If you are in any sort of business at all (and I am guessing you are if you’re reading this blog) you understand just how important branding can be.
Whether it’s a corporate brand such as Nike or a personal brand such as GaryVee, or a even small business brand such as your local clothing boutique… branding is a critical component when it comes to raising awareness about your company and gaining loyal and rabid fans.
When it’s done properly, it seems to attract your “right people” almost as if by magic. (OK that may be a slight exaggeration, but only slight I swear!)
The Problem Behind Branding
The problem most folks run into when they think of branding however, is buying into such thoughts and paradigms like “I don’t have the budget for that.” Or “I don’t need a brand strategy with my business… my prices/products/whatever speaks for itself.”
Well, your prices/products and whatever does speak for you actually, and so does just about every move or decision you make when it comes to you and your business. The bottom line is if you aren’t using a branding strategy, it really doesn’t matter.
People all around you are branding you anyway. And good, bad, or ugly you’ve got an image to the rest of the world, whether you intended it or not.
Now wouldn’t you rather take control of that image yourself instead of letting the rest of the world dictate it?
Shite I know I would!
Maybe I’m a bit of a control freak or something (OK so I really am, and what?!) but I’d much rather learn all I can about branding and create a strategy that reflects exactly what I want it to reflect rather than leave it up to the rest of the world!
Per chance it goes back to my high school days of not liking to be pigeon holed as “the jock” or “the nerd” or “the goth chic”… so I pretty much did and wore what I wanted, when I wanted and became a person that was uniquely me. (And I’m certain I pained many an eyeball in my quest to express my “creativity and uniqueness”! lol)
Power to the People!
Anyhoo, the point is that learning, understanding and implementing brand strategy puts the power of how people perceive you into your hands. You call the shots and have the power to entice other people to love you or hate you, depending upon your stance. With all that said, why the hell wouldn’t you want to brand yourself or your business?
C’mon!
Take back the power people! (Climbing down off my soapbox now and dusting of my hands.)
To that end, I’ve got quite a treat for ya’ll actually. I’ve had the pleasure of reviewing a book recently written by the lovely Maria Ross of Red-Slice.com. That’s her right there below:
The book is called “Branding Basics for Small Business- How to Create an Irresistible Brand on Any Budget”
My Review
I must say I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and it’s one I’ll likely end up reading again and again, it’s just that good.
Maria has this wonderful ability in her writing to break things down into simple language anyone can understand, and to make a topic that can often seem a bit ethereal suddenly seem real, tangible, and totally doable.
She uses plenty of real world examples to illustrate her ideas, and goes to great lengths to define exactly what the differences are between branding strategies and marketing strategies (hint: they aren’t the same thing people!), as well as to let you know point blank that branding is NOT public relations or social media.
According to Maria, branding is the foundation upon which all of those different components sit. And a strong brand strategy will help you focus your actions and create marketing, PR, and social media campaigns that fit your business like a glove.
That means you don’t waste time and spend your hard-earned dollars implementing ideas that simply aren’t a fit for your “right people.”
Maria understands that branding isn’t just about slapping a logo on some paper and calling it a day. Your brand is a compilation of things like the promise to your people, the way you interact with your people, and the expectations your people have of you.
It’s a combination of the visual (things like logo, design, etc), the verbal (how they “hear” you in your web copy, presentations, etc), and the experiential (how they experience your brand via the buying process, customer service, etc).
As Maria says:
“Once you can acknowledge how you change people’s lives… you can better understand how to convey that across all communications.” (Read page 47 for more on this!)
And really I think the best part of Maria’s book is that she makes no bones about the fact that implementing a branding strategy isn’t just for the big guys anymore. It’s for anyone who’s willing to put forth the effort and do the damn thing already. Any business can use the information she’s given inside this book to create a compelling, winning brand strategy that works.
Sneak Peek at a Partial Table of Contents
- What is Brand and Why Does It Matter? (page 5)
- Building a Brand That Can Change with the Times (page 26)
- Rabid Fans: Your Logo Should Be My Tattoo (page 29- my fave section!)
