Every small business knows the importance branding.

Repetition, repetition, repetition. The message needs to remain the same. Keep your brand in tact.

Some businesses go insane when it comes to branding.

The only font we use is size 14 Arial Bold in color #367286

Here’s the thing. Small businesses don’t need to worry about this as much as say Nike does, and we all prove this point every day.

Think about a local restaurant that you drive by every single day. Every single day you drive by this place.  You  may even have driven by it for the past 15 years! And yet, you’ve never ever stopped.

Maybe it’s not a restaurant. Who knows? It doesn’t matter. But you know what I’m talking about, right? There’s that place that has maybe piqued your interest on occasion, maybe even daily, but you’ve never take the time to stop and check it out.

The thing is, they did what they were told. This is what all the books on marketing say about branding through repetition. The sign never changes. The branding is always the same. So if brand consistency is the key, we would have stopped after driving by the first 60, or so, times. I’ve now driven by 6000 times and still haven’t stopped.

This is a small business mistake. Your brand and branding is 100% absolutely important, but sometimes small businesses need to shake it up!

Branding for big business is even more important. Over the years, big brands have written their stories. It might be a story of trust, or customer service, or great taste, or quality engineering. It resonates with us. We all know what many of the big brands stand for.

If you’re a small business looking to grow, you can stop fretting about the traditional big-business rules of  branding. I’m waiting for this restaurant to surprise me. Six thousand brand repetitions and I’m still bored. And I don’t mean throwing snowballs at my car, or paying someone to stand outside and shake a sign. I want you to find a way to disrupt my image of your brand; because right now, you’re just the boring little restaurant I know nothing about. I know your physical logo inside and out. On a moments notice, I can conjure up your logo, its color, and the font you use instantly. That part of the branding has done its job.

But I want a shake-up.

I want this to happen through my friends and your friends. I want you to create buzz. I want to hear your story told and retold, or I want you to create a new one. In a nutshell, I’m begging you to kick me when I’m not expecting it, please.