Your customer’s relationship with your business is a core part of your brand. This relationship determines whether customers will walk in your doors, buy a product, and return in the future. Like any relationship in your life, customer relationships and branding your customer experience will require effort on your part. Here are five ways of nurturing and building this key part of your small business brand.

1. Focus on meeting needs. Instead of telling customers how great your business and its products are, tell them how you are going to meet their needs. What problem are you solving for them? If you can make someone’s life easier or more pleasant, it will be easy to be viewed as a friend, an entity that the customer has an ongoing relationship with. Make this customer focus a core part of your brand and your marketing. Read more about marketing to the affluent.

2. Make all interactions as pleasant as possible. Few people can maintain a healthy, ongoing relationship with a person who is difficult to deal with, and business relationships operate in a very similar way. From the way you and your employees answer the telephone to the way you handle returns, all customer interactions should be streamlined and managed in a way that the customer comes out feeling like a winner. As with human relationships, business relationships are developed over time through positive interaction.

3. Create an aesthetically pleasing environment. Studies have shown over and over that the public prefers attractive people for both personal and business relationships. While aesthetics aren’t everything, they are a huge part of the overall picture. This means that creating clean and attractive spaces, both in physical locations and websites, is a key part of nurturing the customer relationship.

4. Put yourself out there. You would never make friends and build relationships in your day-to-day life if you stayed in your bedroom all day. You need to be in the public eye in a variety of ways, offering brand-consistent information that creates curiosity and encourages your target customer base to develop a relationship with you. Invite the customer to do business with you through marketing, including traditional advertising as well as nontraditional methods such as social networking and community involvement.

5. Maintain your brand. How would you feel if a good friend suddenly changed their behavior drastically? People find this frustrating and alienating whether they are dealing with a human relationship or a business one. Once you have a cohesive brand and logo design, let it permeate every aspect of your company. Customers will be more likely to behave as though they have a relationship with you if they feel that they know your business well. Let them get to know you by creating an authentic experience that is coordinated to be consistent over a wide variety of interactions and leads to complete brand integration and helps build brand loyalty.

There is an immense amount of give and take between branding and customer relationships. The way you deal with these relationships is a huge part of your overall brand, but your brand must be inviting enough that the customer is open to a relationship in the first place. Be sure that your brand is one that invites the customer to be friends; a branding consultant can help if you are unsure about the process.

There are so many choices to make when starting up a new small business and one of the most essential is the legal status of your business. While most small businesses choose to use the sole-proprietor title others chose S Corp, C Corp, or LLC. All types of Corporations provide a degree of legal protection to their owners.

The main difference between the differing types of corporation is the way that taxes are paid. I will examine the different corporation choices in another blog article. In this article I will examine the differences between the simplest of corporations, Limited Liability Corporations, and the Sole-Proprietorship.

Legal Protection

The first major reason most business owners choose to incorporate is to reduce the legal responsibilities of the owners. In a sole proprietorship, the individual owner and the company are one in the same. This means that if someone sues the business, then the personal assets of the owner, car, home, etc., are fair game in any judgment against the company.

On the other hand, if your company is organized as an LLC, the company is a separate entity from the owner. If a person sues the company, only the assets of the company can be used to pay any legal judgment. The personal assets of the owner are safe unless the owner is not found to be personal negligent for the losses.

Credit

Most new businesses require some type of capital to get started. Because a sole proprietorship is founded on the name of the person who owns the company, any credit and debt is the sole responsibility of that person. If the business fails and loans cannot be repaid, the owner of the company is completely liable for that bad debt. With an LLC, the business is a separate entity from the owner. This means that if the business should fail, in most cases, the debt would not be the sole responsibility of the owner.

In addition, how a business applies for credit and financing differs with each business entity. With a sole proprietorship, the credit history of the owner is the only basis in determining whether the business is a good credit risk. If the owner has bad credit, getting the business financed is going to be much more difficult.

When the business is incorporated banks can also look into the credit history of the corporation. This may not help obtain funding for start-up costs but it will impact credit decisions after the LLC has been established for a period of time.

