Startup branding tips for Malaysian SMEs
Who said a small business in Malaysia doesn’t need branding tips?
Sure there are loads of competitors with successful brands of their own but that doesn’t mean a startup such as yourself should just stay on the sidelines.
As a branding buddy, we know you don’t need to break the bank to create an effective brand strategy that appeals to the right audience. Quite frankly, there are plenty of marketing tips for small businesses you can do for your brand to stand out. Before long, you’ll be in the top league!
How do I brand my small business in Malaysia?
Even a small business in Malaysia can leave a big impact with the right brand marketing strategy. So let’s take a look at the 5 small business branding strategies to improve your brand positioning.
1. How do you create a unique brand identity?
A brand identity doesn’t just stop at your logo. You could have a ground-breaking logo but without a brand identity, you might as well throw that logo away.
Your brand identity relates to what your company values and missions are. More or less the personality traits of your company. Is it fun? Or corporate? Is it all over the place?
It builds up to who you are as a company. But before you know your brand identity, you must know who exactly your target customers are and the trends of the industry you’re in. Then, develop a unique personality of your brand that can make you stand out from your competitors.
Suggested read: 15 Brand Collateral Ideas for Every Malaysian Business (2020)
2. How do you develop a visual brand identity?
Now that you’ve gotten to know your company a bit better, you can now start designing! Hold your horses though. You don’t want to steer away from the brand identity that you spent days figuring out.
It’s important to be consistent with your visual attributes because it might be confusing. Also, your customers won’t actually know what your brand direction really is so they won’t associate professionalism with your brand.
Hence, one of the brand-building strategies is to establish a clear visual identity to WOW your target audience. These include the following small business tips:
- Brand style guide
- Logo design
- Stationery
- Website
- Merchandise
3. Small Businesses in Malaysia Need Content
A small business such as yourself would probably have more worries about expenses rather than marketing. But what if we told you that you can easily generate conversions with cost-effective brand development strategies?
Our most common branding tip for small businesses is to implement content marketing. Time and time again has proven that content is certainly king.
But, why do small businesses need content marketing? This is because content marketing is the way you communicate with your customers. All you need is the right content from blogs to social media postings.
One of the top startup tips for content marketing is to know what your customers commonly ask. Then, create content focusing on resolving those topics. This is much more effective than writing content that most likely nobody would read.
Suggested read: 5 Best Company Profile Design Examples for Inspiration
4. How do you network a small business in Malaysia?
You’re a standalone business working your way through the market as a lone wolf. We’re here to tell you this isn’t the way to go.
Customers usually prefer brands that are associated with the brands they already know. But this doesn’t mean you should work with your competitors, it’s more to find businesses that have a similar target audience as yours.
Not quite clear on this? Take for example if you manufactured a type of sports drink. Partner with your local community’s fun run or an up-and-coming gym. This way, there will be a strong possibility their target market will be your next customers.
Also, they aren’t your direct competitors but rather a win-win situation so they are more than willing to work with you. Who knows, you might even grow together as a bigger brand together.
5. Why is it important to keep existing customers?
I don’t know about you but word-of-mouth will always be the topmost effective way to gain more leads. You could talk rainbows and butterflies all day but at the end of the day, customers aren’t all that convinced.
But don’t let this discourage you. This is a wake-up call for you to improve your customer experience. Sure having a product or service that tastes good or works wonders is great but are you taking care of your regular customer base?
Apparently, it is much harder to find new customers rather than finding ways to keep the ones you already have, but there’s a way around that. If you provide a positive experience for your regulars, their reviews will definitely attract more customers your way.
So what exactly is a positive experience? For starters, don’t just ignore those bad reviews. Constructive criticism is a good thing so rather than deleting them, find ways to resolve them.
For example, a customer complaining about how your website’s payment gateway is too confusing. You should fix this problem and let them know so they have a better experience.
How do you brand your small business in Malaysia?
Now that you know some of the marketing ideas for small businesses, are you ready to experience better branding?
Even if you are a Malaysian SME just trying to make ends meet, it doesn’t cost that much for a good branding strategy that works in your favor.
However, if you think that strategic brand management is just a waste then are you really passionate about building your brand?
So now that you know how little it takes to effectively better your brand, now all you need is a brand strategist to help you through it.
Just fill in the details below, a comprehensive quote will be sent straight to you within 24 hours.
