By Amy Nielsen
Working on the road again and school has me staring to think about branding my business. What image do I want to present to the world? What is my elevator speech? Can I tweet my business mission statement?
Currently, I am traveling in the greatest state in the union for branding, Florida. I should have lots of excellent examples to examine up close and personal.
What exactly is branding anyway? If you type “branding” into Wikipedia you come up with no less than four major categories of branding, containing 17 subcategories. They range from livestock branding to vehicle title management branding to faith branding. There is even an entry for BDSM branding, but I digress. Thanks wiki – didn’t need that at 5 a.m.
Back to branding. Google says, “/brand/ verb, 1. Mark (an animal, formerly a criminal or slave) with a branding iron. 2. Assign a brand name to.” Hmmm, well, since I am not going to put a hot iron to myself just yet, that’s not the most helpful entry in the Grand Google vocabulary.
Entrepreneur.com says, “Simply put, your brand is your promise to your customer. It tells them what they can expect from your products and services, and it differentiates you from your competitors. Your brand is derived from who you are, who you want to be and who people perceive you to be.”
Ok, great, now we are getting closer to something I can work with.
Branding is a giant, totally wonderful and totally infuriating journey into the depths of yourself and your business. Because, let’s be honest, this business is about what you personally bring to the table. Even if you have partners, each one of you has to decide what your piece of the whole package looks like. Then together, you can choose what the brand will look like.
The most basic question starts with you.
Are you a visual person or a words person? Once you decide this you can start to gather the concepts you want to work with. If you are a visual, pictures person, I suggest a visual pin board, either internet based - for old school freaks like me – cork bulletin boards and magazines. If you are a words person you can start to gather words that speak about your endeavor. Passages out of books, individual words, fonts, and even music, work in this realm.
Take the time and spend the hours to really go far out and wide in this phase of your gathering. Gather as much as you can – this is the time to cast a wide net. Think about all five senses, even if you don’t use all five in your business.
Think about every aspect of your business. What does it look like from your perspective, from that of your employees’ and from your client’s viewpoint? What does it smell like in your office? Is your business card glossy or matte? Why that shade of green and not this shade of green? Sage leaf or rosemary needle?
The next part of the process is crucial.
Go look at the competition. Find out who does what you want to do. How do they look personally? Are they professionally attired for your industry? What colors do they use in their logo? Do several of them use the same or similar language?
I’m not talking about industry standard speak, I’m talking about lingo or tone. Do they use the same or similar pictures or graphics? Follow some threads and find out who is linked to who. What media do the majority of competitors use to get their word out?
Even if you have been in your industry for a while you still must do this step, especially if you have been in the industry for a while. Often, new business owners take this step for granted. They think they already know who their competition is. Take my word for it, don’t skip this step.
Figure out why and how to set yourself apart by figuring out how your competition is all the same.
There is one last piece of this gathering stage that has to be addressed. Who are your clients?
Think you have it figured out? But did you really think about it. What do they want from you? Why do they want your services? Why don’t they want the other gal’s advice? Look specifically at each of the five senses categories you created for yourself and for your competitors, and now make one for your client base. Know exactly who you want to draw into your office.
Regardless of which type of person you are, you will eventually need to work in the other medium so the second phase in the process is to gather corresponding images or words for your first lists. So if you are a visual person, what words work to convey your concepts? Find a thesaurus. Same for you Mr. Word Monger. Play with paints. Get messy. Get creative.
Take the same amount of time whittling down the ideas you gathered in great swathes to a refined, elegant, concise image, word - and Tweet. Yes, Tweet. If you can tell me what you produce in 140 characters, then you can sell it to any venture capitalist anywhere. Which means you can sell it to pretty much anyone.
Think about the examples I am hanging out with this week: Disney and Universal Studios. Both are terrific examples of well branded companies who have stuck to their original branding with little change because it fit the original concept so well.
Can you tweet what Disney is all about? Can Disney tweet what Disney is all about? Let’s think about another brand that has undergone several changes. Pepsi Co. is local to the Orlando area. Can you think of how many different versions of the Pepsi logo and product you can think of? It’s a strong brand, but it doesn’t really fit, it keeps getting reworked both in logo and product.
So now it’s time to go play in the brand of you. Remember to start with you. Use your five senses. Who, what, why, where, when and how are you going to do what it is you do? What exactly is it that you do? Can you taste it? Are the blinds red or the curtains purple in the office? Then see who walks in your door. Now, know why they are in your business and not your competitors. Once you know all of this – then you know your brand.
