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The Brand Design Masters Podcast with Philip VanDusen is dedicated to helping you build the skills you need to design bullet-proof brands - for yourself, your business and for the clients and customers you serve.
In every episode, Philip, his co-hosts and interview guests will share inspiration, ideas, trends and techniques that will lift you to greater heights as a creative professional or entrepreneur - so you can build a successful creative practice, business and personal brand in the Creative Economy.
Top 10 Branding Trends for Small Businesses in 2024
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Hey, everybody. Welcome back.
Let's talk about the top 10 Branding Trends for Small Businesses in 2024.
The world of branding and design is ever evolving, and small businesses are constantly on the lookout for fresh ideas and strategies to grow and stand out from the pack. Here are 10 hot topics that are grabbing the attention of small business owners in 2024.
These trends represent topics that are showing huge search engine volumes and also resonate with the common themes and concerns that frequently are discussed by my small business clients in the industry.
Number one, digital presence and e- commerce first mentality.
In our digital- first world, small businesses are intent on learning how to build the most compelling online presence they can.
This includes website design, e commerce platforms, and user experience principles. Small businesses should be focusing intensely on finding new ways to make your website not just visually appealing, but also user friendly and effective in converting visits to sales. Post pandemic, the massive shift to online shopping, home delivery, and digital services is really well documented, and a strong digital footprint is critical for your growth, and, to be honest, your very survival.
Number two, social media branding.
Social media branding is a huge focus of 2024, more than ever actually. Businesses want to know how to create a consistent brand image across a broader range of platforms. This includes understanding the nuances of each platform, creating engaging content and leveraging social media for brand storytelling.
The increased importance of the role of content creation to win new followers and customers is shining a really bright light on the need to repurpose content. And when doing it, to be sure your brand and your design is consistent everywhere you post.
Number three, sustainable and ethical branding.
There's a growing interest in how to brand products as sustainable or ethically sourced. Consumers are more conscious about their choices, and small businesses are searching for ways to communicate their commitment to sustainability through their branding and design. Consumer trends increasingly show a preference for sustainable products, and this is causing small businesses to reconsider the design of their products, their packaging, and their digital assets.
And consider even updating them so they can address this macro social trend. Contemporary branding in this case means the difference between a small business being seen as ethically, echo, and ethics conscious, or one that's going to be passed by by consumers.
Number four, personal branding for entrepreneurs.
For many small businesses, especially solopreneurs, personal branding is becoming as important as business branding. That's because the growth of personal branding is aligning with the rise of influencer marketing and the gig economy, where individual reputation can significantly impact business results.
The question of how to build a personal brand that aligns with and enhances your business brand isn't actually simple, and getting the help of a brand consultant can be key in helping you achieve it. Now here's a shameless plug. That's what I actually do in my agency. So if you're looking for a branding partner, just go to philipvandusen. com slash brand dash consulting to learn more about what I offer. Or look in the description of this video for a link.
Number five is content marketing.
Content is still very much king. And as a small business, you need to learn how to create compelling content that aligns with your brand values and appeals to your target audience.
This includes not only blog posts and articles, but also video content, audio content, podcasts, and infographics. And if you're still not convinced, the effectiveness of content marketing is really well supported by data showing its incredible impact on consumer engagement and retention. SEO, and even lead generation.
So if you haven't started creating content for your brand, you better get a move on. Now I want to take a moment and tell you about a mastermind community for branding pros that I've launched this year called Bonfire. It's a hybrid coaching, training, networking, and accountability community. And when you become a member of Bonfire, literally overnight, you get access to me as a group mentor.
and have a support system of peers who are going to help you succeed in your career and in your business. Bonfire is a community where you're going to learn how to grow with confidence that you've never felt before. As a member, you get bi weekly group coaching sessions, a private online community, a huge resource library of tools and downloads, and tons of other amazing stuff.
If you want to learn more, just go to philipvandusen. com slash bonfire, and now let's get back to the trends.
Number six is branding for niche markets.
Tailoring business strategies for specific niches or industries is another trending topic for 2024. Small businesses want to know how to appeal to specific demographics or interest groups and are learning that this can be done through the design choices that they make.
Market segmentation and niche targeting have been fundamental principles in marketing forever and data has proven the effectiveness of branding tailored to niche markets in driving One key tactic for small businesses is to be sure to know your competition intimately and exactly what they're doing in the market to try to beat you.
Because if you don't, you're effectively flying blind. And a talented branding firm can help you research your competition and uncover opportunities for growth, which I highly recommend.
Number seven is brand strategy and storytelling.
Small businesses are increasingly coming to understand that brand strategy can mean the difference between success and failure.
And therefore, historically cost conscious small businesses are making the choice to invest in brand strategy services that they previously may have considered too expensive or too esoteric. Brand strategy for small businesses involves crafting a compelling brand story, defining brand values, and understanding how to communicate these elements
In your brand design and in your marketing storytelling, which was once seen as just a buzzword for small businesses is now creating small business converts because it's been proven in numerous studies by major marketing agencies to create deep emotional connections with consumers, which leads to more sales and higher brand loyalty.
Number eight is DIY design tools and their limitations.
With DIY design tool use rising, small businesses are increasingly taking things into their own hands, and the results are kind of mixed. It can look great, but I often see brands looking like Frankenstein's monster with no consistent aesthetic or any kind of aesthetic guidelines for creative development.
Sure, it's easy for you to create passable social posts and graphics in tools like Canva and Adobe Spark, but many small businesses are now finding out the limitations and the dangers of doing it. You may be discovering that it's actually a lot harder than it looks to create consistent designs across platforms, and to align them aesthetically with your company brand design.
And so, in 2024, small businesses that are investing in branding services are increasingly winning, simply by leveraging professional, strategic brand design.
Number nine, leveraging technology and branding.
There are so many tools that leverage AI, and they just keep coming out daily. The numbers. are dizzying.
And what this means for small businesses and their branding partners is that we have started exploring how to use these technologies like augmented reality and virtual reality and AI driven design tools to work to enhance the brand experience and the customer experience. New technologies are enabling a much more forward thinking and high end approach to branding and design and putting historically high priced design assets at your fingertips and cost effective. that are the lowest that we've ever seen.
Number 10, networking and collaboration.
Due to the ongoing challenging economic environment for small businesses, often caused by the dominance of big name companies, there's a focus on how to use networking and collaborations to build brand awareness and to increase your profits.
This includes strategies that small businesses have previously been hesitant to engage in, or not very great at doing. Things like partnerships or co branding opportunities and leveraging community events or online platforms for business, partnering, and networking.
The benefits of networking collaboration are well known for their ability to drive growth, especially for small businesses that are looking to expand their reach and their resources because you can essentially leverage the audiences, the customers, and the brand awareness of the companies that you're partnering with to build your own.
So I hope this has inspired you to think differently in 2024 about your small business. And if it has, be sure to check out the description for my link to the newsletter that I publish called Brand Muse, where I share trends and resources and industry insights for branding pros and entrepreneurs.
And with that, thanks . See you next time.