When thinking about every single aspect of your small business marketing, make sure that your “brand” never disappears or is weakened through the loss of one or more elements. Make sure that every single marketing piece – whether signage, business cards, advertisements or your Facebook Page – sticks to your brand:
- Logo. (Use in the same ratio and clear resolution, no matter what.)
- Color Scheme. (Make sure you know the exact Pantone color or process color formula for your exact brand color or colors. If you don’t know what this means, sound off in the comments, and we’ll be happy to collectively answer your questions!)
- Domain Name. This is your URL or www.mycompanyname.com. Yes, every single business needs a web site because 63% of ALL consumers across all demographics visit a web site before making a brick and mortar buying decision (USA Today/Neilson study, April 2009). This is not optional. Neither is the inclusion of your domain name of every single communication or brand presence that you make public. Put your URL EVERYWHERE.
Use all three of these elements consistently and constantly. You will be surprised at the improved effectiveness of your marketing overall when you take care of this seemingly small and sideline piece of your overall marketing puzzle.
I’m getting ready to move next door – larger, better space. Anyway, can I change my colors? Or do I need to continue with the same colors (branding)? Just curious.
Keep the same color scheme in order to add continuity to your move. Changing locations (no matter how close) and color schemes all at the same time could be confusing. I’d rather see you stick with what’s working for now! Great question!