Legal Requirements

One of the major reasons business owners choose not to incorporate is the paperwork involved. The paperwork involved in becoming an LLC is not as onerous as the legal requirements for some other business types, but an Article of Organization and the Operating Agreement will need to be drawn up. While these articles can be drawn up without outside help; legal assistance is always recommended. Some states will have additional fees and specific requirements for LLCs that will need to be adhered too.

The deciding to begin a new small business is a major life-changing experience and each smaller decision will impact the health of your new business. This decision should be based on the size and complexity of the business and how many owners, shareholders, or members the business will have. While a LLC take more time and effort to establish it may become the difference in staying in business for two years or twenty.

Most small business owners are not also experts in corporate and tax law, but to choose the best corporate structure for your small business you need at least some basic knowledge on these subjects. If you chose to incorporate your small business instead of operating under a Sole-Proprietorship you have several choices.

The major choices are LLC, or Limited Liability Corporation, S-corp, and C-corp. To explain all the differences between these types of corporations I would need to fill dozens of pages with legal jargon. Instead I boiled the differences down to the essentials that will impact your day-to-day operations.

LLC

The major reason to form a LLC is to reduce the legal liability of the owners. In a sole-proprietorship all the losses of the business along with any legal action against the business is the direct responsibility of the owner. In an LLC the corporation is responsible for the losses of the business and legal action would generally focused on the corporation and not the individual.

For those that like the simplicity of taxes with a sole-proprietorship no federal tax changes are made by becoming a LLC. Single-owner LLCs are taxed just like sole proprietorships, and multiple-owner LLCs are taxed just like partnerships. You should, however, be aware that forming an LLC might subject your business to additional state taxes. Certain states (California for instance) subject LLCs to “franchise taxes” in addition to a typical income tax.

S-Corp

S-Corporations, on the other hand, have the ability to provide some tax savings as a result of the fact that profits from an S-Corp are not subject to Self-Employment Tax. However, before you’re allowed to distribute any profits, you are required to pay any owner-employees a “reasonable salary.” This salary will be subject to social security and Medicare taxes (which total the same amount as the Self-Employment Tax). As such, the tax savings only take effect once the business has a pretty sizable income. S-Corps owners still file taxes in basically the same way as sole-proprietorships and the business does not pay taxes as its own entity.

S-Corps are significantly more complicated from a legal and financial perspective. Unless you have a background in accounting or law it is recommended that you consult a lawyer and accountant before setting up an S-Corp and yearly to make sure all legal requirements are fulfilled.

C-Corp

Unlike the previous two business structures, C-corporations are taxable entities. This means that the corporation itself is taxed on its income (as opposed to other structures which simply pass the income along to the owner(s), who are then taxed on it). This means that the profit from the business is essentially taxed twice; once as business and then a second time as personal income. Also, like S-corporations, C-corporations are more complicated from an accounting, tax, and legal standpoint than sole proprietorships, partnerships, or LLCs and in most cases will require outside consultants.

While I focused on tax differences between these corporate types there is also considerable differences in the business structure and how individual are paid within the business. In general, the type of corporate structure can be broken down based on the size of the business. The smallest businesses benefit from the simplicity of a sole-proprietorship, partnership, or LLC. Mid-sized business benefit from the potential tax savings of an S-Corp. While generally only larger businesses with a group of shareholders use the C-corp structure. Of course, the decision of corporate structure can only be decided on an individual basis depending on the unique needs of that business.

What does Tiger Woods have to do with small business branding? He is an example of how a powerful brand can be taken out by a single incongruency. However, as we shall see, there is still hope for the Tiger Woods brand—and any brand, including one tailored to a small business—if the audience and the future of the brand are both taken into consideration. Here are a few lessons we can all learn from Tiger Woods—off the golf green, that is.

1. Be the brand. Just last year, Tiger Woods was a classic all-American brand. Squeaky clean with a beautiful wife and family, notoriously well behaved, this young man was everything that Americans love: stylish, polite, and successful because of hard work and talent. While this brand was to take a sharp downward turn, there is no denying its power. Tiger was number five on the Forbes Celebrity 100, the highest paid athlete on the globe, and the spokesman of brands ranging from Nike to Accenture.

