As a business owner, the decisions you make about your product or service directly affect how much money your business can earn. In this section, we’ll focus on helping you map and manage your revenue drivers—the key factors that determine where your sales come from. We’ll also walk through practical guidance on packaging, labeling, and branding so you can present your business in a strong, professional way.

We will cover positioning and differentiation—how to stand out from competitors—in the Planning and Strategic Thinking section of this website, so you can refer there for deeper guidance on that topic.

Here, we’ll start with the first major area you should understand as an entrepreneur:

1. Mapping your revenue drivers

Every business, even very small ones, has “revenue drivers.” These are the main categories of products or services that bring money into your business. Some entrepreneurs only sell one thing, but most offer multiple products or services—and each one plays a different role in your overall income.

Think of revenue drivers as your product categories, and the individual products within each category as the different “options” you offer.

Example 1: Surfboard Shop

A business selling boards and accessories might have four revenue drivers:

• Long boards

• Short boards

• Boogie boards

• Surf waxes

Each category includes several product variations—different designs, sizes, or features.

Example 2: Copier Sales Business

A copier business might have five revenue drivers:

• Copiers

• Toner

• Paper

• Service contracts (platinum, gold, silver, etc.)

• Equipment rentals

Once you identify your revenue drivers, you gain structure and clarity.
Breadth = how many different product categories you offer
Depth = how many options you offer within each category

With this structure in place, you can start asking the critical questions that improve profit and performance.

Three Questions Every Entrepreneur Should Ask

1. Which revenue drivers generate the most sales?
Just because you sell a lot of a certain item doesn’t mean it is your most valuable category—but knowing your top sellers helps you focus your attention.
For example, a surfboard shop might find that long boards outsell all other products.

2. Which revenue drivers generate the most profit?
Your best-selling item is not always the one making you the most money.

• The surfboard shop might discover that boogie boards, not long boards, have the highest profit margins.

• A copier business might learn that service contracts represent over 70% of total profits—even though copiers themselves are the main product.

This insight helps you make smart decisions about where to invest time, money, and marketing.

3. How do changes in one revenue driver affect the others?
Your categories may relate to each other in different ways:

• Complementary products: Sales of one lead to sales of another
  (Selling more surfboards increases sales of wax.)

• Substitutes / cannibalization: Selling more of one reduces sales of another
  (Promoting short boards may reduce long board sales.)

• No relationship: Sales of one product have zero effect on others

Understanding these relationships helps you avoid costly mistakes—for example, reducing the price of toner without realizing it will lower sales of higher-margin paper.

Be Strategic—Not Random—With Your Product Mix

Some entrepreneurs believe that selling more categories automatically means earning more money. But offering too many unrelated products can actually weaken your business.

For example, imagine one entrepreneur selling:

• Lip balm

• Screen-printing services

• Eyelash extensions

These three categories have no overlap in materials, customers, production, or marketing. It creates confusion, burns energy, and makes it impossible to build a strong brand.
In this real case, the entrepreneur eventually focused solely on the lip balm business—and the business began to grow.

Here’s another example of the revenue drivers in a Coffee Shop and Bakery. This Revenue-Driver mapping chart template gives you a clear picture of the key factors that drive your revenue and how they connect to your products, customers, and pricing. By mapping these elements, you can identify what most directly impacts your growth and where to focus your efforts.

Effective packaging and labeling can transform how customers perceive your product. Many entrepreneurs we work with have strengthened their brand—and increased sales—by improving how their products look, feel, and communicate value on the shelf.

When you work with a consultant on packaging or labeling, you’ll explore several key areas together:

• Product requirements: What type of packaging best fits your ingredients or materials? Does your product require refrigeration, heat protection, or a certain type of durability?

• Shelf life and safety: Packaging must protect your product and preserve quality.

• Customer behavior and appeal: What attracts buyers? What shapes their purchasing decisions?

• Use conditions: Where, when, and how customers use your product will influence the right packaging choice.

• Cost and pricing: Every packaging decision affects your cost per unit and, ultimately, the price you can charge.

• Sourcing and production: You may evaluate suppliers, compare bulk pricing, and even discuss whether outsourcing packaging is the right move.

For labels, there is almost always room to upgrade clarity, layout, and overall visual appeal. Clear, professional labeling builds trust and helps customers understand what they’re buying. The Hub also provides access to a labeling machine you can use to refine your final product.

Here are some examples of labels and packages from some entrepreneurs in the community.

Branding & Brand Identity: What Your Business Stands For

Your brand is the relationship you build with your customers. It’s more than just a logo or a name—it’s the feeling people have when they hear about your business, see your product, or walk into your store. A strong brand helps customers recognize you, trust you, and choose you over the competition. Over time, this builds brand equity, which is the value your business earns from its good reputation.

How Strong Is Your Brand Name?

Brand names vary in strength, and that strength affects how memorable and protectable they are:

• Strongest: Coined or Arbitrary Names
  Examples: Starbucks, Windows, Exxon, GAP, Kodak, Allegra

• Less Strong: Suggestive Names
  Examples: Southern Comfort, Igloo, Wonderware, Verilux, Quicken, Nautica, Advair

• Not Very Strong: Descriptive Names
  Examples: International Business Machines (IBM), General Electric (GE), General Motors (GMC), Old English Antique Shoppe, Advanced Computer Associates, Catering and More, TurboTax

• Weak/Generic Names (Hard to Protect)
  Examples: Convenient Food Mart, Tasty Candies, Supermarket

Some strong brand names even lose their uniqueness over time because people start using them as generic terms—for example: aspirin, escalator, cellophane, linoleum, kerosene, yo-yo, bikini.
Today, brands like Scotch Tape, Kleenex, Xerox, and Advil risk the same issue if not protected carefully.

