Tag: entrepreneur

What is branding and why is it so important for small businesses?

Ahead of our next Introduction to Branding course run by the brilliant team at Anon Agency, we caught up with Founders Anna Tsekouras and Pete Austin to find out more about what branding really is.

Anna Tsekouras and Pete Austin, Founders of Anon Agency and Tutors on City’s Introduction to Marketing Short Course

  1. Can you describe what branding is?

 

It might sound crazy but that’s a tough question! Technically, in terms of the textbook definition, it’s the way you identify your product, service or company which sets you apart from your competitors. But in reality, it’s about much more than that. It’s more than what you can just see – it’s not just your logo, colours and font! Your brand comprises a set of personality attributes, values and beliefs that engage your audience who share those same values. Your brand might stand for body positivity, environmental sustainability or simply be about living luxuriously. Whatever it is, your brand is just like a human personality and its attributes will tell your audience who you are. How does my brand act when they go to a party? What does my brand talk to its friends about? What excites my brand? What scares my brand? Getting to know and defining your brand is integral to your success. A clear and confident brand builds trust and increases your business value.

 

  1. Why do you think an understanding of branding is so important for start-ups and SMEs?

 

Photograph of sardine tin with small shoot growing out of it planted in soil

Growing concerns, photo courtesy of Wilhelm Gunkel

Brand underpins everything you do; your Vision and Mission define why your brand exists, and who you want to reach. That relationship is integral to the success of a brand. If you don’t know who you are, what you stand for and what you believe in; then your audience won’t connect with your brand. And we all know the immense level of competition out there at the moment – now more than ever with small businesses booming since lockdown – so to get a competitive edge is vital.

 

Branding allows you to build relationships with your audience, which can turn them into loyal customers. The customer journey is a complex thing. But one thing that remains consistent, is the impact of a good brand in the process. Whether the customer is spending £1 or £10,000, branding could be the very reason to make their decision. If you had to choose between a business with clear and confident branding, and a business that hasn’t made this effort, you probably know which one you’d trust more. Branding helps you show potential customers that you’re an established, credible business.

 

  1. Can someone else create a branding strategy for your own business, or should you try and do it yourself?

 

Both! Firstly, it starts with you. You know the business you want to build and the brand you want to create. Start by defining the service and product you’re offering and think about why you exist. What motivated you to launch your business? What makes you different? Who do you want to reach? Once you start brainstorming these answers, it might then help to source external help in creating a brand strategy. Brand experts will help you define, articulate and communicate your brand’s mission and vision to your audience – those ‘next steps’ of bringing your brand strategy to life are often best achieved with the help of experienced brand experts.

 

  1. At what point in developing a business should you start to think about your brand identity?

 

As soon as you start to think about launching your business and you’ve worked out your product or service, it’s a good idea to start thinking about your brand values, attributes and its ‘personality’. The sooner you get the brand defined, the better you’ll be able to connect with your audience. A quick way to get the ball rolling with your brand identity is to focus on the ‘why’ you exist.

 

  1. Can you make changes to your brand as you go along or do you need to stick to the one you have?

 

Photograph of person in red sweatshirt holding iphone with red image of Nike tick

Nike image, courtesy of Kristian Egelund

To a degree, you can change as you go along. Your brand will probably change as your business develops, but it should always stay true to the brand values you define at the start. If you start to change those values (and there are some big companies who’ve tried, and failed, to do that) then you risk alienating your audience who connect with your values, mission and vision. Brands that endure move with their customers and consistently reflect their changing lives and concerns. Nike is an obvious but great example – Just Do It is still their overarching brand slogan (and has been since 1987) but more recently they’ve flexed their brand to move away from aspiration for athletic achievement, and embraced the way society and sport has advanced. Two examples are their 2018 campaign selecting Colin Kaepernick, an outcast American football player and civil rights activist, as the face of its new global advertising campaign, emphasising their brand’s position as a vehicle for social change. And more recently in 2022, their Play New campaign which embraces trying and failing, not just achievement. Their campaign slogan is “no matter how many times you fall down, you’re still coming out on top.” Both the 2018 and 2022 examples still keep Nike’s original brand values at their core, but they show how you can flex the brand campaigns as you go along, if it’s done carefully.