2. Don’t contradict yourself. The recent news about Tiger Woods is huge news because it is so conflicting with his brand. If his brand hadn’t been in large part centered on clean living, none of the tabloid reports of philandering and marital strife would have been unsurprising and unremarkable. People expect a certain amount of misbehavior from sports stars; if Tiger Woods’ brand hadn’t focused on clean living, there would be no contradiction. Knowing that his behavior could diminish his brand, a more successful choice would have been to either rebrand or choose other, less controversial activities.

3. Know your audience. Tiger Woods’ clean image resonated with the upper middle class audience that makes up the fan base of professional golf. However, it is unlikely that the people most likely to be offended by his actions—namely, married women—were a big part of his audience in the first place. The remainder of the audience may be willing to overlook the current headlines and buy into a brand that doesn’t include clean living as one of its central promises. While his actions have diminished his brand, there is still hope for Tiger Woods.

4. Rebrand when necessary. Obviously, the time for Tiger Woods to rebrand is yesterday, although today will have to do. The Tiger Woods brand, which is currently diminished, will have to be reshaped and renovated to accommodate current behavior. A new focus on excellence in sports complete with a championship or two, or otherwise a decadent lifestyle reminiscent of the Hilton daughters are two possibilities. With celebrities as with small businesses, sometimes brands have to be rebuilt from the foundation up.

The same way sports superstars such as Kobe Bryant and A-Rod have managed to overcome very public branding challenges, Tiger Woods can do it as well. The same rule applies to small businesses. It’s important to maintain your brand at all costs; when this fails, rebrand to accommodate the changes and challenges of your times.

If your target customer base seems to be a little more frugal than ever, you may be wondering if there is a future for your business. Luckily, most customers never get tired of spending other people’s money, no matter what the economy happens to be doing. There are two major ways for the average small business to tap in to this under-recognized market: by offering gift registries, and by marketing to other businesses.

People routinely register for a variety of events, from baby showers to weddings. The trend seems to be gaining strength, with many major websites offering registries for house warmings, birthdays, and even seasonal holidays. People who aren’t inclined to spend their own money seem to have fewer qualms about telling others which gifts they would enjoy. This means that offering a registry can be a substantial boon to your bottom line.

Large corporations have long been offering registries and business services because they know something that many small business owners don’t: that everyone enjoys spending other people’s money far more than they enjoy spending their own. Now is the time to get creative and to aggressively offer options that allow customers to stay on budget while partaking of your products.

Whether you are running a baby boutique or a travel agency, you can make this fad work in your favor. Allow customers to register for gifts, presenting your company as a less commercial and more local option. If you sell larger items or services, allow people to contribute money in lieu of a gift. For example, many travel agencies have found success in allowing a couple to ‘register’ for a luxury honeymoon. Instead of asking for standard gifts and house wares, the couple asks for contributions toward their trip. Getting creative can mean that your customer base gets what they really want for these occasions without having to spend a dime.

Another benefit of this approach is that it brings new people into your location. These people will interact with your staff, see your logo design, and encounter your brand in a highly personal way. If you offer a pleasant experience, many of these people will be more likely to return in the future when they need your services for themselves.

A similar way of promoting your business is by marketing to mid-level managers and executives. People in these positions often make financial decisions on a daily basis—with their employer’s money. Offering incentives that are meaningful to this market and a more streamlined buying process, along with a price that won’t incur the wrath of the boss, is the key to pulling in this market. If you are not reaching out to this segment through direct mailings and other targeted advertisements, you may be missing out on a healthy profit.

Are you encouraging customers to spend other people’s money at your business? This is an often overlooked area that can pad your profit margins while getting more exposure for your brand and bringing new customers through your doors. Desperate times call for creative marketing, so figure out a way to make this trend work for your business.

With many small businesses in the USA struggling to maintain a strong brand through the current recession, many fail to pay attention to the future of their business beyond mere survival. However, with economic indicators pointing toward at least a partial recovery in the coming year, there is no better time to begin planning your post recession brand. Here are four strategies that will make your company shine in 2010.

