Why small businesses are taking branding into their own hands
Small businesses are ditching agencies and handling branding themselves. Lower costs, accessible tools, faster turnaround, and social media’s demand for consistent content make in-house branding more appealing.
According to Stephanie Raboin, around 56% of small businesses in the US are handling their branding in-house rather than working with agencies. Also, around 15% of business owners handle it solo.
So why are companies increasingly turning away from the old agency-based models? It’s a mix of factors like cost, the economic environment, and the availability of tools. Let’s explore these realities in more detail.
Why is the Cost of Branding Driving In-House Efforts
There’s no doubt that marketing and branding agencies can deliver great results, but for small businesses, agency-led branding transformation is too costly. According to Stephanie Heitman, writing for LocaliQ, a small business with 10 or fewer employees has an average budget of just under $500 per month, nowhere near enough to keep a marketing team on retainer.
How do the Latest Tools Enable DIY branding Strategies?
Another factor enabling effective self-branding is the availability of free and affordable tools. The days of needing a professional graphic designer to come up with a great logo are done.
Now, companies can use an AI-powered logo maker to come up with a high-quality logo, sidestepping the need for professional graphic design.
For those who don’t want to make AI part of their small business identity, it’s still possible to get great results using freemium tools like the following:
- Canva
- Figma
- Adobe Express
These programs are full of various helpful templates, enabling those without any experience to produce polished, professional-looking assets.
Owners Know Their Brand
Modern branding needs to be dynamic and reactive. The news cycle switches gears quickly, and audiences are quick to move on to the next big thing. Slow creation timelines mean your content is outdated by the time you publish.
Working with an outside agency might result in more polish, but back-and-forth between your company and the agency takes time. Agencies manage many different brands, so they’re not immediately in tune with your company identity.
When creating content, it might take a few emails back and forth to get it right. In today’s fast-paced content landscape, such delays could mean your content is irrelevant by the time the final draft lands in inboxes.
Internal branding and marketing efforts are faster because those producing it understand the business and its customers.
Social Media Has Changed Expectations
Social media algorithms can make or break your marketing efforts. If you’re putting content out on platforms like YouTube or Instagram, you’ll get more attention directed towards your channel if you put out content consistently.
Taking a break in posting while you work on something extremely polished will likely cause your content to fall out of favor with the algorithm.
For social media content, branding strategies should revolve around consistent, authentic content over overproduced, infrequent content.
Modernize Your Branding and Identity
Small businesses are taking branding into their hands because it makes sense. The tools are available, the costs are lower, and the results speak for themselves. Instead of relying on an agency for your branding, you might consider looking closer to home.
If you’d like to learn more about similar topics, see our other blog posts.
