The short answer to the question ‘What is your business brand?’ is ‘the gut feeling people have about your business’.

So why is that important?  It’s important because the way that people feel about your business affects whether they want to do business with you, or be a supplier, or support your business success in some other way.

So how do you feel in your gut about these businesses

Nike

eBay

Pepsi

The things that come to your mind about these are often the result of proactive moves by those businesses to influence your opinion.

Your brand isn’t one person’s opinion of your business.  Many people will know of your business to a greater or lesser degree and they will all have a slightly different perspective but what is important is the general consensus.  Do people generally feel that you have a good product or service?  Do they think you deliver good customer care?  Do they think you are good at what you do?  The list goes on.

Large businesses spend a lot of time and energy ‘building their brand’ ie. doing things that affect the way your feel about that business.

A small business’s brand is the sum total of a wide range of activities

• Customer reviews (that’s a big one)
• Your customer service culture
• How you respond to enquiries, suppliers, clients and competitors
• How you position yourself in the market
• What you say to your target audience
• Your social media interactions

Many small businesses complain that they do lots of activities like Twitter, advertising or speaking at events but they see no immediate or direct benefits from these actions.  In my experience everything you do as a business contributes to your brand.  Do positive things, do helpful things, provide value to those who stand to benefit from your contribution.  Don’t look for a sales return on everything you do.  Your success in sales long term does depend to an extent on your brand.