1. Sharpen your brand. Is your brand ready for the new customer? Now is the time to modify your brand to meet the needs of your market as it will behave coming out of the recession. If you have been focusing on offering lower prices, decelerate and begin thinking about what sets you apart from the competition. Focus on communicating this through your products, your service, your marketing strategy, and your logo design. As spending power grows, so will your customers’ options. Give them a good reason to keep coming back.

2. Focus on your core products. This is an important part of sharpening your brand in the US, important enough to deserve its own mention. While diversifying is a good recession strategy, don’t diminish your post recession brand by neglecting core products. Find ways to innovate within these categories and always offer a fresher, more comprehensive choice than your competitors. Communicate with customers about what makes your core products superior to the competition. In most cases, a large percentage customers are coming to your store for this one thing; don’t make that a frustrating experience.

3. Be different. In this market and in the one to follow, creating a clear and obvious line between your business and your competitors is essential. You can choose to communicate this difference through innovative marketing, social networking, and/or your logo design and other physical aspects. Again, you should know what sets you apart from every other business in your field, and so should your customers. Otherwise, there is no reason not to shop elsewhere.

4. Engage employees. Many small business owners underestimate the power of their employees to make or break their brand. The people who staff your locations and answer your phones are as important as your logo design and your products. This year, take steps to familiarise employees with your brand and inspire them to truly buy into it. Use ‘we’ language and attitudes instead of ‘me’ counterparts. This motivated sales force will be far more likely to make the shopping experience a pleasant and well branded one.

Post recession economies have a unique set of rules, but they are not so much a set of restrictions as a clearly marked map to success. By getting a head start on preparing your brand for a new, recovering economy, you will be head and shoulders above your competition. While many are tempted to let their brand slide during confusing changes, being a forward thinker in this case means keeping your brand identity and logo design presentation strong while giving customers something to believe in.

Many small businesses that use email and search engine marketing to enhance sales find themselves in a difficult position. You may be getting the hits that you need, but sales just aren’t following suit. Converting hits to sales can be a confusing topic, but here are seven tips to help you move your landing page in the right direction.

1. Keep your brand strong. Use your logo design and other visual aspects of your brand consistently throughout your landing page and the rest of your website. If you have a strong brand and a professionally crafted logo design, this will create a very enticing package for customers. If your logo design and brand are lacking, have a professional revamp them before redesigning your website.

2. Keep it simple. Offer information about your business in plain language without jargon or hard sell tactics. These will confuse and frustrate your customer. Who needs that? This will send most people hunting for the ‘back’ button on their browser. Give just the basic information in a simple, straightforward manner and give the customers the details on a separate page.

3. Make the process easy. Allow customers to give you contact information in a simple, one step form that they can complete without thinking twice. This will allow you to continue communicating with them in the future, turning a complete miss into a potential future customer.

4. Offer reasons to buy right now. One way of doing this is by emphasizing the timeliness of what you are offering. Can customers go another day without your product? Are you offering a special deal that won’t be in effect the next time they visit? You will have much higher success if you don’t tell customers to act now, but rather give them a powerful reason that they should.

5. Be trustworthy. Do whatever you have to do to create a feeling of safety on your website. Offer standard protections on your website so customers don’t have to worry about whether their credit card information will be stolen. Put your physical address and phone number on the page to emphasize your legitimacy.

6. Avoid ads. A few well placed ads can defray the cost of running a website, but too many will make you look like a spammer or an unprofessional. Flashy ads that detract from your branding or ones that have offensive content should be avoided at all costs.

7. Call in the professionals when necessary. There are many people who specialize in web design for small business. If none of these strategies work for you, your next step should be to find a reputable web designer with experience in small business landing pages and let them do the heavy lifting. Sometimes nothing can replace the voice of experience.

As you can see, there are concrete steps that you can take to turn hits into sales. By following these seven steps, you can avoid becoming another small business statistic and instead become a small business success story.

