Small businesses face branding challenges that large businesses usually don’t face. Small businesses have to brand their business on a small budget and with little time. There are various ways through which small businesses can brand their product or services. For example, they can have the in-house talent to create the brand logo and guidelines. On the other hand, they sometimes have marketing issues due to a lack of resources.
Small businesses have key benefits while building a branding their products or services. Big brands are having dozens of decision-makers. In this case, the large companies go through a process to conclude. When you have a lot of opinions in a room, they lead to polite branding ideas but are not beneficial for the company. On the other hand, small businesses just have to make a decision and act on it without going through long processes.
Branding Small Businesses
A large brand does not have a personality as compared to a small business or brand. A multinational company might have to think over different aspects while running their business in different cultures.
On the other hand, the small business operates in a small area or just within the state, so they don’t have to think over a demographical requirement to run their business. There are plenty of inspiring examples of small businesses that you can use for your small brand.
Top Examples of Small Business Branding
Death Wish Coffee
When you visit their website, you will see the Death Wish branding on the front and center. It is billed as the strongest coffee in the world. Death Wish plays on the angle of death with its simple yet evocative design. Death Wish’s stellar branding and positioning come from the in-depth research of the audience.
While researching about the customers, Death Wish realized that there was a whole segment of the coffee market that did not particularly care about the taste but just wanted to feel awake. The success of Death Wishes made it a classic example of marketing that even got them a Super Bowl commercial. The small business branding tips used by this brand are:
- Be Bold: It is not a coffee that gives you energy but it is a Death Vow. The choice of being bold and evocative by their name, helped this small business to define the position of the brand.
- Be Known For Something: If you heard about the strongest coffee in the world and drank coffee only for caffeine, then why not Death Wish.
- Simple and Memorable: A powerful message helps the Death Wish to stand out in the market, especially in the mind of people.
Tentsile
Showcasing your product is the best branding technique to make your small business successful. This is what Tentsile has been doing. This small business produces a lightweight tent that can be suspended from the ground like a hammock. The logo of the brand demonstrates that how the product works. It means the tent is suspended between the three trees.
To brand their small business, they used a website and Instagram. The showcasing of the product with a variety of landscapes made it easier for them to market their product. The incredible and stunning images made it easier for the customers or viewers to imagine using the suspended tents. Also, the effective message by Tentsile made it successful using different branding techniques.
- Connect To A Lifestyle: The creative identity of Tentsile gives other small businesses to provide a particular lifestyle to their customers.
- Activate An Emotion: The High definition images with stunning landscapes give produce a sense of wonder.
Imperfect Produce
Imperfect Produce is a food start-up that started after a successful Indiegogo campaign in 2015. The company picks the food that is too ugly for the grocery stores and it sells them at the discounted prices. This small business finds a home for ugly products instead of wasting them. They gain great success through social media marketing using social network platforms such as Instagram.
They used Instagram to spread a strong brand identity to their customers. The branding strategy of Imperfect Produce is to set wide-eyed eyes on distorted veggies. The branding technique used by Imperfect Produce for success is as follows:
- Make Profit From Flawed Product: The products of the Imperfect Produce are a bit ugly. It would have been harder to sell them, so the company decided to turn the warped vegetables into adorable wide-eyed rogues.
- Connect To A Larger Post: Imperfect Produce fights against food waste. The story of this small business is powerful and inspiring to build brand loyalty.
Vinome
If you are not a wine lover or you are just looking for new wines to try, then you should check out Vinome. This small business analyzes the DNA of the customer or viewer to find out the favorite flavors that are genetically predisposed to like. Then, the company sends the wine according to the unique tastes of the customers.
The interesting logo of this company having a DNA double helix corkscrew is amazing. But this small business does not sell the real corkscrew in this style, which they should. The branding techniques that made this brand successful were:
- Industry Affects The Brand: Wine is generally considered as a high class but Vinome offers a new twist on the wine. It reflects that the class of the industry in general.
- Show What Makes You Different: The DNA is in Vinome’s DNA as they put it on their logo too. To make your small business successful, you should evolve your brand beyond your competitors.
Surly Brewing Company
Surly Brewing Co, is known for its 16oz beers that come in four loins. This small business manages to stand out in the market because of creativity. The craft beer market is full of great beers and beer names but this small business manages to stand out as being different than others.
Surly catches your eye when you are going through the shelves of a grocery store. It comes in boxes with big cans. The package contains four beers. The artistic style is radically different from the products that share the shelf. That is what makes it stand out in the grocery stores. The business branding tips used by this small business are:
- Stand Out Visually: The creative, colorful, and bold design of Surly makes it stand out visually. Also, it excels in avoiding overused themes.
- Look For Something Different: When a small business wants to brand itself, uniqueness is the major factor to be considered. Most of the craft beers are bottled but Surly provides beers in cans. Surly risked teaming up with the substandard lagers in a crowded market but the risk was worth it.
Prodjuice
Prodjuice sells a nutrient-dense juice that is not only amazingly good for the customers but also tastes amazing. The goal of Prodjuice was to deliver creative yet simple and colors of their juices to the customers. the orange juice with the bright red slogan of cold-pressed juice depicts that it is healthy, simple, and calm for the customers. The adoption of simple branding techniques made this small business successful:
- Simplicity is Quality: Elegance and simplicity are associated with high quality. Also, it helps to build the confidence of the small business among its customers. Juice that sounds natural and pure is done by the packaging of the Prodjuice to make it clean and simple for their customers.
- Showcase Your Product: the color of the Prodjuice creative comes from the product itself. The colorful, creative, and simple product displaying for the customers is a strategy of effecting branding.
Bony To Beastly
If you were a skinny guy looking to build muscle, who would you turn to? There is one place where you can go from Bony To Beastly. That is what a small online business helping people to build muscle. Bony to Beastly is such a compelling example of a small business that it instantly communicates a key benefit. Before this small business entered the market, there were not a lot of resources on this topic.
The creativity of Bony to Beastly is simple yet quickly sends a compelling message. This small business used branding techniques as follows:
- Pictures Can Tell Stores: When you display a photo or animation of a skinny guy standing beside a muscular or buffed guy will tell the entire story of Bony to Beastly. The image shows the importance or key features of the brand and the customer will understand it in seconds.
- A Simple Message Remains: Bony to Beastly does not help people to lose weight and it is not for amateurs. The easy-to-remember message made it successful as a small business.
Small Business Branding – Inspiring Branding Techniques
Small businesses are having an advantage over large businesses. The business model of a small business makes it easier to implement actions on the branding. It is because large brands have to follow certain guidelines and they have limited ideas. On the other hand, small businesses can keep on exploring new and creative directions. There are a lot of small businesses that used different branding techniques to survive in the competitive market.
They not only survived but also grew. Simplicity, uniqueness, showcasing, creativity, etc. are the branding elements that they used for their small business. Online platforms such as social media sites can be the best platform for small businesses to market their products and services. Once, the targeted customers are aware of the small business, then you can team up with large brands or grow your small business.