Often small businesses fall into two traps around branding – that they can’t manage it because they are small and that it is primarily about products anyway. While branding does feature the products or services that a business offers, this is only a small part of it. And branding is something that can benefit businesses of all sizes as well as being accessible to everyone. Here are a few reasons to seriously consider working on your company branding.What is Branding?Branding is about creating a unique identity for your business that means even when you sell the same products or services as someone else, you can stand out from the crowd and attract customer attention. Small business branding can often be seen as difficult to do as you can’t compete with the big company in terms of resources or manpower. And while this might be the case with resources, it doesn’t mean your branding can’t work for you just as well as theirs.People relate better to companies that have strong branding and an identity. They vote for which branding works for them with their shop visits, clicks or purchases. By having strong, cohesive branding, your company can be the one that they notice, feel a connection with and therefore purchase from. It can also create brand loyalty and those crucial returning customers.Recognition Leads to TrustOne thing studies have shown is that recognition of a brand builds trust and people are more likely to buy from a company if they feel they can trust them. Therefore, trust and reputation are key to business success and branding plays a big part in this.By having that strong, identifiable brand, even the smallest company can begin to build trust with customers. This leads to customer loyalty – 48% of customers say they are more likely to become loyal to the brand during their first experience or purchase with them.There are lots of ways to create that brand to build trust with everything from catchy slogans and memorable names to attractive and eye-catching colour schemes being used. But the most effective brands combine something of everything. They work on the principle that we retain only around one-tenth of the information that we see when we read something.But if you include visuals with that information, this rate of retention rises up to almost two thirds. Therefore, having that catchy slogan paired with great graphics, a clear colour palette, brand voice and other elements means you have a better chance of people remembering what you do. That’s why visuals are so popular on social media and almost three-quarters of marketers use them ahead of even video.Brand ReputationAs you attract attention for your brand and build trust, then you start to create a reputation, be it online or in the physical world. Reputation is crucial for business – it covers everything from customer interactions, product standard, feedback and even how you reward your customers.That strong, positive reputation can even convince people to buy. 91% of shoppers asked in one study said they were more likely to buy from a brand that they viewed as ‘authentic’ than one that they didn’t. So building that brand reputation can gain you customers in a big way.Using marketing teams to manage your reputation may seem like something that a small company cannot manage but this isn’t the case. By having external experts who take on tasks such as checking customer feedback, managing social media and creating the right content, you can quickly build and enhance your business reputation.Making SalesA strong brand increases the number of leads that you will generate and this, in turn, means making more sales. However, you need to maintain your reputation and standards when generating these leads or the work done by the brand can vanish. Response times, voice and even the actual content you use to handle leads all needs to be consistent with the brand.Following through on your promises also helps build that reputation. Have a clear customer process with times outlined so customers know what to expect and make sure you follow it – that way people are impressed with what you do and more likely to tell others.Business GrowthThat strong, cohesive brand is crucial for other areas of the business growth. Staff morale, for example, can be a problem. If staff are demotivated, don’t know what the company stands for or feel unimportant, then this can lead to bad customer service. This damages the brand.So by having a clear brand that employees can get behind, you can offer a better service to your customers. Staff feel proud to talk about what the company does or the services that it offers. And they learn to talk with the brand’s voice, ensuring all of their communications with customers offers consistency. This makes the company seem more friendly and approachable and this is another reason that customers become loyal to the brand.Branding also stands out to potential investors in the business. According to a study by Reuters, some 82% of investors said that the strength of a company’s brand and name recognition were important factors in a decision to get involved with a business.
What this shows is that from all aspects of the business, branding is crucial. You need to have a presence that is recognisable from your social media profiles and website through to your physical store if you have one. The brand rules how you talk to customers and ensures staff can believe in it.There are lots of ways that branding can help with business growth and success. This means that having a strong brand and optimised strategy to use it is vital to the long-term success and profitability of your company.

“Don’t tax him. Don’t tax me. Tax the guy behind the tree”- attributed to Former Congressmen RostenkowskiOwners of small businesses and their workers could be severely impacted by the recently enacted health reform legislation. Some key provisions related to tax credits, new excise taxes, penalties, and some higher taxes, all of which depend on a number of factors such as number of full time employees in the business, average incomes of the employees etc. This article will provide you an overview of its significance to self employed taxpayers who have less than ten full time employees.Generally, the present Obama administration and Congress have noted that the new health reform proposals will provide better insurance for small businesses at a lower cost, which will create more jobs. However, there is also a lot of strongly negative feelings among the business community. Let me present some of the provisions so that you can judge for yourself and plan accordingly.Benefits to small businesses: Despite the negative press about the law, there really are some positive changes that will affect small businesses.
Small Business Exchanges: Small business will be able to pool their resources in state exchanges called “Shop exchanges” in order to buy insurance. Normally these exchanges apply to companies who have less than 100 employees by 2014;however, states have the option to limit access to these exchanges for companies of under 50 full time employees. Premium expectations are expected to reduce overall insurance costs by 1-4% per year for each employee, which is a very good provision under this plan.

