Four Brand Identity Myths That Will Hurt A Small Business

By: Erin Ferree

Having a brand identity is extremely important to your business's success. However, many business owners have misconceptions about brand identities that can damage their businesses.

"Brand identity" is the result of the combination of consistent visual elements that are used in your marketing materials. A basic brand identity consists of a logo, business card, letterhead, and envelope. It can be extended to include a website, brochure, folder, flyer, or any other professionally designed pieces.

I'm not a big company: I can't have/create/build a brand.

Just because your company's not huge doesn't mean that you can't benefit from creating a brand identity. Even for the smallest company, a brand identity will make you look bigger than you are, will make you appear more professional, and will make your sales process easier. You'll also have a starting point for designing all of your marketing pieces, and your brand identity will make your marketing a breeze as well.

You might not be able to create a branding program that is as comprehensive and self-sustaining as those of some of the big companies, because you won't be able to educate your clients like they can. Big companies with immediately recognizable logos and brand materials have made those logos and materials recognizable by spending a lot of time, money, and effort on educating the public about their brands. This is mainly done through advertising.

But this isn't to say that you should jump out there once you have built a brand and start advertising; for many small businesses, advertising is expensive and doesn't offer a good return on investment.

I run my business in a personalized, one-on-one way: building a brand would make my business impersonal.

Building a brand identity isn't necessarily a depersonalizing tactic. You can build a brand that's very personalized, and even centered on you and the way that you work with your clients. You can even use the personalized way that you run your business as a differentiation tool. That personalization can be one of the pieces of your business that makes you different.

Some major brands are built with this personalization. For example, Mrs. Field's Cookies is built all around her story, techniques, and recipes.

Having a brand identity shouldn't change the way that your business works. There might be some slight changes when you start working on the inner layers of your brand, but brand identity just changes the face of your business to the public, making it look cleaner and more organized and professional. You can even design your brand identity to look personalized by using a signature, initials, or even your photo in your logo or Visual Vocabulary.

Creating a brand is too much work.

There is a lot of work involved in creating a brand identity and then creating the rest of the brand to match it. But it's all part of the overall work that you should do when you begin your business: determining your differentiators, creating your brand foundation and creating some of your brand basics, and positioning your brand.