Accepting the concept of a brand is great place for small business owners to start.

Now, when I use the word brand I don’t mean like Coke or Nike. I’m not talking about hiring a brand management firm – not quite yet anyway.

For the small business owner oftentimes the brand comes down to knowing your narrow target market and being true to yourself. See, your company has a brand. The question is whether it is created intentionally or accidentally. For any business really a brand is just the collective perception of anyone who has come into contact with your firm – that can be ten people or ten million.

Three important small business branding considerations

• Know your target market inside and out and create brand elements for them – not your industry peers
• Be consistent – create a look, a message, a way of doing business and stick to it – carry it through to new initiatives
• Be true to yourself – much of how the world experiences your brand is through you and your people – know that there is a chunk of the market that wants who you are and doesn’t need you to try to be something else – if your brand is simple or practical, but not so flashy, don’t try to add flashy to please someone outside of your target market.