Last editedSep 20212 min read
Branding is all about getting your business noticed and remembered. A product or service that stands out from the competition will achieve both of these, though it is important to stand out for the right reasons.
For small businesses, it is especially important to get the branding right because it will be one of the main drivers of growth and success. You want your brand to look good and be unique, while reinforcing what your business stands for. This can be a difficult trick to pull off, but there are plenty of brilliant examples out there to take inspiration from.
Below we look at four brilliant small business branding ideas that have brought their brands huge success.
1. Death Wish Coffee
The Death Wish coffee brand uses a bold and attention-grabbing ploy to play up to their billing as the “World’s Strongest Coffee”. The term “death wish” is associated with action, bravery, and dare-devilry – good associations for anyone seeking out such a strong caffeine fix.
What is especially interesting about this inspiring brand idea is that it comes from the company’s research into their audience. They realized that a lot of coffee drinkers were not all that interested in the flavor that most coffee brands boast about. A lot of coffee drinkers just want the energy boost that a strong caffeine drink gives them.
Directly targeting this corner of the market with a cool name and simple but distinct design has brought Death Wish Coffee enormous success.
2. Unwrap Your Voice cough drops
Cough drops probably aren’t the first product you think of when considering how quirky packaging can make all the difference. But the Unwrap Your Voice cough drops ad campaign showed off innovative packaging designs featuring cartoon heads whose necks descended into the wrapping twist at the bottom of the package. You then untwist the end to access the cough drop, and thus unwrap the package character’s throat in a symbolic act of what the cough drop itself will do for you.
At first glance, it might not seem like the kind of thing can be easily recreated with another product, but it is all about being innovative with what you have available.
3. Uzuri zebra-print packaging
Another brand that used its packaging to take its products to the next level is make-up brand Uzuri. Its zebra-print boxes and bags look stylish and fashionable, which adds that air of luxury to them that sets them apart from brands with plain packaging.
This is definitely an area to look at if your product itself cannot really be improved upon. By stylizing how the product is presented or packaged, you can make it seem greater than the sum of its parts. Even just to stand apart from competitors with similar products can be a great business branding idea.
4. Imperfect Produce
The brilliant idea behind Imperfect Produce was further enhanced by its clever branding and social media savvy. Beginning as a startup in 2015, the company takes fruit and vegetables considered too ugly for sale in traditional grocery stores and sells them at a discount.
It uses social media to get attention, sticking googly eyes on misshapen vegetables and garnering a lot of interest in the funny-looking food. There is a somewhat educational aspect to their business branding and promotional campaigns as well, teaching us that fresh produce doesn’t have to look perfect to taste good.
The entire business concept of Imperfect Produce is to turn an apparent disadvantage into an advantage. Their products should be harder to sell, but there is a big market for such imperfect food and Imperfect Produce has tapped into that audience and presented its imperfect products perfectly.
We Can Help
If you’re interested in finding out more about small business branding and other business branding ideas, or any other aspect of your business finances, then get in touch with our financial experts. Find out how GoCardless can help you with ad hoc payments or recurring payments.