 

  1. How important is social media in supporting your brand?

 

Love it or hate it, social media is an invaluable way of talking directly to your audience. Not only can you use social media tools to identify your audience (demographic, age, location and interests), it enables you to have a two-way conversation with that audience – gathering vital feedback, intel and being able to shape and adapt your brand to build awareness, customer loyalty and increase your audience and bottom line! Unlike previous methods of advertising and branding, where the audience were simply on the receiving end of marketing campaigns – social media allows you to have real-time conversations, and actively make your audience feel part of your brand and become brand ambassadors.

 

  1. There are a ton of free online videos about branding. Why is it important to study a course with tutors available in real-time?

 

Well, that’s precisely why studying a course with tutors in real-time is so vital – the sheer quantity of brand-related videos and articles out there is insane. There’s so much information (a lot of which is just pulled together with no real expertise to get YouTube views or website hits) that it would be impossible to know which is good advice or good theory and which is not. On a course with expert tutors, you get case studies brought to life and explained to you so you can understand how successful brands have applied the theories to achieve their goals. An interactive course with tutors allows you to get tailored advice and to navigate the steps you need to bring your own brand to life in line with industry standards. And plenty of time is built in for you to ask questions – about your own brand – and tap into the years of brand experience from the tutors; something you simply can’t do with an online video.

 

  1. What are your three top tips for anyone thinking about their brand?

 

  1. Audience – it’s vital to know who you are targeting with your brand. It helps to think of them as a person (or create a ‘persona’ for them) – their age, interests, ambitions, motivations and pain points.
  2. Vision and Mission – You need to answer the ‘why’ behind your brand before anything else. If you don’t know why you exist, how can you expect your audience to connect with you and, crucially, engage with you over one of you competitors?
  3. Research how your brand fits into the market – Consider your unique selling point (USP) in helping you to think about how you’ll stand out against your competitors. It’s always good to do some competitor analysis before launching a brand; it helps you define what can make you different.

 

Thanks so much, Anna and Pete! If you’d like to find out more about all things Branding, why not join our next Introduction to Branding short course starting on 21st November. The course is aimed at start-up owners, entrepreneurs, small business owners, communications and marketing professionals or anyone interested in learning how to communicate their brand more effectively, and learn what makes up ‘a brand’.

For more on all our short courses, visit our home page

For any questions email our team on shortcourses@city.ac.uk

Five Mindful Practices for A Good Day at Work

By Holly James

Finding a work-life balance can be tough. Maybe you feel like you never get any time to yourself, that you’re too stressed, or you just aren’t doing your best at work. Try these simple daily practices to change things for the better.

    1.  Meditate in the morning

Start out simple and easy. It’s important to be gentle with yourself. Begin by finding a comfortable position for your body, where you won’t get disturbed. Sitting cross-legged or laying down on your bed are options, but if you’re worried about falling asleep, try sitting first!

Once you’re settled, close your eyes and focus on the quality of your breathing. In meditation, you want to lengthen both your inhales and exhales, to provide an oxygen-rich relaxation experience for your whole body. Insight Timer is a great free app offering guided meditations and soothing music to help.

    2.  Pen a positive intention

Make sure it’s specific and achievable. It could be something like “Today I will go for a walk outdoors”, or “Today I’ll drink water instead of coffee”. Write it on a bright post-it and stick it to your computer screen, or jot it in your journal to remind yourself later. Remember to always be kind. It’s an intention, not a measure of achievement.

    3.  Do a quick clean

Tidy house, tidy mind. It can be hard to feel productive and creative when your living space is messy. Set a 15-minute timer before work and get hoovering! If the noise doesn’t wake you up, the movement will.

   4.   Play with the Pomodoro technique

You might have heard of this technique for boosting productivity, but try using it to schedule regular breaks instead. It works by setting a timer that splits a time block. For example, 45 minutes of work, and a 15-minute break. You can move your body in your breaks, drink water, or go outside for fresh air. Our bodies need regular movement, and our brains ample rest for us to feel energised and happier.

