Amidst the turbulence of the pandemic in America, entrepreneurs are taking the leap en masse and are starting businesses at a stunning rate. With many new business owners pioneering new digital approaches to traditional industries, the importance of digital communication and branding has never been more important.

Today we’re going over a set of basic, yet important considerations for your small business and how it handles its messaging. We’ll look at why this is so important, how much your principles matter and the value of being consistent in how your brand talks to its audience. Let’s take a look.

Why communication matters

Even before the spread of the pandemic across America and the world, it had long been appreciated that consumer preferences and expectations had changed.

For years, we’ve lived in a business world where the average consumer likes brands they purchase from to have a stance on important issues. This can range from something as simple as a disclaimer and certification on recycling as much as they can, through to regular donations on community or charitable issues. Fairtrade products are also a great example of this principle being important in the business-to-consumer (B2C) market.

Make your principles visible

For a new business, this can be a mutually beneficial aspect of your startup to focus on. If you can identify principles and points that matter to you personally in life, you can tie these into your business. Everyone wins; your consumers and clients will be appreciative of your efforts and you can begin to make a real change through the success of your business.

If you’re interested in this angle and can think of relevant principles or philanthropic subjects that speak to you personally, it’s important to plan deliberately on how you can work this into your company. It’s great to make this visible, such as certification logos or messaging on the homepage of your website and in email marketing.

As long as you’re speaking truthfully about what is meaningful to you and your business, you stand to create a deeper and more intimate connection with your audience.

The importance of consistency

Even if you’re speaking the truth of your principles and goals clearly, it’s dangerous to make the easy mistake of being inconsistent in your messaging. This is particularly threatening to businesses that plan to speak through several social media channels or platforms, such as Twitter, Instagram and email at once.

This is a mistake easily made by a new, small business. If one person manages one channel and another person the next, differences in tone and style can lead an audience to believe the content of each message is insincere or disingenuous. All it takes is a look at regular online news outlets that cover business to see the backlash this can cause.

Don’t let this dissuade you from prioritising great communication, however. It’s simply important that you make sure that you have a consistent style and message to speak across every channel you choose to work in. To make this easier and clearer, a simple brand guideline document that covers the tone of voice and style of messaging you want to convey will work wonders.

By being consistent across any channel your business works in, you’ll help to build a sense of legitimacy and quality that will attract new customers and clients and help to retain the interest of those who have already purchased your goods or used your services.

Good luck!

It’s a wonderful thing to be able to tie in a meaningful purpose to your business. As an entrepreneur on the cusp of launching your own company, linking your business goals with a personal purpose can help to motivate yourself and make a real difference to the world around you. The Idea Financial team wishes you the best of luck in the months ahead.

This is a Sponsored Feature