So You Want To Build A Brand.

Where does one start to build a brand? Do you just let nature dictate, or should you plant your own seeds and nurture it along? My answer has to be the latter. As I see brand as essentially your reputation, I often tell start-ups to determine what they'd like their brand to stand for and then to work to that end. I think that that's a little easier than to trip along unengaged with who you are and what you stand for. 

I also think that you should differentiate your brand from the get-go. If you use differentiation as a strategy, then you can analyze the competition and then do something different then they are doing. Use them as a "what not to do model." The strategy here is to resonate with your customers by positively standing out. It's not to be different for the sake of being different, but different by being better - a leader. Your brand image should reflect something other than them. Most industries use a follow the leader mentality. Look at the leading brand in a category, more often those competing against the leader use the same colour palettes, the same images and the same conversation.

You want to own the conversation and attract by your difference. Values you adopt and consistently abide by will see you go from start-up to flourishing. Your brand values define you and your brand.  Who ever you decide to become, be sure to be authentic and passionate. Branding can be your friend and positively affect every touch point of your brand.

Are You Holding You Back?

Is your brand continually evolving? Are you always watching for tools and education to put more opportunity in your cross-hairs? Just last year I fine-tuned my website. I really thought the look and functionality was exactly what my brand reflected. In the year or more since that re-do I recognized that to update or improve the sight I really should have not completed it in html (which I did myself). I am now in a major re-do porting the site to a Wordpress platform. This is beyond me so I had to engage the services of a professional in this area. I'm anxious to get the flexibility that this platform allows.

Are you finding it easy to get the brand information and/or training you need to help you grow your brand? I've signed up for a few webinars and online lectures only to have them deliver generalities. I leave with more questions than answers. You come to realize that the webinar is really just a come-on in a complicated sales funnel. This can happen in a paid webinar as well. I set my sights low in many things that I attend. I am usually just looking for a nugget or two that can help me more effectively deliver my products. When I deliver to my clients, I often ask myself if this is how I would like to be treated? Is this price point something I would consider paying?

Do you monitize your services? Do you find it difficult to do? I'm curious to know what platforms you find advantageous and are you and your audience having an enjoyable experience working together? I've seen just having a book out there draws people to you and your brand experience. When you have a strong brand, you'll find yourself in demand for your opinion. How many people offer to buy you a coffee to get your opinion on something? These questions are exacting the reason I found that the platform of my website was sorely lacking to allow me to quickly adjust to new revenue streams. I like to react immediately not six months or more down the road. My brand expects me to jump while the iron is hot. Who better to invest in than myself? A few thousand well-directed dollars can make a HUGE difference in how your brand develops. 

How many people do you know, who whine on about the economy but do nothing to develop opportunities that will will positively impact their businesses? It's as thought their answer is to ignore the problems and success will eventually find its way to them. I wish that were true but it's never worked that way for me. I've always had to create my own opportunities. It's like the old adage. "I seems the harder I work, the luckier I get."

You've Been Voluntold!

If you're anything like myself - you do a great deal of local networking. At least two or three days a week, you might run into me at some event or another. Some are professional groups where my target customers lurk and others are general professional organizations local and national. In a few of these organizations I play a managerial role, (one I'm the president). As you may well understand this takes a great deal of commitment and effort.  I absolutely believe that these groups help get my brand in front of the right people who desire what I'm offering. I have a strategy for my efforts and all involve being in control of my efforts. I'm proud that my brand commands the respect of my peers and as such I never have to suffer the the terrible affliction of being "voluntold." 

If you're on a committee or two but fail to show up when you're needed to participate, you will fall fate to joining efforts you are unaware of at the time you were induced. Some describe it this way - " the fasted way to getting the worst job on a committee is to not show up at an important meeting." At that critical meeting your brethren will take great pleasure in volunteering you, and if this happens - brother you've been VOLUNTOLD!" 

Being Voluntold is the scarlet letter of organizations. If you're Voluntold too many times your personal brand is going to take a beating. For the sake of your brand, be aware of the importance of meetings and your responsibility within a group.

You've been warned.

Ed Roach on Talk To Derek Show!

Great interview with yours truly on the "Talk To Derek" show produced locally. Check us out at:   Derek has begun what he hopes will be a well received business forum.

Here's What's In A Great Marketing Tool Box…

Your brand is anchored in what differentiates you. Without that differentiator, you have to fall back on image or (god forbid) price. A good number of small businesses think to raise the bar they have to changes their logo, update their image and refresh that website. I've sat through enough meetings with graphic designers who still push this antiquated notion. My background is in graphic design so I have a healthy respect for the industry. But, I don't rest the success of communication and sales initiatives squarely at the feet of design. Design from my perspective is the compliment to great branding. 

