When people start talking about branding, brand positioning and brand differentiation, the average person tends to think about big multinational companies that are part of our lives every day (whether we like it or not). Companies like Microsoft, Coca Cola, McDonalds and Apple, all with huge marketing budgets and plenty of people working on their brand strategies.

However, the power of good branding should not be overlooked by small businesses. Brand your coffee shop the right way, and it can become a local icon (or even grow into rival to Starbucks in your market). Brand your online niche retailer correctly, and it can become a household name among people in the know about the things you sell. Here is more about branding for small businesses, and what it can do:

What Does Branding Actually Involve?

Some people incorrectly think that their brand is their logo, and branding simply means sticking it on everything in a haphazard fashion. In actual fact, a logo is just a 'brand element'. Brand elements can include all kinds of things – the exact colour palette you use, your marketing slogans, any mascots or characters you use, even the way your employees greet customers. Your brand is basically the idea you want people to associate with your company, and your brand elements are how you consistently and coherently put it out there.

Why Does It Matter For Small Businesses?

When you are a small business, one of the most important things is to retain customers. Most businesses make more money from their existing customers than they do from attracting new ones, and the profits tend to be greater because it costs less to get a sale from someone who already has a relationship with the company than it does to attract a new person. However, for customers to keep coming back they need to first of all remember you, and secondly, associate that memory with something positive. The intention of branding is to achieve both.

Easy Ways to Apply Branding

The first thing to do is obviously decide on your branding. You can do this yourself, or use a professional designer or consultant. However, either way it is good to get some feedback from friends and customers before you decide on a final concept. This is because once you have committed to a brand element, it can be hard to change without looking inconsistent or performing a total rebrand.

You should then start thinking of where to use your brand elements. The first place, for most businesses, will be in the design of your website and other web accounts. Everything must be consistent to get the right effect – your blog, your website, your Twitter profile, your Facebook page, and anywhere else your company can be found.

If you have a physical store, office or other presence, consider how your brand can be enforced here. This could be in what your staff are wearing, how they answer the phone, the décor of the premises and even smaller touches like your price tags, stationery, and receipts.

By applying a good branding strategy, you can keep your company's name associated with the ideals you have chosen for it, and help customers remember you in a positive light.

Jenny Wadlow, is a freelance writer and one of her regular clients are Liquid Creativity, a brand positioning firm based in Australia. When she is not writing to serve her passion, she enjoys catching up on her favorite sitcoms.