Category: Branding

Article Contributed by Sara Laforest and Tony Kubica

It’s one thing to make a promise. It’s quite another to keep it. Yet, businesses make promises every day. Some keep them. Some companies like AT&T, Bank of America and US Airways have good intentions, but can’t keep them because their strong culture and strong brand are misaligned. And, worst of all, some businesses have no sincere intention of keeping them at all, regardless of what they say.

How are you and your business at keeping your promises?

Well, how you answered this questioned just defined your brand and your culture. Yes the two are connected, and this connection can be either:

• Strong and reinforcing – they are in alignment
• Strong but negatively reinforcing – they are competing or demonstrating dissonance
• Weak because they have not been defined and developed

Creating the Promise – Your Brand

To grow your business, you must identify your target market. This is the market niche you want to focus on and the position you want to hold within that market. You need to know and understand exactly:

• What products or services you want to provide to your market
• What you can do and what you do not want to do
• Your competition and why you are different

This provides the essential elements for branding your company.

Branding presents you to the marketplace. It defines you in the mind of your customers and prospects. It creates the promise: what your clients can expect from you when they do business with you. Think of Apple, Google, Zappos, Amazon.com, Nordstrom… We know what to expect from them, and we are rarely disappointed.

Branding expresses this promise in the:

· Logo

· Website concept and content

· Tag line

· Advertisements

· Marketing materials

· All forms of internal and external expression/communication about the company.

There is a consistency that should carry over to all methods of interacting with the customer and the prospect. Regardless of how your prospect and customers enter your sales cycle, they should see, feel, and interpret who you are, what you stand for and what they can expect based on your branding.

So, you’ve got their attention with relevant and compelling branding.

You’re done, right? No, not so quickly.

Creating the Culture to Deliver the Promise

Now it’s time to deliver: to keep the promise made in and through your branding.

Culture is the way work is done in your company. It’s how people work together, how you build your teams and processes to deliver on your promise. It represents how strongly you believe in your promise and builds your repute.

Culture is grounded in the understanding and practices around the Purpose/Mission, Vision and Guiding Values of the company. It drives how decisions are made, how responsibility is assumed and your behavior in front of customers and within your group. It should be reflected in the standards and consistency with which you deliver your product or service.

One quick point: Are organizations with a strong positive culture and good brand expression perfect? