What a great title for a post: Why Branding is a Luxury for Small Businesses.
I would have agreed with this statement as recently as two years ago. But today, I’d say branding for a small business should be right up there at the top of the list of priorities.
Measuring the value of branding isn’t easy. Before launching my own business I used to work for IBM, so I got to experience the change from a major brand to no brand at all.
The web is making branding more important for small businesses than ever. I’m in the camp that will argue with Susan’s proposition that branding is a luxury for small business. In the early days of the web, it was a competitive advantage just to be out there. But the rules have changed. The internet is mainstream, and I would argue that the value of a brand – especially for small businesses – is stronger in the online business world than in what we used to think of as traditional business.
Good branding isn’t easy, but it isn’t out of reach for small business. And treating it as a luxury might mean a business finds it a lot harder to compete.
It is a democracy out there. Every business gets to choose where to invest its resources. And the marketplace decides who makes better choices.