Today with the advent of online technology, even as a “business of one” you can look a lot bigger. You can even do a lot of things that big brands do when it comes to branding your business and making your mark on your industry.   You’ve probably learned the lesson in twelve (or more) years of school that you shouldn’t copy anyone. While the fundamental lesson in that is still true, there is still a lot you can learn from big brands. In fact, you can copy their strategies, modify them, improve them, and reap the success.

1)  Personalize Your Brand

No, it’s not about you; it’s about them. Personalize everything you do to focus on your “customer of one”. Your email messages and all marketing messages should be or feel personalized to your audience.

2)  Show Your Passion

Due to the fact that you don’t need to worry about a huge business, you have more time to focus on the passion you feel about your business and your offerings. If that shines through to your audience, they’ll respond by becoming raving and passionate fans too.

3)  Stay Lean and Mean

A big advantage that you have over big business is that you can stay lean more easily than they can. You can outsource a lot of work during busy seasons and rein that in during the off season, keeping your profit margins up. This advantage allows you to spend money and time branding smartly.

4)  Be Innovative

Large business have a lot of red tape that they have to go through in order to get things done. You don’t. It’s just you, right? So, you can act on new ideas quickly, beating the bigger businesses to the punch.

5)  Provide Exceptional Customer Service

You also have the ability to deliver brilliant customer service, because you don’t have to deal with as high a volume of complaints and issues as a large business where the owners are very separated from the details.

6)  Niche It Down

Keeping your niche small is very important to a small business. You cannot spread yourself so thin that you don’t have time to make that one thing that you do the very best, differentiating yourself from bigger business.

7)  Plan for Growth

Even as a small business, if you do everything right, you’re going to have to be ready for growth. Perhaps you need to identify contractors and software that enables you to grow. That way you won’t have to reinvent the wheel each time you grow.

8)  Pay Attention to Details

When you’re a small business, the little things really do matter. Pay close attention to the things you do because the smallest thing, such as sending a thank you note, a birthday wish and the close personal attention that you can give, will make all the difference.   You really do have an advantage over big business by being a small business and having a smaller budget. You don’t need a large budget to brand yourself. You simply need the ability to focus on your values and ideals in a way that speaks to your audience.