to come up with your branding and identity is going to deliver you a result - the same result that any other business owner can also get with those tools. I have shown clients what happens when we trust AI to do our marketing and branding for us. I created several "companies" and asked AI to make my branding - imagery, copy and all. The result? Several "companies" that all looked and sounded pretty similar, and nothing that really stood out. Branding is not something you can be lazy with and hope to have a business that makes an impression.

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What Can I Do to Help My Branding?

So what can us small business owners and not-for-profit multi-hatters do if we don't have the technical skills or degrees in marketing and graphic design? My recommendation - surround yourself with people who have those skills. You spent time, and likely no small amount of resources, to get yourself to where you are as an entrepreneur, leader, manager, director, etc. Other people have put that same level of effort and time into developing skills in graphic design, copywriting, branding, marketing, social media, and other important services. Companies can rebrand, marketing can (and will) evolve, your positioning might change, your website will grow, and it doesn't all have to be 100% correct at the very beginning. But when you don't make your branding a priority, or have your branding be well-defined, it could come back to bite you. I don't want your business to ever close - I want to see you stay in business for a long time! But one thing that is bound to lead you down the road of closure is when people say "Never heard of them."

At a minimum, your brand needs to be cohesive and harmonized. If your name is one way over here, it needs to be the same everywhere else too. Know your fonts, your colours, your logo and its variations, your slogan, and other important brand aspects. Sometimes it's easier to start by deciding what your brand will not be, and moving from there. These things can sometimes seem unimportant to big picture thinkers, or to people who are focused on the work that their company set out to do - but your customers and clients see your brand long before they reach for their credit cards.

If you want help and advice with your branding, marketing, or communications for your business or not-for-profit organization, consider hiring Rambow Consulting Group! With over 10 years in marketing, advertising, and communications, we can help you cut through the noise and market your brand out loud. We have a proven record of helping businesses and organizations with websites, social media, print materials, and other marketing and branding needs in Red Deer, Central Alberta, and beyond! Your first consultation is always free. Click here to reach out today!