- How to Build Your Brand Strategy (page 51)
- Ten Key Questions to Building Your Brand Strategy (page 52)
- Question 5: Who and Where is Your Audience? How Can You Find Them? (page 63)
- Applying the Brand Strategy (page 85)
- Brand Building Blocks: Creating Your Visual Identity System (page 92)
- Operationalizing Your Brand (page 119)
And soooo much more that I can’t detail here. You just have to get the book and read it for yourself! Oh and that part I mention is my fave, regarding your logo being a tattoo?
She talks about Harley Davidson and how they’ve created a brand with such a rabidly loyal following that people not only wear HD merchandise, they also proudly sport HD tats all over their bodies! Totally going to make a tattoo out of the BGB brand stamp, what do ya’ll think? Who wants to be the guinea pig? 
So to recap quickly… Maria Ross’s book on branding basics rocks, I can’t spell it out any better. Please show her some love and support by picking up a copy and raving all about it on your own blogs. Oh and Twitter too, she’ll love that. You can also friend her yourself, @RedSlice.
As always if you’ve questions, thoughts, or general ideas you want to sprout wings and send off into the ether… the ether is down below in the comment box. And stay tuned for tomorrow, I’ll be publishing an excerpt from Maria’s branding book that you won’t want to miss out on! Oh also, please don’t forget to share this post if you like it, it’s always mucho, MUCHO appreciated.
Warmest
Maria Ross is the founder and chief strategist of Red Slice, a branding and marketing consultancy based in Seattle. She has advised start-ups, solopreneurs, non-profits and even large enterprises such as Microsoft, Discovery Networks and Monster.com on how to craft their brand story to engage, inform and delight customers. The following is an excerpt from her new book, Branding Basics for Small Business: How to Create an Irresistible Brand on Any Budget (2010, Norlights Press).
Silly assed but necessary disclosure- Any and all Amazon links you find on BGB are most likely run through my Amazon affiliate account. Yes, I stand to make a dollar or two if you use them. So don’t use them indiscriminately, I wouldn’t want you to make me rich or anything… you know those dollar bills add up. Just ask strippers!
{ 20 comments… read them below or add one }
Hi Cori,
Great review and fantastic to see a branding basics book come out from Maria that it really straightforward. I’ll certainly go and grab a copy.
One of the things that I find is that too many small businesses think that branding is all image but, as you intimated, that is only the tip of the iceberg. Branding is about everything you do. It is effectively the emotion that you encourage, engender or create (pick your word) in the minds and hearts of your customers, potential customers and (not forgetting) your employees.
Looking forward to a great read.
All the best,
Adrian
Adrian Swinscoe´s last [type] ..What can modern business learn from the Little Black Dress
Hey Adrian! Thanks for dropping by, totally reminded me I need to email you back! lol Yes definitely grab a copy, it’s a great read, with great ideas you can implement immediately. And most definitely it’s about the whole package, not just how things look to others. I’d almost want to say branding is a bit like creating a ‘movement’. You get passionate clients, customers, and brand ambassador’s that help ignite the movement further until it grows to something people recognize and identify with everywhere.
I’ll try and email you back by the end of the week with my thoughts!
Thanks for the raves, Cori and the comment Adrian. I’d like to poke my eye out with a sharp stick when small biz owners say, “I have a brand. See my cool logo?” A logo does not a reputation and a customer connection make. Mercedes is way more than their peace sign logo. Nordstrom just uses logotype, for goodness sake.
That’s like saying, “I have a stellar reputation. See my cool tie that brings out my eyes?” Sheesh.
Enjoy the book. And please do post a review on Amazon if you dig it. Grazi!
Maria Ross´s last [type] ..Why I chose Droid over the iPhone- A college student’s perspective
Yw Maria! I thoroughly enjoyed the book, so raving wasn’t hard! lol Love the tie analogy, lmao.
Love this thought, Cori: “the power of how people perceive you is in your hands”.
So simple and so true. Yet SO underused!
Great and very thorough review as always… So much to learn, so little time.
Ana Hoffman
Ana @ Blog Traffic Generation´s last [type] ..Make Money Blogging – Who and How Much
Thanks Ana… I agree..simple yet underused is a perfect way to describe it.
