As the new year begins, business owners and entrepreneurs and employees look forward to the coming year and put up plans and strategies that would give their brands or business a commanding presence in the market.

However, the following must be looked into as companies review their operational activities in 2013 and plans to position the company in 2014.

My experience as a brand consultant made it clear to me that branding goes beyond what people think it is. Its not just about a logo an clever strapline, it is the result of a combination of three main factors: people, process and place.

The People: People are the business but the power is people. Brands are made by the way consumers or potential end users perceive people. Meanwhile, the people that are of integral part of any business are the employees. Customers tend to buy the employees before buying the product. A shabbily dressed sales man selling a fantastic product may not be considered for patronage because he or she is 60-70% the reason to buy or not. Employees should be well motivated and trained to understand the value of the company. Aside, employees should be proud ambassadors of the brand and the first defender of the company’s interest whenever and wherever.
Never separate your image from your product. Make a deliberate effort to connect your brand to whatever you do through your stationary and letterheads, to your building and email signatures.
Customer service is the reason why a customer will return. A satisfied customer will at most tell two or three people about the product while an unsatisfied customer will do a free advert rubbishing the brand that broke their heart. Companies should invest adequately in customer service training because care officers are brand representatives that customers come in contact with.

The Process: Step by step, precept upon precept, your operational activities have to be looked into critically and objectively to ensure that it fits into the company’s mission. The difference between the very successful companies and the failing ones is in how well the operational or production process is being detailed. A company with less bottleneck in terms of decision making will definitely maximise time and deliver promptly. Subsequently, customers will naturally prefer the brand that delivers on time and asks fewer questions before fixing the problem. Small businesses have the advantage here, there is less red tape so you can adapt to change more quickly.

The Place: the place includes everything that can be seen about your business, not just the physical place of business – your office building, factory or shop but your corporate logo, corporate colour, product and other corporate identifiers. These speak volumes about what you organisation stands for and how you want to be placed in the heart of customers within your market. Having a great logo that depicts your operational values and mission will go a long way in distinguishing you for patronage. In order to command exceptionality in the market putting forward a compelling logo, you need to hire a professional graphic designer to do this properly. Unless you have good design experience its easy to be caught up in what you like and not to be objective about the brand, taking advise from someone who is not as close to the business means you can get an more objective view of the brand and hopefully ideas you would never have thought of.

I would strongly advise that you also seek professional help with your website too. The Internet has made the world a global village and open to everyone to buy and sell from. Technically, the internet is the most populous place to visit in the world. Fortunately, without a king or president. It is the most potent place where buyers and sellers meet. Thus, companies that intend to make fortune in 2014 should endeavour to take their business from the traditional market place to the world-wide-web where there are more customers to buy and where more opportunities abound. Having a poor web presence will mean that your business or organisation will not be taken seriously.

Also never go to the market empty handed. Ensure that you put your best foot forward and do all that is necessary before announcing your presence in the market place. Get everything ready beforehand, a delayed launch of a new product or service is better than a half hearted launch. As they say “you only get one chance to make a first impression”. It is better not to be there than to regrettably wish you had done things differently. That said, starting a new business or launching a new product will always lead to some mistakes being made along the way, its all about the learning curve – but the more prepared you can be the best chance you have of getting it right first time round.

Dean Williams

Dean Williams is a design and marketing blogger working for Print-Print Limited, promoting business and building brands through quality print marketing. If you’re interested in small business promotion then please get in touch hello@print-print.co.uk