A recent report from the Direct Marketing Association predicts that business spending on direct mail spending is going to increase by one billion dollars in 2010. This may come as a surprise to those who thought that email was the advertising media of the future. Because many customers have no problem deleting anything in their inbox that comes from an unrecognized source, direct mail remains one of the best ways to actually get your message into your customers’ hands… if you follow a few simple rules. Here are five tips for getting the most out of every single mailing.

Direct mail should be branded. Everything that leaves your office should be part of your brand, from the color scheme to the presence of your unique logo design. Any deviation from this will confuse your customers and weaken your company immensely. If you don’t have a brand and a logo design, invest in that area before even considering direct mail as a marketing option.

Direct mail should be targeted. That is, only send mail to relevant customers, such as people in your geographical area or people who earn incomes in your target range. While many business owners have a marketing policy that more is better, sending direct mail to people who cannot afford your product or reach one of your locations in a short drive is both expensive and annoying. It only gives your logo design and brand negative connotations in the public eye. Spending time to thin out your direct mail list is not only a cheaper choice, but a more eco-friendly one as well.

Direct mail should have quality content. Modern customers are more sensitive than ever to advertising, but not in the way that advertisers would like. In a world filled with marketing, Americans are becoming more and more likely to disregard blatant advertising. This means that offering good content is the key to keeping your direct mail out of the recycling bin. Offer a few tips that are relevant to your product allows you to position your brand in a very different way.

Direct mail should be visually attractive. This doesn’t necessarily entail having a splashy, expensive, full color mailing. Make sure your mailing is well balanced, with key messages highlighted and easy to read. A few images can help, but the most important image to include is that of your professional logo design.

Direct mail should be trackable. The post office now offers an ‘Intelligent Mail’ barcode that allows bulk mailers to get information on when their mail is delivered and how customers respond. If this is not available in your area, include a coupon or another special offer on the mailing. This will allow you to see what areas and which types of customers are best responding to your direct mail, which will allow you to further refine any future marketing. It will also give you a heads-up on changes in your target audience and the relevance of your current marketing.

Even if your company doesn’t do business directly over its website, there are good reasons to use email marketing to brand your company and spread the word about your products and services. First, it’s inexpensive and makes it to the target with lightning speed. Second, many people check their email with much more regularity than they check their snail mail. Clearly this can be a great way of marketing your small business, but these few suggestions may help make this more successful.

Be targeted. Don’t send email to anyone who has not voluntarily opted in to your mailing list. This is not only rude, but in some cases illegal. Either way, it will do nothing for your small business brand. Send email only to people who have agreed to receive it and who are in your target audience.

Offer content. This doesn’t have to be long and drawn out; simply offer a few tips that are relevant both to the time of the year and to your business. Even a few lines may be enough to keep your message out of the trash, especially if you combine them with a catchy title. This content will reinforce your image as an expert in your field.

Offer news. Whether there is a new product line that you are particularly proud of or a special sale to celebrate some occasion, use every email as a method of offering new information that is relevant to your brand and your small business. Often, this will be even more effective than hard sell tactics, which brings me to the next suggestion…

Avoid hard sell tactics. People are flooded with these in almost every aspect of modern life, which has significantly cut the chances of response. More gentle, organics sales tactics work best with the modern customer. Simply tell them what you are offering and why they need it—no more, no less. Anything more will turn them off.

Offer a way to contact you. Better, offer several. Not only should the email be sent from your return address (so contacting you is a matter of pressing reply), you also should also give complete contact information including address and telephone number. This will not only improve your sales, but make you look more legitimate as well.

Be branded. Make sure your email communications, like all other communications, are harmonious with the brand image that you have worked so hard to cultivate. Include your logo design and all visual aspects of your brand in the logo. This will ensure that even if the customer doesn’t buy anything from you today, you are still building your brand.

Be considerate. Allow customers to opt off your list at any time. Also, avoid emailing more than once a month. Don’t flood your customers with marketing messages—it will only cheapen your message.

Email marketing can be very effective if you keep the actual marketing to a minimum and follow these few basic rules. This will give you a huge advantage in your market and allow you to communicate with your customer in a way that would otherwise be impossible.