Most entrepreneurs get cold sweat running down their spine when they hear the word liability. The state of being responsible in the eye of the law for something, as per the definition, is generally bad news for businesses.
Your brand is your company’s personality. It helps to distinguish you from other companies out there and it can include everything from visual branding (e.g. logos, colours) to your tone of voice.
The year has already passed its halfway point, and you won’t be the only entrepreneur who is a little concerned about the lack of progress thus far. The good news, however, is that there is still plenty of time to breathe fresh life into the company before the year is out.
Whatever kind of business you may be running, it is absolutely essential that you get your brand identity clearly established both in your own mind, and also in the minds of prospective clients and customers, if you want to be successful.
If you are a small business owner, you might find it hard to stand out from the competition and beat the odds. Let’s be honest; your marketing budget will be a fraction of large companies, so it is hard to create a marketing plan that will achieve similar results.
Here in the U.S we like to think were the king of everything, but the numbers show there are 8 times as many active Instagram users outside the U.S. I previously wrote about 13 power tips from six successful U.S. based Instagrammers. So, I decided to reach out to four business power users on four different continents and ask their thoughts on the value of Instagram in their region and some of their best tips. Here’s what they told me:
Operating a photo retail store is hard. It’s hard work with long hours. It’s hard to make sales. It’s hard to find good employees. It’s hard to keep expenses down.. it’s just damn hard to make a profit—which if you could, would make everything else less hard.
Simply put: all our customers were going out of business, our product was losing margin, and our competition was growing in number, capability, and size. I had to do something or my family’s 60-year-old business would also be done.
