It is true that the label on a package and a business card are part of a company's brand, but branding is more than your company name, labels and logo. It includes the written messages that you convey about your business, i.e. who you are, what you're selling and what makes your business unique. Together, these visual images and written messages constitute your business identity. Branding your business makes it more likely that you will achieve the following:

• Establish your identity in the marketplace
• Determine how potential customers perceive you and feel about you.
• Help you to differentiate yourself from your competitors
• Foster trust and confidence in the marketplace
• Help prospective customers and leads to recall who you are
• Contribute to a more professional business image
• Increase your market share

Branding a business becomes more personal as the size of the business decreases. If you are essentiallly a "sole trader" then you are your brand. But for some reason, many sole traders want to convey an image of being a big business because their perception is that a big business is more reliable and trustworthy. But there are exceptions to this rule. For example, look at Richard Branson. Virgin Enterprises is a global multi-national corporation, but it's branding focuses largely on the personality of the owner.

Small business branding is not simply a good logo, a rhyming name, or special font. It is the owner. It’s what the owner does, says and how their traits come through. It’s the way relationships are built and maintained, the way a person does business and treats other people. It’s how rapport is established at an individual level, where trust and comfort exist as human characteristics, not from theme music, models or slogans.