Tax Credits for certain small employers who provide insurance. Generally, if you have fewer than 50 full-time employees, you don’t have to provide health insurance for your workers. However, if you do provide insurance, you might be eligible for a yummy tax credit, which is a dollar-for-dollar reduction in your taxes.
To be eligible for this credit, you have to have less than 25 full-time employees whose annual average earnings (not counting the owner) of no more than $50,000. For companies of 10 or fewer employees, you would be eligible for a 35% tax credit (which goes up to 50% after 2013) in later years, if your average full time equivalent wages are less than $25,000 per year. This credit begins in 2010 and goes till 2014. There is a second phase of the credit that small business would get up to 2016. Thus, qualifying small businesses can get this credit for up to six years.Sandy’s elaboration: This credit sounds great, but having it apply to small businesses (of no more than 10 full-time workers) and who average under $25,000 of wages will substantially reduce its applicability to most businesses. Estimates are that this will benefit about 7% of self employed businesses.
No more lifetime caps: For most health insurance, there is a $2,000,000 lifetime cap for usage. Starting immediately, these caps are to be removed. This could allow coverage for a number of small business folks who might have exceeded the cap.

No pre-existing conditions: starting in 2014, there will not be any pre-existing conditions. Thus, even if you have a major medical problem, you will be guaranteed to get health insurance. This is a great provision that will allow coverage for those small business folks and their employees who might not have been able to get insurance coverage.

Dependent children can be kept on parent’s insurance through age 26: Normally, kids who turn age 21 have to get their own insurance and can’t be kept on their parent’s insurance. This will be changed so that dependent children who are under age 27 can be kept on the parent’s insurance. This becomes effective on March 30, 2010. I should note that although dependents under age 27 can be added to the parent’s insurance e policy, there is no requirement that an employer add them to the policy.

Small Businesses are exempt from penalties for failing to provide health insurance: Generally only companies that have 50 or more full-time employees need to provide health insurance coverage or face penalties. However, since small businesses of under 50 full-time employees don’t need to provide any coverage, they are exempt from these “Pay or Play” penalties.
Sandy’s elaboration: If you have a business with 50 more more full-time employees, you are indeed required to provide health insurance.As you can see, there are some good provisions for both the business owner and for small businesses. Thus, why the strongly, negative comments from the business community? The reason is that there are a lot of congressional “gotchas” that affect everyone.Problems with the healh reform legislation
New taxes: There are a number of new taxes and costs that will beef up the overall insurance costs for small businesses. For example, there is an income tax increase starting in 2010 of between 5%-10% for those who make over $200,000 of adjusted gross income. In addition, Medicare has been increased for everyone by.9% for all employees and for the owner who make over $200,000 of adjusted gross income and is single. Married taxpayers filing joint returns have to make of $250,000 of adjusted gross earnings in order for this.9% Medicare surcharge to kick in. This may not sound like a lot, but, for someone earning $300,000 in salary, this could result in a $900 increase in Medicare taxes for each employee in that income bracket regardless of profitability of the business! In addition, if the adjusted gross income of the worker or the owner is over $200,000 ( for single taxpayers) or over $25,,000 (for married filing joint taxpayers), there will be a 3.8% Medicare surcharge on all of their interest, dividends, rents and royalties. This will also apply to dividends from S Corporations. So much for saving costs!

New excise taxes: In order to help pay for this new law, there are some additional excise taxes on many medical devices that ordinarily aren’t purchased by most people. Thus, there will be no excise taxes on glasses, hearing aids, and contact lenses. Most other devices, however, will probably have the excise taxes apply to them. In addition, there will be additional taxes on the health insurance companies, some insurance plans and pharmaceutical companies. You might wonder how these additional taxes apply to self employed taxpayers. The reason is that these additional costs will be passed through to everyone including the self employed.

Additional 40% excise tax on Cadillac health insurance: The new law places a whopping 40% excise tax on high-cost employer-sponsored health coverage, often referred to as “Cadillac” health plans. This tax applies to premiums that exceed $10,200 for single coverage and those that exceed $27,500 for family coverage. There are some increased thresholds for retired taxpayers who are age 55 and older and for those engaged in “high risk occupations.” Thus, if you want top notch expensive insurance coverage, you will pay a lot more to get it. This even assumes that an insurance company will even offer it at all.

Increased paperwork: Generally those who do provide insurance through the exchange for their workers will need to fill out some potentially new paperwork showing the name of the employee, the amount of premium paid the contribution by the employee, notification to the employee about the coverage etc.

Midsize to large companies much provide health insurance: If you have a company consisting of 50 or more full- time employees (part time will be counted on a fractional basis depending on their hours), you are required to provide medical insurance or face big penalties. However, this is required regardless of profitability. Think about this. This could result in a number of unprofitable or marginally profitable companies going broke, which could actually substantially reduce jobs. In addition, this would spur either the hiring of more part time at the cost of reducing the number of full time employees or increase the sucking sound of companies going to places like China or India. The result of all this would mean a lot less jobs.
Bottom Line: Although there are some great provisions in the new law such as waiving pre-existing conditions and lifetime benefit caps, the increased taxes and costs incurred for most small businesses will probably exceed the decrease in health premiums resulting in an overall increase in total health costs and taxes to self employed businesses. Thus, I don’t see any job creation resulting from this law. In fact, it may well cost a lot of jobs.P.S. Check out my free lesson on “How to write off all your medical expenses!” Free Lesson http://www.PocketbookProfessor.comBy Sandy Botkin CPA. Esq