Branding your small business in 5 basic steps

Get your team on Prezi – watch this on demand video

Watch now

You put your best foot forward when you look and feel your best, and your business deserves the same. Branding your business helps create a strong image for customers to interact with and increases customer recognition and loyalty, which is especially important for small businesses. Branding involves much more than just the look of your business – it encompasses your brand’s design, experience, and set of values.

Branding your business doesn’t have to be time-consuming, nor does it have to be costly. Prezi has a brand kit feature to help streamline your branding process and keep all brand design assets in one place. Your team can access your brand logo, colors, and fonts in the brand kit to create consistently on-brand content for any project.



Read on to learn the basics of branding your business and see how you can use Prezi’s brand kit to streamline your processes.

Why branding is important for your business

A major benefit of branding your business is the opportunity to create trust with your customer base. Branding makes your business recognizable and sets a clear purpose and message. This helps your business stand out from other competitors.

A clear brand also helps foster customer loyalty. Your company values are on full display, and customers who share similar values can quickly pick up on this. Customers are more likely to pick your business if they know what your brand stands for and what it brings to the table. A strong brand crafts a higher perceived value as it shows your company’s expertise and ability to create high-quality work.

Consistency across platforms is key to coordinating between team members and creating a quicker decision-making process. A brand kit makes these daily business decisions easy.

Check out this blog post to go more into detail on the many benefits of branding.

How to brand your business

1. Identify your audience and who your buyers are

Who are you trying to reach? It’s important to have a customer base in mind when creating a brand for your business.

What do they look for? Who do they buy from? What do they need from your brand?

You can conduct market research to understand market trends and customer preferences, as well as get a gauge of competition. Online resources like review sites and forums are great launching points, and social media channels offer further insight into your potential audience and buyer opportunities. You can also connect with customers via calls or surveys to get a better grasp on their wants and needs. All this will come in handy when branding your business since you will have a complete understanding of your audience and the greater market.

Branding

2. What is your value proposition?

Now that you know a little more about who your target audience is, you need to define your value proposition. Your value proposition is a promise made by your company to a consumer. It’s a compelling reason why a customer should buy your product or service, and it answers the question of “why YOUR brand?” out of the hundreds of others. 

In order to make an impactful value proposition, consider what is unique about your business. What does your customer want or need? How can your business meet their wants and needs? And why do customers choose your brand over competitors?

Stay connected while you work remotely with Prezi Video

Remember: A value proposition is a brand promise. There’s no need to fluff it up and promise something unattainable. Stay true to your business values and be confident in your product or service. A value proposition is your brand’s time to shine.

3. Define your tone and brand values

While audience and market research is highly valuable, branding your business requires some introspection. What is your company’s purpose? And how will you communicate this to your audience?

Outline and commit to a set of values that your business will operate under. Consider what principles drive your business and make sure your business lives up to these principles. And be transparent by communicating these values with your audience. Setting your brand values and tone will help build a strong relationship with your customer.

The brand tone defines how your business will communicate and approach both existing and potential customers. It’s distinct to your business, and it helps your audience get to know your brand.

4. Build your brand assets

Once you have a clear understanding of your brand values and your audience, it’s time to build your brand assets. These are items like your logo, slogan, colors and fonts that are unique to your brand. These brand assets will represent your business in a big, wide world – make sure they are distinct and recognizable. 

Brand colors build brand awareness and associations. Different colors trigger different emotions, and choosing the right brand colors will determine how your audience will perceive and interact with your brand.

Prezi’s brand kit feature lets you build a collection of presets to apply to videos, presentations, infographics and other branded elements. Use the brand kit to create a custom color scheme that can be applied consistently across all your brand assets. This makes it easier than ever to create a unified brand image, and even applying these basic branding steps can elevate your virtual meetings with clients.

Get started and learn how to create your brand kit in Prezi today.

5. Be consistent 

Finally, take the time to apply these brand assets across all channels and be consistent. You can increase brand awareness through consistency, as your customers will more easily recognize your logo or color scheme. Building brand awareness is essential for smaller businesses who are just starting out.

Having a brand kit on hand will also improve efficiency, as your whole team can access brand assets in one place without the need for further training or micromanagement. Investing a little time and using the right tools to build your brand kit now will save you a lot of time in the long run.

For an example on branding done right, take a look at this Prezi video by Elena Valentine, CEO of Skillscout. Elena uses her brand kit to create an engaging video presentation complete with her company logo, a cohesive color scheme and branded assets.



With more people working and connecting online, it’s important to establish your brand in the virtual space. If you’re interested in learning how to build a powerful online presence, join us for a webinar on Thursday, February 3rd with William Arruda, a personal branding guru and author. Register here.

Set up your brand kit in Prezi today and create a new video.

Give your team the tools they need to engage

Learn more