BlodgettVentures.com

Within the realm of marketing, the most significant aspect is called Branding. Many marketing experts, including me, think that it's the key to a company's fortune. Some of those same people, including me, think that it IS marketing itself, that Branding and Marketing are ONE.

Branding is the process of building a name and image in the mind of your clients and prospects that is synonymous with, not simply what you're marketing, but who and what you represent as a business. That would include ...

everything that you do to become and remain uniquely important to your customers and prospects.

Your brand encompasses your culture, your service, your image, your knowledge, your quality, your means of operating, and everything else about your business. As a consultant, for instance, I am a brand of "one" though I may have partners, affiliates and employees.

Your goal as a business is to be FIRST IN MIND of your customers and prospects. That's why it's so important that you know what you are, who you are, and what you stand for as a business. You want a clients and prospects to think of your company is the best at doing what you offer.

You can do this when you put together a coherent, cohesive, consolidated and focused program for building and maintaining your brand. It starts here:

• Mission Statement
  
• Corporate Identity/Name/Logo
• Company Literature
• Website
• Advertising
• Publicity
• Presentation
• Company Culture
• You, Staff, Collaborators

Questions that you must answer are:

• What are we selling?
• What are the benefits to our consumers?
• What is our contribution to the community?
• What are we doing for humanity?
• What does this business offer me, as its founder/owner
• What are the benefits to our shareholders, stakeholders?

Also,

• To whom are we selling
• Where are they located
• Why would they buy
• How much will they pay?

• How do we reach them?
• How do we present ourselves?
• How do we differentiate from the competition?
  
• Why should they buy from us, not brand x, y, or z?
  
• How do we close the deal?
  
• How do we deliver?
  
• How do we repeat this process?

Sometimes the components of branding are expressed with "P" words so they're easier to remember:

• Purpose. Why we're in business.
• Product.  What we're selling, expressed as solutions.
• Place. Where are we going to market? Local, Regional, National, Worldwide. What segments of larger markets will we go after.
• Pricing. What/how will we charge for our services?
• Positioning. What niche/s are we addressing, and through what strategies? How will we differentiate ourselves?
• Promotion. Advertising and promotional activities to support our marketing plan
• Publicity/PR. The strategies we will employ to get our story told in the media.
• Packaging. How we package what we market.