With the right branding and “packaging”, a business can greatly expand its sales potential. However, most SMEs undervalue the importance of branding. Read on to find out the value of branding for your business.
By the myBusiness techblog team
Importance of branding for SMEs
There are many similarities in the way large and small businesses achieve success. As both require a well-established “brand name” to create increasing value and effectively market their products or services, establishing a strong brand name is fundamental for any business to compete and grow.
Brand-building plays an important role of defining your organisation in the public eye. It is an integral part of an SME’s marketing mix and expenditure. Successful SMEs traditionally display a strong entrepreneurial spirit, and leverage that spirit through a defined culture in order to provide innovative services and products. In fact, brand image must be consistently delivered and supported by the organisation’s values and culture. A well-structured strategic planning process requires full consensus on brand strategy and develops integrative sales and marketing promotion programs which must align with the overall business strategy in order to create brand value.
The following are some tips to keep in mind when creating value through brand building:
- Know your clients’ needs better than anyone else
- Plan your marketing strategy, prioritise, and stick to your plan
- Fuel the strategy with a culture that reflects your brand position
- Translate these into all branding and communication activities
Branding and productivity
In a recent round table conducted by the Business Times, Mr Titus Yong, Vice-President of business sales, SingTel Group Enterprise, Mr Lim Liat, founder of Bvotech and NUS Extension adjunct trainer and Ms Chew Mok Lee, Assistant Chief Executive, SPRING Singapore, paralleled how branding can work to raise productivity for SMEs locally.
Ms Chew stated that there is a link between branding and productivity, in that having a clear consistent branding message can help eliminate confusion and disagreement in the workplace.
She said, “Regular communications with employees on branding help build a positive work environment, leading to happier, more productive employees and better company performance overall.” She also drew upon an local water specialist in bottle water as an example and said that “After an internal branding exercise, the employees of DR. WHO … were better equipped in articulating the company’s business offerings to their clients. The positive response from their clients was a source of motivation for the employees, which resulted in a greater sense of ownership and satisfaction among them.”
Mr Yong also said that “Through branding, an SME is able to establish distinct value propositions and establish a top-of-mind recall among existing and prospective customers.” This would lead to greater business generation and revenue increase while using less resource—thereby enhancing productivity.
According to Mr Lim Liat, some of the challenges faced in branding included:
- Achieving clarity when creating a unique and differentiated value proposition
- Focusing on aligning the gap between claim and delivery
- Maintaining positivity when handling complaints
He also added that, “A brand is the summation of customers’ experience over time of what it means to them. It is more than what the company says. It is what people say about the company, products or services. These sayings are the impressions formed by the customers in their encounters with the company.”
Ms Chew also reiterated another key challenge for branding, which is how to get management to believe in and recognise that branding is not just about marketing to external customers. She said, “It (branding) can be a powerful tool to engage employees. This in turn increases employee buy-in through internal alignment, which ultimately improves company performance.” She also dismissed the general perception that brand-building is only for big established companies with huge budgets.
She said, “this is a myth, and has been de-bunked by SMEs such as Mr Bean and Udders, which have built up recognisable brands early on despite their size.
Mr Yong also highlighted another key challenge involved in branding—the lack of know-how in getting started. He said, “Having an accessible resource that contains insights into industry best practices, such as branding and marketing, would be invaluable to SMEs.” He also offered a solution, which was to make use of SingTel myBusiness—a one-stop online utility platform that provides community-specific content for local SMEs to learn, collaborate and share their business experiences.
Another way for SMEs to look for support would be to tap on the Capability Development Grant (CDG), available from SPRING Singapore. For more details on how you can utilise this grant, click here.
In closing, you need to remember that you need time for your brand to gain traction, and you should avoid viewing branding as a marketing function or a tactical approach that will produce fast results. So remember to craft your brand carefully, and with effective branding and value creation, your brand will successfully represent the cornerstone of your company.
Do you have any stories about crafting your brand? Do let us know of your experiences in the comment box below.