AB: All-Round Nice Guy

OK - bear with me here - before I tell you how to have a more successful 2008, I’m going to talk about the *brand* of your business for a few paragraphs - but don’t go all glassy-eyed on me, OK?

In simple terms, the brand of your business is the total message your business communicates to your customers. It’s the sum of your logo, your shop fitout, your customer service, and your business ethos - everything that adds up to ‘the real you’ in business terms.

In pure marketing terms, ‘branding’ and ‘brand management’ are complex concepts that are often vague and immeasurable - so much so that small business owners don’t often invest too much time in ‘their brand’ - well, not knowingly, at least.

The great news is that the smaller a business you are, the more your own personal ethos infiltrates your business, to the point where your business reflects the person *you* are, and vice-versa - in effect, your own values and beliefs shape your business, and hence how your customers perceive your business
- your brand.

In short, for a small business, the big picture of your brand takes care of itself - all you have to do is keep on making small, smart improvements to your business marketing each year.

With that in mind, here’s some top tips for reviewing and re-invigorating your business in 2008.

Whether you sell widgets, or you service widgets, or you sell your time and skills to others who make widgets, sometimes your business is in a crowded market, and there’s not that much that differentiates your business over other business - at least, not in the eyes of your customers. Certainly, customer service, professionalism, price and quality are the cornerstones of any successful business - but let me add in one more to the mix: good design.

Sure, it’s intangible - spending time and effort making your business look better or run a little smarter doesn’t translate directly into selling any more widgets - but to put it into footy terminology, it’s simply another ‘one percenter’. Well, those one percenters win matches - so lets look at few ways for your business to kick some goals…