A Guide to the Importance of Branding for Your Business

Branding is the process of deciding on a message that your company will embody and letting that message inform all of the decisions you make. When used effectively, branding can make it so that people who have never personally interacted with your small business still recognize your imaging and marketing. Learn more about branding and how it can improve your business outcomes.

Building Brand Awareness

Brand awareness is the number of people who are familiar with your brand. According to research, the more often people see your brand, the more likely they are to become customers. This is called the mere exposure effect, and it is part of why branding is such a powerful tool for business owners. If your brand imagery and phrasing are consistent throughout your stores, products, and marketing, you are building brand awareness for your business among consumers.

Perfecting Brand Imagery and Text

Some aspects of branding you can manage on your own. Coming up with the original motto, ensuring that all branding efforts reflect the company values, and even designing the logo using an online designer tool are all within most business owners’ powers.

Other tasks require a professional touch. Copywriting should be done by someone who understands your target audience and how to reflect your branding in a way that is meaningful to them. Your website should be designed with professional knowledge of how to create website appeal and usability. Your marketing imagery should be created by someone who understands design and the desires of potential customers. You can find professionals to fulfill all these tasks and more on one of the many freelance job marketplaces online that allow you to read reviews and compare prices among freelancers to see which are best for your business.

You can and should still have a hand in how your branding is present throughout your business’s products, website and marketing, and you can communicate with your freelancers easily over email. If you need to share a number of image files with someone on your team, use a JPG-to-PDF converter that retains an image’s quality while minimizing the size so you won’t have to send multiple attachments to get your ideas across.

Keeping Current

What works today in branding may not work tomorrow, so it’s essential to know how to balance your marketing efforts so that you can tweak some of them when necessary without having to change them all at once. Business 2 Community recommends businesses consider marketing to be an extra communication channel used to create a connection between them and potential customers and to assess that connection regularly. Be on the watch for any signs a branding or marketing effort isn’t working so that you can make changes to your strategies before your company suffers monetarily.

To keep abreast of best business practices in everything from branding to accounting, consider going back to school to earn a bachelor’s degree. Regardless of how much education you have already, there are online options that you can complete at home on your own schedule so that you can still fulfill your work and family obligations. Make sure to check the accreditation status and reviews of any programs you are interested in before applying.

Branding can bring in big results for your business when done correctly. Develop a solid brand that you're proud to share with the world and watch how it can bring the world to you.

When you want to grow your business and boost your brand, get in touch with the marketing team at Oevae.com or Call 972-850-8823 today to schedule a Free 30-minute marketing consultation ($100 Value).

How to Attract Entry-Level Employees to Your Dallas Small Business

Finding great employees for your small business is hard enough. When you live in a busy metroplex like Dallas, it can be even harder. As wonderful of a place as Dallas is, employees aren’t always eager to deal with the difficult morning and afternoon commutes. So how can you, as a small business owner, attract entry-level employees to your business?  Try using the following advice to help you find the staff you need.  

Improve Your Outreach

If people down the road haven’t heard of your business, you can’t expect workers in nearby cities to be familiar with it. Improving your company’s marketing can make it easier to attract both customers and employees. Ensure your company has a website and social media presence so potential employees can learn about the business, and consider other ways to increase your marketing. 

One way to boost outreach is through marketing, and Oevae Marketing Consultants can help you determine how to make this work for your business. Additionally, think of ways to enhance your social media or website so that your search for new staff is front and center. You can easily do this yourself by using an online banner creator. The ideal tool offers an array of banner templates, as well as other design assets to punch up your design. 

Know Where to Advertise

Advertising job postings in the right place are essential for reaching your target audience. That means you can’t just stick an ad on Craigslist and call it a day. FitsSmallBusiness.com walks you through the differences between popular online job boards, but there’s no reason to limit yourself to online postings. You can find qualified applicants by attending job fairs and career events, letting nearby university career centers know you’re hiring, and connecting with nonprofits that help people find employment.

Offer Competitive Wages

Dallas has a relatively high cost of living compared to other big Texas cities, so it’s important that your wages match up with the local average in order to be competitive. If you’re not quite sure what to pay, research the average cost of pay for your industry and the job you plan to offer, as well as what similar wages are in the Dallas area. Ideally, you should have a range that’s a comfortable fit for your budget, and that allows you to adjust your offer based on an applicant’s skills and background. 

Provide On-the-Job Training

Not all incentives have to come in the form of cash. You can make your business a more attractive employer by offering benefits that other companies lack. A common complaint from entry-level employees is that companies want experienced workers but aren’t willing to train on the job. While it’s true that internal training does cost money in the form of your own valuable time, it’s a good strategy for recruiting staff even when cash flow is tight. On-the-job training also improves employee retention and reduces mistakes because workers are trained to your company’s specifications.

Permit Flexible Hours

Commuting by public transportation can mean long travel times, especially at peak hours. If an open position doesn’t require a set 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. schedule, consider offering flexible working hours so your employees can avoid transit at rush hour. While not all employers are comfortable letting staff work from home initially, offering remote work as a future option can add to the incentive for entry-level hires. If you are worried about your employees managing their time wisely, you could use time-tracking software. Well-chosen software allows your employees to work from wherever they are, providing them with more job satisfaction, and peace of mind.

Create Opportunities for Growth

Employees are more likely to go out of their way for a company that offers long-term potential. Make it clear to prospective employees what opportunities for growth they’ll find in your company. Depending on your business structure, that could be promoted to a higher position, increased responsibility and pay at the same position, experience in horizontal roles within the company, or opportunities for external professional development.

As the job market fluctuates, it’s getting harder for many businesses to attract and retain quality employees. In order to find the best help for your small business, it’s necessary to stand apart from the competition. By targeting your search and offering the benefits that workers are looking for, you can find the talent your business needs to succeed.

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