Posted by Biz Central USA Marketing Team on November 16, 2009 under Small Biz and Entrepreneurship,Small Biz Marketing | Be the First to Comment

No longer is branding only important for the Nike’s and Starbuck’s in the game. Strong branding is necessary for startups, small businesses, large businesses and everything in between!  As a small business owner you should know how important an impressionable brand identity is to the success of your small business. Small businesses have become an integral part of the U.S., representing over 99.7 percent of all employer firms (SBA Office of Advocacy).  So, shouldn’t your brand identity represent those large numbers? The answer is yes, most definitely!

To start, your brand is the overall image and perception of your product or service in the eyes of your customers, in comparison to other products or services in your market.  Therefore, it is essential to research your target market and the buyer’s persona when developing your brand identity and its usage.  What are their likes, dislikes, age, feelings, beliefs, interests and how will they benefit from your brand? Does your branding clearly define your intended message and is it appropriate for your audience?

Next, how will you utilize your brand? You must be consistent with the use of your logo, tagline, and materials and what you say about your small business. You will only be able to establish a strong brand identity by designing impressionable elements (both verbal and visual) and then repeating those elements through all outlets (i.e. Website, stationary, marketing materials, advertising, PR etc.).

Finally, remember “honesty is the best policy”.  Current and potential clients will see right through false promises and advertisements your small business commits to.  You want to be sure you can commit to all promises and beliefs that your brand promotes.  Your current and potential clients will respect your honesty, and look to your company as a brand they can stand by and trust.

Your branding is what will separate you from the sea of competition that you are entering (the 99.7 percent of employer firms in the U.S.).  So it makes sense that a quality brand requires much thought, research and integrity.  In the end, your branding should strive to meet 5 goals.

5 Goals of a successful brand:

• Relays a clear and precise message directed at a defined buyer persona (this could be more than one buyer persons)
• Establishes a unique presence among your target market
• Identifies your company as the “only” source for your customer’s needs or the solution to their problem
• Leaves a lasting impression in the minds of your buyers
• Gives a message of loyalty and credibility about business

In conclusion, branding is not about competing with your competition for the flashiest logo design or website. Branding is however, about engraving your company’s tagline, web site, logo, beliefs, and credibility into the minds of current and potential buyers. In addition, branding is setting the stage so that they see you as the only solution to their problem-you can’t compete if there is no competition.

What does branding mean to your small business? How do you utilize the elements of your brand? Are you consistent, honest, clear and memorable with your branding efforts?

Posted by Biz Central USA Marketing Team on November 11, 2009 under Small Biz and Entrepreneurship | Be the First to Comment

During the business certification process, small business owners will undoubtedly come across the terms “economically disadvantaged” and “socially disadvantaged”. But what do these terms actually mean? This all depends on the agency responsible for granting the certification your small business wishes to obtain. Some small business certification programs allow for business owners to have a higher net worth than others, and some  limit their programs to members of certain racial or ethnic groups. These differences can be significant from program to program, and it is recommended that you work with a competent professional in order to guide you through the business certification process, including which certifications your small business may qualify for. In order to keep things simple, we will focus on defining social and economic disadvantage for the Small Business Administration’s 8(a) Business Development program, or the SBA 8(a).

The Small Business Administration’s 8(a) Business Development program was created in order to provide contracting opportunities to minority-owned and other disadvantaged businesses. The SBA considers two factors when certifying a business as disadvantaged -whether or not the qualifying owner has been subject to prejudice resulting in a negative impact on their advancement in the business world, and the net worth of the qualifying owner. To keep matters simple, a socially disadvantaged individual whose net worth is less than $250,000 will be considered economically disadvantaged, but what exactly does “socially” disadvantaged mean? The SBA automatically presumes the following individuals to be socially disadvantaged:

• Black Americans
• Hispanic Americans
• Native Americans
• Asian-Pacific Americans
• Subcontinent Asian-Americans

But what about persons who have experienced social disadvantaged as a result of other factors, such as service-disabled veterans or other Americans with disabilities? These individuals are not presumed to be socially disadvantaged, and as a result, must provide a preponderance of the evidence detailing their personal experiences of substantial and chronic disadvantage in American society. This evidence must be presented in the form of a narrative that is to be included with the 8(a) business certification application. It is important to note that no one can guarantee whether or not a person who is not a member of an above-designated group will be granted disadvantaged status by the SBA, and subsequently, have their business certified under the 8(a) program. However, the SBA does provide general guidelines for factors that are considered when determining whether or not a person is socially disadvantaged, such as access to education, employment, and business credit or capital.

If you are unsure as to whether or not your business meets the criteria for 8(a) certification, work with a competent professional who will be able to determine if you possibly qualify for business certification under this program, and who will also assist you in drafting an effective statement of economic and social disadvantage. By doing so you will greatly increase your business’ chances of being certified under the 8(a) program, and ultimately, being awarded lucrative government contracts under this program.

Posted by Jennifer Nelson on November 4, 2009 under Small Biz Marketing | Be the First to Comment

Last time, I discussed the importance of capitalizing on e-mail to reach customers. The next logical question I’m sure most of you asked is, “How do I write e-mails that people will read?” The following nine steps are some important guidelines to remember when constructing your company e-mails.

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9 Guidelines to get your E-mails Opened!

• Include your logo in the same location. This subtle gesture will help your customers identify who sent the e-mail. It will also create a company-branding image that makes your e-mail look more legitimate and less like spam. People will have a sense of familiarity that makes them more likely to read the content, as they trust the source of the information.
• Keep the preview pane in mind. A recent study by Marketing Sherpa found that 70 percent of recipients that have the capability to read e-mail through a preview pane do. Before your e-mail has a chance to be clicked, most individuals will have already made a value judgment of the e-mail. Keeping this content fresh with exciting titles, consistent logo placement, and appropriate white space will make all the difference in getting that all-important click.
• Use color for emphasis. While it is tempting to use lots of color in constructing e-mails, it often ends up creating distractions rather than emphasis. Usually, I recommend starting with your company’s colors as this is important to solidify branding. All of your e-mails should represent your visual brand, and a key component of that is using your colors consistently. Colors outside your brand should be saved for emphasis.
• Limit the number of fonts you use. Too many fonts equal too much distraction. You want to keep your readers focused on the content of the message, not the stark changes in font. A good rule of thumb is to limit yourself to two fonts whenever possible. Make sure your fonts are universal so people can read the e-mail as you intended and not have them substituted by the e-mail provider.
• Make your point clearly and quickly. The top of your e-mail needs to have the most important information. Most individuals will aren’t going to scroll more than once to read the contents of an e-mail. With every moment, a reader is determining if he or she will keep reading or abandon your e-mail.
• Pick photos that support your message. Since a picture is “worth a thousand words,” it’s important that those thousand words be consistent with your content. Having a photo to simply fill up space isn’t a good reason to include one. High quality images are a must when selecting photographs for e-mails because it makes them look professional.
• Don’t embed your text in an image. Many of the programs people use to receive and read e-mail have images turned off by default. So, if your e-mails are pure images the reader will have to select to view contents. To ensure that people with this default setting get your message, include text in your e-mail that is not embedded in an image. Additionally, you can add title tags to the images within your e-mail that you choose to use.  This will be a short discription of what the image is, so now the reader will be more likely to view the content because they have more trust in what they are opening.