Global Citizen – Page 5 – A Bus On A Dusty Road

Branding is a very important aspect of any business. This is especially true when running your own small or home-based business. Branding is an area that many home-based businesses struggle with, yet it is an essential part of any business. Branding helps your home-based business look and feel professional. You need to have a business name, logo, and tagline to properly brand your business. Someone once asked me how I let my friends and family know that my business is not a charity or something I will give them free of charge, but it is an actual business. I answered them that it was quite simple - they must ensure their small or home-based business has proper branding. Why Have a Brand For Your Small Business Or Home-based Business? Many small businesses or home-based businesses struggle with branding. They may feel it is not essential; their family and friends are unsure if it is a "real" business or a charity. Others may feel it is something they should not have to pay for, mainly since the business is being run out of your home. One mistake many small home-based businesses make is that they are not very clear about their intentions for their business. They are only really partway into the business. Some people may feel like a business is only a business if you have a proper office, staff, and all the other things we think of a business as having. But the truth is that a business of one person is still a business and that one person running the business is also called an entrepreneur. Branding your business helps turn your business into a reality for you and those around you. If you pass out your name cards to people when they want something for free, they will quickly understand that you are serious about your home-based business. I find that usually, giving a name card that has my company name, logo, website, and other information shows them that I have a business. How To Brand Your Small Business Or Home-based Business? Now that you understand having a brand for your home-based business is essential, the next thing we need to understand is what we need to do to brand our home-based business. Here are some of the basic steps that you should take to properly brand your home-based business: Make Sure You Have A Business Name Every business needs to have a name. The name is perhaps one of the most difficult things to decide on; sometimes, this can take a lot of time. Having named quite a few companies, trends, and other things, I have found this can be tough to force if you are not sure. Here are a few steps you can take to try to find the name you want: Internet Research - Go on the internet and do some research. Look at companies similar to what you are doing in other parts of the world and check out the names, logos, colors, and other things they are doing. Please do not directly copy them, especially if they are a well know company. Show people you are creative and willing to get your brand. For example, do not use the Nike swoosh symbol and change their tagline "Just Do It" to "Just Draw It" if you are an Architect. I personally find that to be tacky and at least borderline illegal. Brain Storming - Gather some family and friends to join you for an hour or so and help you brainstorm the business name. They may have some ideas you have not thought of. Do A Social Media Vote - I have seen several people put up three or four potential names, brands, and logos on their social media and then ask their online friends to vote on which one they like and why,. Asking for suggestions online is a great way to know what people like and why they like it. They may see something in a business name you have not thought of. The final decision on what name to choose should be your decision. If there is a name that you like and are not sure about, I will go with my gut feelings at the end of the day. I have found that my gut feeling is usually the best choice for me. Once you have decided on a name, you should also try getting a domain name for your company website. We believe that every home-based business should have a website. You can read our blog about having a website called Why Your Home-based Business Needs A Website, What You Need To Know by clicking here. Have a Logo for your Small Business or Home-based Business Every home-based business should have a name and also a logo. Having a logo shows people that you are serious about your business. It also helps to give your company some recognizable identification. You can use some websites to input your company name into their program, and the site will give you some logo suggestions. Here are some branding logo sites we have tried in the past: Brand Crowd - They will allow you to put in your name and try it for free. Their computer program will give you some logo ideas. Click here to find out more. Free Logo Services - This program will also give you some free logo ideas. Click here to find out more. Tailor Brands - Tailor Brands is a company we have used before to see what ideas their system would give us for our logo. To discover more, you can click here. If you have the technical skills, try designing your logo. If you can do this, the logo will be uniquely yours. For each logo I have designed, I will always do the following: Fonts - I like a clean-looking logo that uses different fonts. That is just my preference. So when I do a logo, I will set up what fonts I will use for my marketing and website. This helps me to set a more consistent message. Colors - I will choose what colors I am going to use. Most of the time, I will usually set my colors using the color guide hexadecimal number as I find that is the one color guide number I can use on most of my programs. Every Small Business Or Home-based Business Should Have A Tagline I also think every logo and brand should have a short, sweet tagline that will tell people about what you do. This tagline could be as simple as "Teaching Music to Children" or "Delicious Home-made Cakes." Whatever the tagline is, it should quickly and easily tell the story of what you do. My Tagline for A Bus On A Dusty Road is "Living Life As A Global Citizen" Right from my tagline, you can probably figure this has something to do with the global world and life. When trying to figure out your tagline, here are a few suggestions for you to consider: Keep it short, sweet, and simple - You want it to be short, sweet, and very simple. It should always be under 9 or 10 words. Give a clear message - Do not make the tagline so cute or catchy that people have no idea what you do, or worse yet, they totally and completely misunderstand what you do. Make sure it is something you can live with long-term - When you do your tagline, it should be something you can live with for a while. Branding takes time, but correcting a lousy mistake can take even more time and is usually costly. One reason we feel branding is so important is that a small business can now begin to play in the big leagues with some of the bigger businesses. Having a brand makes you look professional. In other words, a good brand will help you to be able to tell your story to your audience and show them why they need your services or products. Your branding is the voice of your company. At A Bus On A Dusty Road, we talk about everything about travel, life, and ex-pat living. We are all about “Living Life As A Global Citizen.” We explore social, cultural, and economic issues and travel. We would love to have you be part of our community. Sign up for our newsletter to keep up-to-date by clicking here. If you have any questions, you can contact me, Anita, by clicking here. Listen to our Podcast called Dusty Roads. You can find it on all major podcast platforms. Try out to listen to one of our podcasts by clicking here. Subscribe to our A Bus On A Dusty Road YouTube Channel filled with great videos and information by clicking here. Related Questions What Are Some Home-based Business Ideas? We have given you some of our top 100 plus home-based business ideas that you can start today. Many of these may be business ideas you have thought about, and others may be some things you have never thought about. But we hope that these suggestions are an inspiration for you to start your own home-based business today. To see the complete list, check out our blog 100 Plus Home-based Business Ideas You Can Start Today by clicking here. What if I Want To Travel and Run A Successful Business? We have the top 10 tips for traveling and running a successful business, they are: 1) Make sure your business category works on the road, 2) fully know and understand all your legal issues, 3) have the skills you need to be successful already in place, 4) have a concrete plan, 5) make sure your data is digital, 6) have all the correct tools, 7) have any support or admin support you may need already in place, 8) do a short travel test run before going on a longer trip, 9) make sure you are healthy and 10) Have the income and money you need to travel already in place. To read more about these 10 top tips you can read our blog 10 Tips to Travel and Run a Successful Business While On the Road by clicking here.