Give me something that absolutely resonates with your customer and then wrap it up with great design so that your overall communication is outstanding and really positions the customer as a leader in their category. That's a story worth telling. Graphic designers today have a tendency to not understand fundamental marketing. Most (that I know) have never taken a marketing course. Graphic design courses in this region don't have marketing as part of their curriculum. To these isolated designers, it's an us or them attitude.

How many presentations on social media have you been to where they compare social media to off-line media as if they were rivals. ie: doing this and this social thing will save you the cost of print, radio and TV. Email marketing is much more beneficial than direct-mail marketing. Stupid. It's all about fit - NOT us or them. 

The fact of the matter is, they are ALL tools in your brand tool-box. Online marketing is spectacular and combined with traditional media can be incredibly powerful. The Kardasian's may have millions of Twitter and Facebook followers but without television and print coverage how long do you think they'd last. When the day comes and the public tires of them and they no longer exist in the visual media - THAT will be the true test of their brand power. 

My promotional efforts include on and offline, and face to face efforts. And every single effort I put out there has to be absolutely consistent and powerful. My brochures aren't printed on my office printer. My business cards to come in a sheet | have to tear apart. My web efforts weren't developed for the price of a case of beer. But I didn't spend a King's ransom either. Everything involves a fit. What works for your brand. Overall what is it saying to your audience as opposed to what your competitors are saying. Are you leading or following? 

Peer deep inside that tool box and foster a strategic plan than carries your brand along as authentic and as powerful as your marketing budget affords you. 

Great or Safe - You Can't Be Both!

I've seen several cases lately where graphic designers will gather opinions on Facebook regarding logos they're designing. I can't help but think that reflects badly on their brand. The client is retaining them based on their professionalism in the field. I feel letting Facebook friends chose their best says plainly that these designers don't have the confidence to know what is the best solution. A logo speaks to the face of a brand.  It's not a work of art but a communication vehicle. These designers are doing their clients a disservice. 

I believe that a designer who is charge of helping to develop brand images must do so based on the brand and its promise to its marketplace. There are plenty of examples of individuals who believe it's not a good idea to ask the public for their input. Steve Jobs of Apple was one of these. He absolutely believed he knew what people wanted. Henry Ford had a great quote: "If I had asked them what they wanted they would have said faster horses." I've always said to my clients, "I don't give you what you like, I give you what you need." 

More times than not crowd sourcing delivers mediocrity. The general public are more likely to choose safe over ground breaking. When you engage the efforts of a professional you put yourself in their hands. If you don't entirely trust them, then you chose the wrong person. Put your brand into the hands of someone who can really make a difference. The last thing you want is to be is safe. Safe doesn't stand out from the crowd. If you're a graphic designer reading this and you enjoy crowd sourcing to make your decisions, maybe it's time you reconsider your occupation. When you're designing an image your client is the brand that hired you, not the public. They are there to be inspired by the truly great ones. 

We should all strive to one of those.

The Web Killed The Trogan Horse Brand

Before the web was a dominant influencer to a brand, a company could essentially hide behind their brand. How their advertising portrayed them was all the contact the public had with the companies they bought from. With this in mind a company could say one thing on the surface and do an entirely different thing behind the scenes. The tobacco industry is a good example. In the public eye, the advertising showed a lifestyle that was glamorous and appealing while the reality behind the scenes was that they were selling a product that could kill the user. At that time there was no recourse as effective as social media to exposing the double identity of that brand. Today the web changes that scenario.

Today, every business has to be sure that all channels of contact with their prospective customer may be using is represented in their marketing plan. You have to be aggressive in defining what your brand stands for. The flagship of your brand today is your website. If you hire an amateur to do you site, it will turn off those who approach you online. Your brand image must be consistent to make the best impression every time they come into contact with you. Any week points in your presentation works against you.  Unlike the old days, you can no longer risk the ire of the public when you say one thing and do another. Authenticity is paramount to defining your brand. Anything that reflects bad behaviour will be exposed almost instantly to a planet-wide audience. If its bad enough, it could take on a life of its and ruin a brand.

The web is an open book and that's a great thing. If your brand fears the web, then it has problems culture-wide. The web absolutely levels the field. Staying on top off your marketing efforts on and off-line allows you some control over what messages are being pushed out to the public. The challenge of course is staying on top of these efforts. Just like lean manufacturing, your branding needs constant attention and improvement. To ignore your brand is to play with your sales potential.