Identity Crisis: Building a Cohesive Marketing Brand
When starting your own company, getting caught-up in the nitty-gritty of bill payments, networking, and website or social media presence can leave you forgetting one of the most important fundamentals of entrepreneurship: defining your brand through your everyday business materials. When you address this, you take the first step in developing a well-recognized brand that will become associated with your good work or top-notch products.
When I say everyday materials, I literally mean supplies and resources that you use every single day. There are a few that you should always have your logo and company name on, such as business cards, return address labels, and promotional items like t-shirts and pens. But let’s discuss a few lesser-known ways to brand your company.
- Checks: Most companies use custom business checks on a daily basis. What better place to put your company name and logo than on something that you actively send to other people on a daily basis. Even though checks are seemingly utilitarian, their purpose can stem well beyond the realm of sending money. Customers and clients alike will be impressed to see that you have taken every measure (even through business checks) to ensure brand awareness for your company.
- Content: To be clear, this is not content directly pertaining to your products on your website. But whether you are writing articles or blogs on your own site or on another site, fresh and interesting content is a great way for people to see that you’re active and enthusiastic about your company. Write on your products, but make sure to write commentaries about the realm your company exists within (E.g. software, marketing solutions). If you have the resources, post articles on other websites as well. And remember, always have your logo and company name in plain view of the reader.
- Custom Car Magnets: If you are proud of your start-up and want to gain as much exposure as you can, create personalized car magnets with your name and logo to broadcast your company wherever you drive. Make sure you have a call to action on the magnet, whether it’s going to a website, “liking” on social media, or otherwise. If the custom car magnet is not enough, you can always do the ultimate: paint and decorate your car to draw (non-tacky) attention to your company. But for those not as willing to destroy your personal property, car magnets will do nicely.
So whether you’re ten years into your company, or only ten days, using these often overlooked tactics to gain company awareness can help you out in the short and long term. As an entrepreneur, it’s great to think outside the box, so if you have any other ideas that you think would work, implement those as well.