START-UPS and even small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) can sometimes find it difficult to have their voices heard in a clustered market, making the job of endearing themselves to potential clients and customers challenging.

This is where the designers at The Hubmark Company Limited step in. The innovative hub for youth marketing is helping small businesses to stand out in a noisy marketplace — against the backdrop of the novel coronavirus pandemic and accelerated digital transformation — by crafting a unique brand identity that will help them to foster trust among their target audience.

Hubmark’s Chief Executive Designer (CED) Jahmone Salmon told the Jamaica Observer that with a brand guide and strategy through its brand identity kit, SMEs can have the necessary tools to be consistent in their branding.

“Generally, creating a brand identity can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. We’ve crafted this package as our way of giving back and helping small businesses during COVID-19. [They] are now able to better apply themselves to create and manage an image of world-class standard,” he said.

The brand identity kit includes a business card, letterhead, invoice, and business card designs, brand guide, and brand consultation.

“We believe that by helping start-ups with their branding and media presence we are charting the way forward for other businesses to grow and develop trust among their target audience,” he said.

Salmon said the company was started by seven young entrepreneurs in 2018 to focus primarily on youth marketing. During the pandemic, the online company restructured equity to its now four shareholders — Salmon; Rushane Wright, chief operations designer; Nicholas Thomas, senior innovative designer; and Tyrone Simms, senior visual designer.

Additionally, the company has since evolved to have various classes of employees – from part-time to full-time and contractors for design and production.

Like many other small businesses in Jamaica, Hubmark has been impacted by COVID-19. However, Salmon contended that the company thrived during the pandemic — and did not simply survive.

“Getting ahead during the pandemic was a testament to our ability to apply the branding and marketing strategies we are teaching small businesses. Even start-ups want validation that you can do what you claim, and while the prior year for Hubmark was not as fruitful as we would hope in the marketing space, we felt that we can make a lesson out of our brand by marketing it as we have never done before. We would be our best-case study — hands down,” he told Sunday Finance.

Salmon said that, based on current sales so far, the business is projecting to earn 2.5 times the previous year’s gross income, and aims to tap into the food and beverage industry.

“Throughout the pandemic we realised that we tend to attract small businesses in the food and beverage space, such as comfort food restaurants, cook shops and even juice manufacturers. Since we utilised digital marketing to grow our customer base locally, we intend to adjust our ads to reach a wider market of small businesses in the global food and beverage industry,” Salmon explained.

“Now, looking back at the journey more than a year later, I cannot help but get emotional about the countless lives we have changed and the visions we have helped to realise. I am glad we were able to give hope when a lot have given up, and I am also glad we were able to bring countless ideas to life,” he said.