The use of branding within SME’s in Donegal

Abstract

The motivation behind conducting this research was to become more aware of the activities within SME’s in the area of branding. By analysing the existing literature it was evident that research, specific to branding in SME’s, was not extensive and no research was conducted within Irish SME’s. The research is of importance to SME’s within Donegal and Ireland, to better understand what branding issues they are facing and how to overcome them.

The approach taken to gather the appropriate information was qualitative in nature; semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with 11 companies in the four prominent sectors within Donegal. Their opinions, perceptions and real life situations were analysed and findings were produced.

The result of the research was that key findings were uncovered namely, SME’s use a form of branding which is suited to their specific circumstances, resources, time and expertise, branding in SME’s is integrated with other marketing activities such as service and value adding, SME’s encounter many limitations to branding however they can be overcome, and all SME’s try to create differentiation, through a name, concept, image or personality.

The implications of these findings is that the research allows a better understanding of the current situation of SME branding in Donegal and efforts can therefore be made to increase branding activity within these companies. The qualitative research conducted allows for further quantitative research to be carried out in the future.