Reilly Newman | Running a small business can be hard enough at times, much less actually keeping your head above water and making a profit.
Most of the time, someone who starts a business is very much that “Type-A” personality that is more willing to roll up their sleeves and do something themselves rather than delegate the task. “Why have someone else do it when I’ll do it right the first time.”
This creates the first problem for a small business owner…
They are too busy working IN the business instead of working ON the business.
Neglecting to work on the business simply because working in the business is full of busy work, fires to put out, bills to pay, and the day-to-day. This leaves little to no resource left to focus on your brand.
By never having this time and energy to focus on your brand, your marketing and advertising will only become toilets for you to willingly flush your money away. Your business will become suffocated by its business model and never be able to fully realize its potential through additional services, products, or value to deliver. Therefore your business will never truly realize its potential profitability.
Now any good small business owner would reply, “We do have a brand. People know about our business!” Yes, they may know about you. You may be a resource to them. However, this is nothing more than awareness.
And the unfortunate thing about awareness is that any competitor who has more resources than you can come along and steal that market share from under you. (This is essentially what happens when a “big box” comes in, however they not only have the resources and awareness, but also the brand to back it up.)
Working on your brand will give you the clarity you need and help in many areas of your business like pricing. The ability to go beyond just transactions to actual customers who connect and are loyal is derived from establishing a brand. This is where your customers view you more than just another vendor that they are aware of.
