If you own a small business, you may not think that branding is a major consideration; it’s not like you’re Coca Cola or Apple, after all.  But every business can benefit from attention to building a brand, whether it operates in a small community, on a global scale, or entirely online.  And you should definitely be concerned about the brand image you’re presenting because the way you are perceived by consumers can have an enormous impact on your business, whether positive or negative.  So if you’re looking to improve your brand image in order to increase your consumer base (not to mention sales), here are just a few basics that will get your transformation underway.

Having done my Malcolm-Gladwell-esque "10,000 hours of experience" (in his book Outliers, Gladwell suggests that it takes 10,000 hours for someone to become an experienced professional, in any field), I feel like there are some fixed principles that apply to all of our clients, who run the gamut from nonprofit to small business to public agency.

We've found that the individuals or organizations that are successful follow these five principles.

1. Figure out what you want.
If you don't know what you want, it's pretty difficult to get someone else on board with your vision. Attempt to discern, in as much detail as possible, your vision for your endeavor.