  5.   Befriend your breath

Just pause for a moment and take a single deep breath. Notice where your breath goes when you inhale – does it fill your belly, or get stuck in your throat? Are your exhales short and forceful, or long and relaxing? When we‘re stressed our breath shortens, and less oxygen can get to the brain, which it needs to function fully. Try breathing deeply for a couple of minutes and see how you feel. 

When I was struggling to get up in the mornings to go to my 9-5 job these techniques were a lifeline. Breathwork and meditation especially helped me stay positive, even when I hated my job. I hope that by doing these practices, you find something positive shifts in your life, too.
 

By Holly James, who felt so inspired after doing our Introduction to Copywriting that she’s now a copywriter!

Skills to Start a Business

You’ve got an idea for a business and now you’re ready to take the plunge into making your dream become a reality but don’t know where to start. Fret not, as we will be sharing tips and guidance on how to gain the knowledge and support required to ensure that your new venture is successful.

Building the foundations 

If you are at the early stages of starting a business but aren’t sure where to begin, you will first need to consider the process of forming a new start-up. Ranging from legal requirements like registering your business, researching the market ensuring there is a demand, to writing a marketing plan and setting up a bank account. 

At City, University of London we offer a 10-week evening course Starting Up in Business which can help you to take the next steps, with the assistance of expert guidance. 

Money matters 

Provided that you have funding secured to get your business off the ground, you will need to ensure you have sufficient knowledge of financial management so that your organisation runs smoothly. This applies to pricing of your products/services, taxation, interest and borrowings, investment, performance measurements and risk mitigation. 

The Finance for the Non-Financial Manager City short course explains the fundamentals of finance, including an understanding of standard financial statements, and operational messages that can be derived from them. 

Home is where the start is 

Regardless of if you are an online business or not, it is crucial to have a presence on the web so that people can easily access your business.  

Thankfully, it is relatively straight forward and inexpensive to build a website with many services offering free hosting tools. If you want to keep costs down and create a website that has more functionality, then you can set up a site yourself. The Building Websites with HTML and CSS3 helps you to develop the fundamental skills required to plan, design, develop, validate and maintain websites using HTML5 and CSS versions 2 and 3. 

Once the website is in place, you will need to fill it with enticing and engaging copy. What you write will set the tone for your company and how you want to come across. The copy needs to be interesting and informative, keeping in mind SEO to ensure keywords are relevant to increase your search rankings.  Writing for Web and Digital Media course is ideal to write more effectively and engage your audience.

Finally, any good website is visually appealing and can attract the attention of users. To do this, it is helpful to be able to produce creative assets and imagery to make your pages stand out from the crowd, aligning to your brand. Photoshop: An Introduction is a useful course teaching you how to utilise the software to edit, manipulate and create captivating artwork.  

Spread the word 

Having completed your market research, you may have identified a specific audience who will likely be interested in your product or service. Once this is established, the next step is to produce appropriate messaging to encourage interest. 

In the Marketing: An Introduction course you will learn the key theories of marketing and how to apply them in practice. Our introductory marketing course employs a mixture of presentations, discussion and group work, exploring how to gain a competitive advantage by applying marketing tools and techniques and by adopting a customer orientated approach. 

For a more digitally focused outlook, Digital Marketing Fundamentals  provides an overview of key digital and marketing skills, including: 

  • Planning a website 
  • Website promotion 
  • Email 
  • Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) 
  • E-commerce and integrating digital marketing with traditional marketing. 

Perfect your pitches 

Whether you need to persuade investors to support your business venture or deliver powerful presentations to key stakeholders, being able to effectively and confidently deliver presentations is essential for communication. 

 Our interactive Presentation Skills course helps you develop skills for crafting persuasive presentations and delivering speeches with lasting impact. The programme combines insights and techniques for an effective preparation process with opportunities to put these into practice.  

Teamwork makes the dream work 

Recruiting staff is a big step in the life of any start-up and for a small business. Hiring employees is not only a legal minefield but a massive financial burden. 

Our Human Resource Management course explains practical topics such as recruitment, remuneration and administration, to more theoretical components, such as fostering good employee relations, the Human Resource course is the ideal way to develop HR knowledge and expertise.  

If any of the courses mentioned are of interest, visit City short courses to discover more. Good luck!

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