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Branding
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Smart Branding for the Smaller Enterprise |
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Written by Administrator
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Wednesday, 06 May 2009 17:45 |
The secret of Smart Branding for the Smaller Enterprise is to "think small!"
It seems that when someone starts talking about branding, its another story about how a big brand company is making its mark. Small business owners get frustrated when we try to think of ways to emulate the big brands, knowing that building a brand like they have is a daunting task requiring immense resources.
What's a smart, affordable branding strategy for the smaller enterprise?
Think Small Before Thinking Big. For the larger company, branding is the process by which that business, or its products (or both), become a household word. For the smaller company, it is a matter of building a brand one client at a time.
- Become First-in-Mind for one client or customer, then two, then more. By getting one powerful client (who thinks you're the world's best) in your stable, you can build on that strong foundation.
- Get one or more testimonials. Document your clients' satisfaction. Get photos and personal statements about how important you are to them.
- Create a small brochure that tells how you fulfilled these clients' needs.
- Add their story to your website.
- Study the characteristics of your satisfied clients and identify other prospects just like them. Those should become your core target market.
- Present your story to that market with phone calls, mailers, face-to-face meetings.
Build Your Brand by Building Your Relationships. Great relationships are the foundation for doing business at the smaller enterprise level. With that in mind, make every part of your clients' buying experiences outstanding and memorable. Think about improving every contact point in your client's interaction with you and your business. How can you make every part of their experience better at each "touch point?" When every person in the client organization knows who you are, you have created a strong brand.
Tell Your Story To The Local Business Press or Online News. So many stories are written from the point of view of the seller. Instead, take your client's point of view, and tell about how their needs are being met. Relate how they have grown, prospered and benefited by using you as a key source of supply. Use testimonials, actual stories and any other related points of interest. Good stories get into print.
One happy client telling their story about the outstanding way you have filled their needs will lead to many clients bragging about you. Start small, and let outstanding results do the talking. You will build an incredible brand one client at a time.
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 13 May 2009 17:28 )
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10 Keys to Great Branding |
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Written by Administrator
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Monday, 20 April 2009 00:13 |
10 KEYS TO GREAT BRANDING for Small Business
1) Branding for your business is much like branding a steer. It's everything you do to differentiate your product/service (your "steer") or company from others in the marketplace. Think: Nike, Starbucks, BMW.
2) Branding is more than a name, a logo, a slogan. It's a combination of look, feel, touch. It's your purpose, your company culture, your people, your customer service, your external image, your internal image, and everything you and your business stand for and do
3) How do you build a brand? You marry your clients' wants/needs with your business purpose and you live that marriage like the best partner your clients ever had
4) You and your team work 365/24/7 to build and keep your business FIRST in the minds of your market
5) You need a story. You need publicity to launch and secure a memorable image in the marketplace. Starbucks spent very little in advertising to become the largest coffee retailer. They were relentless in their quest for publicity, and they got it because they had a story. Create a story
6) Advertise your business throughout all economic times. You can't just advertise when business is great. Spend money when others aren't, and you'll turn new clients your way.
7) A website is necessary, because people are looking for your product/service/company on the web. Over $142 Billion was spent last year in eCommerce
8) Your goal is to "own a word" in the consumers' minds. Imagine your customers and prospects seeing your business or product in their minds' eye when they are choosing a source for their purchase.
9) Think about how to create a new category for your product or service. Starbucks did it; Apple did it with the iPod, Tiger Woods has become more than a golfer.
10) Earlier, we said a brand was more than a name. Ultimately, it comes back to the name. When someone says a brand name, what does that name mean in the mind of the consumer? Pick a great brand name and memorialze it. |
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 13 May 2009 17:35 )
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Written by Administrator
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Wednesday, 15 April 2009 17:57 |
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A Logo is the Symbol for Your Brand.
It will fulfill many roles through out the growth stages of your business. It is very important at the start, and it becomes even more important as your business grows. In the beginning you will proudly display it on our corporate stationery, business cards, brochures, website, flyers and ads. Later, as your customers and prospects learn about your business it actually generates an emotional response in the minds of those who recognize your symbol and slogan.
There is both a science and art in logo design and I'd like to share some of with you. First, a logo is usually made up of two or three parts, - Company Name
- Company Symbol
- Company Slogan
I like the three-part logo best, as it gives you a chance to communicate more of your message (brand and mission) to the market.
Name. I love naming companies. I've probably named hundreds over the years. This is both a simple and complex part of the process. It can be as simple as a founder's name: Jones Consultants, or Jones and MacAllister Consultants. Or, it may incorporate one or more key words, such as Jones Human Resource Consultants, or Jones/MacAllister People Promoters. It could skip the founder's name, and say Human Resource Solutions. These are all valid company names. Which are best, you ask? My answer is based partially on personal opinion and partially on experience. I always play around with how the name rolls off the tongue, and I like to put variations into a Word document and try different fonts and spacing. It's a look and feel kind of thing, in part. Until the Web came into our lives, many companies created acronyms from the first letters of the words in the company name, such as J & M Consultants. My first consulting business was named Blodgett & Associates. I grew tired of telemarketers calling and asking for "Mr. Blodgett," so our little group of six had a brainstorming session over creating a new name. We took the Baxter from the name of a prominent medical firm, Baxter Laboratories, Davis from another large medical firm, Parke Davis, and Dunn out of Dun & Bradstreet. We created the name Baxter, Davis & Dunn, with the symbol BD&D that enjoyed almost instant name recognition. People would say, "I've heard of you!" Ironically, they didn't know why! It worked very well in the 1970's. In the 80's I changed the name to the Baxter Group. In the 90's I thought I needed a tie in to venture capital and business planning, as that was the focus of my target market. I renamed the company, Venture Planning Group. It was a hit. Later, it evolved to The Venture Group. Today, it's Blodgett Ventures. I went back to using my name, as in today's time things are so digital that the feel of doing business with a person just seems to feel better!
Symbol. This is a graphic representation of your business name. It can be as simple as a letter or combination of letters to complex geometric shapes; or, it could involve complex or unusual graphical symbols. Some companies have spent thousands of dollars on logo design, and for good reason: they wanted a simple, unique embodiment of their business symbolized in graphic form. One of my favorite emblems is the Nike swoosh, but there are thousands of others that we instantly recognize. As you start your business, you want to be proud of your logo, as you and others will be seeing it a lot. You need to give this considerable thought, and you will come up with something special.
Slogan. Nike uses the slogan, "Just Do It!" Slogans are great, as they can convey an emotion to go along with your name and symbol. At times, the slogan has become a permanent part of the logo; other times, the slogan may change from year-to-year to reflect that year's promotional message. |
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Last Updated ( Friday, 21 August 2009 16:39 )
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Written by Administrator
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Wednesday, 15 April 2009 17:15 |
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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?
And ...
- 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.
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 15 April 2009 22:27 )
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Thanks for visiting BV. We're all about Growing YOUR Business. You'll find lots of stories on start up, growth and management, so stick around , browse, and enjoy! - JB
Blog by JB