Bob the Butcher’s famous meat market is nestled on in a suburban neighborhood of Baltimore. This is his original location, and his most well-known spot. Everyone knows Bob’s Butcher Shop as the place on the corner with an old-fashioned flair and, of course, for Bob’s familiar face.
After 35 long years up in Baltimore, Bob decided to open a new butcher shop down in Florida. Bob’s challenge here wasn’t defeating the warm southern temperatures – it was transitioning his successful Baltimore brand into a new community.
Much like Bob’s migration south, many small, brick-and-mortar businesses encounter the same struggle when creating an online website for their offline brand.
How do you translate the quirk and charm that’s made your business successful in person into the online space?
The answer is simple: identify your brand. One of the key components to a successful migration, whether to a physical location or even when you’re simply creating a website for your business, is in identifying the elements of your brand.
Identify Your Brand Online
Many small business owners think brand strategy is just for large companies. However, not having a consistent brand identity between your storefront and your website may be hurting your business more than you realize. When creating a website for your business, it’s important that you start by identifying the following elements in your business’ brand:
Visual Brand Identity:
Consider how your business is recognized at your storefront. What do customers look for to distinguish your business from your competitors’?
- What’s the look and feel of your storefront?
- Do you have a logo?
- Do you have any signage that directs customers to your store?
- What are your business colors?
- What images are representative of your business?
Transition Your Brand Imagery Online: Just as a customer would identify your business by your storefront, you want to make sure your website gives off the same look and feel. Make sure your signage and marketing collateral match your logo, graphics, and color scheme on your website.
When selecting images to use on your website, it’s important to identify which images are a good representation of your business. For instance, Bob the Butcher has pictures on his homepage of his storefront, inside his butcher shop, and a photo of fine cuts of meat. All of these images help to visually identify his business.
Brand Recognition:
When Bob moves his shop down south he doesn’t want his brand’s quality and connotation to be diminished. Same as when transitioning your brick and mortar business to a website, you need to make sure your brand is not only visually identifiable but also your business promise and brand recognition stay intact.
Business Promise:
- What is it that you promise your customers? Do you promise them great customer service, lowest prices, quality work, etc.?
- What is the business experience you want your customers walking away with?
- What is it that draws your customers in, what keeps customers coming back for more?
Transitioning Your Brand Recognition Online: When transitioning Bob’s storefront brand to a new location or even to his online space, he identifies clearly what exactly he can promise his customers when they shop at his butcher shop. “At Bob’s Butcher Shop, you can always expect top-quality service, great prices, and most importantly, quality meats.”
Bob fears that his local, community feel will be lost in translation when moving his business online or down south. On his homepage, he represents his storefront and in-person brand with pictures of himself, his shop, and his products. Transitioning the local charm and quality service of your physical business is as easy as identifying what makes you special – identifying your brand.
