“Your brand is what people say about you when you are not in the roomˮ

Chapter 3: Branding Your Business

Your branding is your story, and no good brand can take off without a marketing plan.

Your brand identity is about what your brand says, your values, how you talk about your product, and how you want people to feel when they use it. It's like your business's personality and a promise to your customers.

Long after you have made a sale, your customers will have an impression of how you made them feel.

Brand Identity

Take McDonaldʼs for example. The brand is more than 60 years old. Yet today when we say McDonaldʼs, you could probably visualize the Golden Arches, the smell of their Big Mac and fries, and just the idea of driving through, leaving the hassle of cooking and enjoying your meal lightens the burden of a long day.

At the heart of McDonaldʼs brand identity is – a timeless logo and innovative advertisements.

Going by this definition, a brand identity is not just about the visuals like logo, colors, photography, typography. It is the totality of your brandʼs visual identity plus your objectives, marketing message, what value you provide to your customers, and most importantly, your customersʼ shopping experience.

As an example, Ameekaʼs Print Shop uses vibrant colours to stand out from her competitors. She wants them to “Think pink, think Ameeka!ˮ Her print shop also uses cute puppies in her print shopʼs advertising materials to attract her customerʼs attention, because, hey who doesnʼt like puppies, right?

Ameeka aims for her customers to remember her print shop name whenever they see pink colours and also cute pups running around.

These simple elements will make up Ameekaʼs Print Shop brand identity, and over time, it will slowly imprint inside her targeted audienceʼs mind that Ameekaʼs Print Shop is the one stop solution for all their printing needs.

Which comes to the next part, how exactly do you make your prospective customers aware of your business so they would even consider your print shop when making a purchase? The answer is simple. Visibility. Letʼs deep dive into how exactly you can achieve that.

Advertising

The fastest way is to get the word out! Passing around leaflets isnʼt going to cut it anymore. Think billboards, radio ads, internet listings, and classifieds sections to reach your target audience better.

Just like Ameekaʼs Print Shop above, where she uses the colour pink and has puppies as the center of her brand image, your shop could do the same too. Create your brand identity, and use it to its full potential for advertising.

The limit does not exist here, so go crazy and do what it takes to capture your target audience.

Cold Calls and Emails

Contacting potential customers, mainly smaller companies and corporate clients, is also an excellent way to introduce your shop to those interested in what you offer.

It might be frustrating, as there will be rejections, and also time consuming, but it gets the job done.

Networking

Sometimes, the more effective approach to introducing yourself to potential customers is to go back to square one. Get out there and meet people. Head to various events and market your print shop to various customers. There will be a lot of trade shows, conferences, seminars, workshops and even sponsorship programs.

It will be great if your brand is kept in the loop and that you find a way to be a part of the community.

Social media

Your potential customers might just be Googling ‘print shop near meʼ right now. Do not underestimate the power of the Internet and how fast word can spread even by a simple tweet.

Having an online presence is extremely vital these days and seems like the best way to stay relevant. Yup, even as a print shop!

If you are planning on making an online shop, investing in online marketing is the way to go.

NOTE: No form of marketing strategy is superior than the other. Bear in mind that you donʼt necessarily need to do everything all at once in order to market your print shop. Work around with what fits best with your budget, one step at a time and build your brand identity slowly, but surely. Rome was not built in one day 🙂