With so many businesses popping up nowadays, it can be hard to take an inch of the spotlight and succeed within a heavily saturated market. You’ve not only got the offline businesses but the online ones too to compete with.
Not every business has a knowledgeable business owner either. Some often start their businesses off on a hunch or simply with the basic knowledge they’ve self-taught themselves online. However, as long as you’ve got passion and commitment, most businesses can succeed if they’ve got the right ingredients.
Growing a business with personality is a great way of helping your organization succeed beyond its first few months to a year – the danger zone for many companies. With that being said, here are a few tips that will help you build a business that has its own unique personality to show off and stand out.
Hire and nurture employees that have a passion for the business
Hiring the right employees for your business matters because without the right people, the company can feel cold and corporate – even the most creative ones! You want to hire people with a passion and thirst for the business you run. Whether it’s a coffee shop to an SEO agency, the people you hire need to eat, sleep, and breathe the job.
Of course, a work-life balance should always be encouraged but basically, you want employees who’ll love their job despite the odd bad days they have. Once you’ve hired those individuals, you want to nurture them in the right manner so that they grow a deep passion for the job they do.
That includes offering the right amount of training and delivering the right level of support they need to succeed.
Provide employees with personalized work uniforms
If you’re a company that works within a customer-facing environment, chances are, a work uniform is often required. While it might be easy to ask everyone to wear a suit or a plain black top and trousers, personalization can be a great way to show personality.
There are lots of companies that will have personalized work uniforms whether it’s a specific design and color theme, to including visuals like the company logo. Depending on the look and impression you’re wanting to give, it’s well worth showing off the business with a fresh line of work uniforms from Mato & Hash Embroidery.
It’s the little touches that can transform the look of the business from a visual point of view. It’s a small investment for most businesses to do but it can make a big difference to how the business is perceived by the general public, as well as your competition.
Do research on what consumers are looking for in a brand
When it comes to a business and the personality you give it, you want it to react well with your customers. To do that effectively, you need to know who your consumers are and what they’re looking for in a brand in general.
Consumer research is a big part of running any business, especially when setting one up in the early days. Whether you’re still in the early days or not, touching base with a bit of consumer research can go a long way in understanding what your customers are wanting from your brand.
From the data you receive, whether that’s done through focus groups, feedback forms, or surveys, you’ll be able to craft a brand personality that customers will enjoy engaging with.
Understand your brand voice and tone
Brand voice and tone of voice are two important qualities to give to your business because they can often be telling to your audience about the type of company you are. For some businesses, formality is important, and therefore a more corporate and cool tone is used.
With family-run businesses and creative companies, there’s usually a more conversational language and tone of voice used.
However, it’s each to their own when it comes to running a business. How would you like your business to be perceived in the way it talks and interacts with its customers? The brand voice and tone you want should be something that’s trialed out and experimented with before being rolled out across the business in its entirety.
Spend time and investment on brand imagery
Brand imagery is an important one, especially when it comes to running a business digitally. Some companies solely exist online, which means they rely a lot on the branding they present across the internet.
That branding needs to be instantly eye-catching whether it’s for its uniqueness or bold color scheme for example. It needs to be memorable and recognizable so that when someone comes across it two, three, or four times, they’ll quickly be able to put the brand name to the logo or branding used across the business.
Speak transparently on topics you believe in as an organization
Transparency is important because many customers and the public, in general, can often see through false claims and information that’s too good to be true. When you’re talking about topics that you believe in as an organization, it must be done so with sincerity and a clear understanding.
Giving viewpoints on topics, despite whether they’re controversial or not, is important to do carefully. As a business, you’re often held to a higher standard than the average user on Twitter or Facebook. It’s important that every comment, social media post, or article is genuine and reflects the true personality of the business.
Support the local community and causes close to the heart
Business isn’t simply all about business. Nowadays consumers want to have and engage with companies that bring more to the table. From consciousness on climate change to supporting organizations and local communities that require funding or promotional support, this is what can cement a company for the long-term.
In order to craft a business that exudes personality, find opportunities to support the local community within the area in which the company is based in. If it’s a digital business, look at finding opportunities to support causes that are close to the heart.
Involve employees and get them working on company initiatives that go beyond just filling the company’s p