Would that we could bottle time and just stretch out more of it! lol
Branding is not about having your potential clients to pick you over your competition, but it surely is about getting your prospects to discover you as the only one that gives a solution to their problem. The outward expression of a brand, includes its name, trademark, communications, and visual appearance. Your brand resides within the hearts and minds of customers, clients, and prospects.
Branding is so much more than a marketing goal. For me truly branding is an outcome of just good plain business common sense. Nonetheless, it is frequently seen as a driver rather than an outcome. The act of associating a product or service with a brand has grown to be part of pop culture. Most products have some sort of brand identity, from common table salt to designer jeans.
There is also Attitude branding which is the choice to represent a larger feeling, which is not necessarily connected with the product or consumption of the product at all.
It’s crucial that you spend time investing in researching, defining, and building your brand. All things considered your brand is the source of a assurance to your customer.
Chris@Voltmeter Gauge´s last [type] ..Sunpro CP8215 StyleLine Voltmeter
Hey Chris! Great points, thanks so much for commenting! I agree, attitude is part of it as well, and it comes across in your interactions with people.
I think people shy away from branding early on because they feel that smaller business brands get lost easily. If you are your brand, you’ll be related to more quickly, more personally, and as a result be passed around more. Many aren’t comfortable with putting their face out there for one reason or another though. I do, however, subscribe to Orson Well’s belief that “Everything popular is wrong.” Anything you can do to separate yourself from the competition imprints yourself in the prospect’s mind.
Hee.. well I don’t necessarily believe everything popular is wrong, but there are degrees of popularity. And separating yourself from the pack is never a bad thing.
Branding never occurred to me but later on realized its importance. Its important to brand our business and I don’t think its something too complicated. Our brand is the identity of our business and people around the world comes to know about us and refer us through our brand.
Branding is so important when it comes to small businesses. I used to think that a brand only applied to big companies such as Nike, Google, Amazon and places like that but I was wrong. Building a brand is just as important as marketing because in essence, you need to brand marketing is far more effective.
Scott@Shoulder Blade Tattoos´s last [type] ..How To Properly Take Care Of Shoulder Blade Tattoos
Yes it’s definitely easier to market a well formed brand than something else!
I like to take the other side of things because branding is not all that important unless you want to target a huge audience. Simple small websites or stores cannot brand because they do not have the money and they really do not need to. What do you think?
Hey Dan.. I disagree, branding can help no matter how big or small your audience. It’s about creating something your clients or customers can identify and resonate with, and help promote organic growth by word of mouth. And when it comes to investment, it’s one that more than pays off and doesn’t have to be a huge expense.
Agree, Cori. Brand = reputation and you need the right one no matter what size company you are. It is a myth that branding needs to be expensive. It doesn’t. Branding is not about how much money you spend but on how clearly and consistently you communicate the right message to the right people at the right time. You do a thousand things for customers everyday as part of your normal course of business. All branding means is ensuring that each touchpoint with them communicates the right tone, vibe, and value. If you ignore brand in your efforts, customers will form their own brand opinions about you anyway. That’s human nature. So wouldn’t you rather influence that brand perception in any way you could? I know I would!
Maria Ross´s last [type] ..A brand wolf in sheep’s clothing
“I don’t need a brand strategy with my business… my prices/products/whatever speaks for itself”
People whom think like this can’t make their businesses big.
Anyways I loved your post it’s very convincing especially for people I mentioned above.
Dan@cupola´s last [type] ..Shrewsbury Vinyl Cupola
Thanks Dan, glad you enjoyed!
Branding is really about your business’s core identity. Not your personal core identity, your business’s core identity.
Very true Chelle. But especially in smaller, one or two person businesses, the brand of the business can and often does reflect the values, beliefs and personality of the owner. I’ve worked on many branding projects for founders who wanted to find a way to grow the business brand independent of their own personal reputation so that it could live on without them there. And we do that through formalizing their own traits into the business brand and culture.
Where I see clients run into trouble is trying to parlay a personal brand into a business brand that is designed to appeal to a completely different audience.
Maria Ross´s last [type] ..A word about expectations
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