What Is Brand Identity?

Brand identity is everything customers can see, touch, or hear that represents your business:
your colors, logo, design style, symbols, packaging, and even the way your brand “sounds.”
Strong identity helps customers recognize you instantly and understand what makes you different. It turns all the separate pieces of your brand into one clear, consistent system.

What This Means for You

As a small business owner, your goal isn’t just to come up with a clever name. You want a name and visual identity that reflect your mission, your values, and the story behind your business. That’s what helps customers connect with you on a deeper level and keeps them coming back.

Creating a Logo That Truly Represents Your Business

For many small business owners, your logo is often the first impression customers get of your brand. And when you work with someone to design it—whether a consultant, student, or designer—it’s important that the process helps you shape the final result, not the other way around. A good logo isn’t just “pretty.” It communicates your story, your values, and the feeling you want customers to have when they interact with your business.

Start With the Purpose of Your Logo

Before designing anything, take time to think about what you want your logo to do.
Ask yourself questions like:

• “What do I want people to feel when they see my logo?”

• “Will I be using it online, on packaging, on uniforms, or on signs?”

This step helps you define the real goal—whether you want to look more professional, stand out in a crowded market, highlight your mission, or appeal to a specific type of customer.

Co-Design Your Logo

Instead of having someone design a logo for you, the best approach is to design it with you. This means looking together at what’s working (or not working) in your current branding. You might already have colors you like, symbols that reflect your story, or feedback from customers about what confuses them.

Tools like inspiration boards, competitor reviews, or quick sketches help you visualize ideas and make decisions based on what communicates your message—not just what’s trendy.

Build Your Own Branding Skills

As you work through logo options, try out more than one idea and get feedback from customers, family, or community members. Mockups—like putting the logo on a product, a flyer, or a website—can help you see what feels right.

When the logo is finished, you should walk away with more than just an image. Make sure you receive a simple brand kit that includes:

• Your color codes

• Fonts used

• Multiple file formats (PNG, JPG, SVG, etc.)

• Guidelines for using the logo

This makes it easier for you to use your logo consistently without needing a designer every time—especially important when you’re working with limited resources.

Tools You Can Use

Today, you don’t need expert design skills to create a strong logo. User-friendly tools like Canva, Adobe Express, and Looka/LogoMaker by Design.com make logo creation simple and accessible for entrepreneurs.

Example: The “Comforted” Brand

One of our entrepreneurs, Marketo Michel, created a beautiful brand called Comforted. As a faith-based musician, she built this brand to transform funeral experiences through the comforting music she provides. Her target market is not only families, but also funeral homes and churches, who often guide the planning process. Her logo and brand identity communicate peace, compassion, and professionalism—perfectly aligned with her mission.

Here are some logos from local businesses in the U.S.

🔧 Tools: Free Canva Branding Tools

Creating a Tagline That Sticks With Your Customers

A tagline is a short, memorable phrase that captures the heart of what your business does for customers. Think of it as a quick message that tells people who you are, what you stand for, or why they should choose you. Unlike a short-term advertising slogan, a good tagline lasts for years and becomes part of your brand identity—just like Avis’s classic “We Try Harder.”

What Makes a Strong Tagline?

A great example is Nike’s “Just Do It.”
Even though Nike sells shoes, sportswear, and equipment, the tagline communicates something bigger: motivation, action, confidence, and striving for your best. That message reinforces the entire brand, not just a product.

Here are more examples of powerful, long-lasting taglines:

• The Farmer’s Dog: “Pets Deserve Real Food Too”

• Airbnb: “Belong Anywhere”

• Apple: “Think Different”

• BMW: “The Ultimate Driving Machine”

• McDonald’s: “I’m Lovin’ It”

• Dunkin Donuts: “America Runs on Dunkin”

• Bounty: “The Quicker Picker-Upper”

• State Farm: “Like a Good Neighbor, State Farm is There”

• U.S. Marine Corps: “The Few. The Proud. The Marines”

• DeBeers: “A Diamond is Forever”

Each of these taglines clearly expresses what the business wants customers to feel: trust, speed, belonging, strength, convenience, inspiration.

A Local Example From SBEAP

One example from our own program is Kingdom Closet, a local thrift boutique created by a South Bend church. The store exists to support kids who need access to clothing and accessories. Their tagline, “Faith, Fashion, Fun,” highlights the three things customers experience there: spiritual care, stylish options, and a welcoming community environment.

Tools to Help You Brainstorm

If you need help getting started, there are free online tools that can spark ideas or help you refine your message:

• Shopify Slogan Maker

• Oberlo Slogan Generator

• Getsocio

• TheSloganGenerator.org

• Procato

• Slogans.xyz

• ZenBusiness Tagline Generator

These can be great for inspiration—but the best taglines come from the heart of your story and the value you bring to customers.

Example: Branding and Social Media Strategy Portfolio - Events and Decorations Business