How to Create a Brand on a Budget: A Guide for Your Small Business
How to Create a Brand on a Budget
If you are a small business owner, you know how it feels to wear all the hats. You are the CEO, the accountant, the human resources manager, and sometimes even the janitor.
You know you need to invest in your business if you want it to grow; however, there is simply not enough time or money in the budget for this luxury. But what can you do?
Here's a secret: There are several free options available to small businesses that will allow you to build a strong brand and market your business without having to spend a lot of money!
With the help of a few free or budget-friendly tools, you can build a brand strategy that sets you up for long-term success without breaking the bank.
Before You Start: Organize Your Current Assets
Before you jump into the tools I'll list below and start creating an incredible brand, take a breath. Ask yourself - what am I working with right now?
● Do you have a logo?
● Have you landed on brand colors?
● What is your mission, vision, or tagline?
● Have you set up social media accounts and pages?
● How is your website looking?
Do a quick self-inventory of your current assets and take a look at the big picture before you dive into this process. You'll have a better understanding of what to keep or leave behind while creating a new brand for yourself.
With your current assets at hand, it's time to start building some concrete and practical goals. Branding is an ongoing process that will require you to build slowly and intentionally. However, having a goal in mind will help you know if you're meeting your mark or not and can be used to measure the success of your brand's progress.
Some examples of what kinds of goals you might want to set:
● Increase website traffic by 10%
● Increase monthly social media engagement by 20%
● Expand to a new market (or enlarge your current presence in an existing market)
As you can see, these goals vary in size and importance. Some are more long-term and intention-based, while others are more short-term and achievable.
Once you have your goals in mind, it's time to get started!
4 Free or Budget-Friendly Tools That Will Help You Build a Strong Brand
Now that you know where you're starting from, what you need to accomplish, and how you want to feel due to your branding efforts, here are a few tools that can help you be successful fast.
Google Analytics
Every website needs analytics software. Without them, how do you know what's working and what's not? How would you know who is visiting your site, where they're from, and what they want to accomplish on your page?
Google Analytics is an easy and free analytics tool that will give you the information to create a strong brand. But, first, you have to set up an account and place the analytics code on your website.
The learning curve is incredibly low, and you can be up and running within minutes using this great tool!
Soon, you'll start receiving reports with actionable data that will help you improve your site and increase conversions.
Mailchimp
Email marketing is still the number one way to market your brand or business. With so many voices shouting for attention, email is a way to stand out from the crowd and get in front of your customers when they're ready to hear what you have to say!
Mailchimp is one of the best email marketing tools out there. It's also free to start with, which might be all you need if your business doesn't have much brand recognition or isn't widely used yet.
With Mailchimp, you can create and send email newsletters that will help inform and educate your customers about new products, events, and services you're offering.
Hootsuite (or really any Social Media Scheduler)
If you have multiple social media profiles for your business or brand, managing them can be a full-time job. Every day, more and more accounts are created for companies on social media. So the question becomes, how can one person possibly check each of them every day?
Enter Hootsuite. Hootsuite is a great social media management dashboard that will help you schedule posts across all your profiles at once! So you can post to all of your social media channels from one place, save time, and get more done in less time.
This tool is free to start with but offers paid plans for organizations that use social media extensively. It's an investment well worth making if your business needs help to manage multiple profiles at once!
Canva
Now for one of the best branding and marketing tools available on the market today - Canva.
Visuals are the best way to get people's attention online. But too many business owners invest no time into their visual presence because "they aren't a graphic designer" or "can't afford to hire a designer."
This couldn't be further from the truth! Canva is a free, easy-to-use graphic design tool that can help you create powerful visuals for your brand. No design skills are required, and the possibilities are endless!
With Canva, you can create infographics, social media posts, eBooks, images for your website or blog, and much more. The free plan offers plenty of resources to get you started, and the paid plans are affordable for most small businesses.
The best part of Canva is the pre-built templates on the platform. These allow you to easily create visuals for your brand and marketing materials without designing them from scratch. With Canva, you can build a strong brand and visual presence in no time!
Do a quick self-inventory of your current assets and take a look at the big picture before you dive into this process. You'll have a better understanding of what to keep or leave behind while creating a new brand for yourself.
Canva Tips
To use Canva to its maximum potential, think outside the box, and get creative. That way, you can maximize the number of free images and graphics available for your use. Here are a few ideas:
Get creative with templates: If you're not a designer, don't let that stop you from creating high-quality graphics. Canva has many premade templates that allow even the least artistic person to create powerful visuals!
Include your logo: Having a strong brand is crucial for any business, large or small. Make sure you include your logo in every visual representation of your brand to ensure that your audience associates it with your company.
Customize your colors: Colors are one of the most important aspects of branding - they convey mood, feeling, and style all in one. Make sure you choose colors that will resonate with your target market. Ask yourself what kind of feelings you want to evoke when people see your visuals or logo?
Optimize your images: When you're publishing visuals on social media, make sure you optimize them for the platform. For example, to get the most exposure from your visual content, switch up the text in your images to include hashtags, titles, or descriptions that will help search engines find you.
Need A Little Inspiration? Let's Chat!
With the right tools, you can do your marketing and branding in no time.
Google Analytics, Mailchimp, Hootsuite, and Canva are four great ways small businesses build a compelling brand.
If you're looking to create a strong presence online without breaking the bank, these are some great tools for you to check out.
Need help with your brand? Or have questions about outsourcing the design and development of your branding? Let's chat!
At LMR Consulting, we are a leading Breckenridge-based branding and marketing team. We can help you wade through the sea of small business marketing - and teach you how to use Canva like a pro to achieve your marketing goals.
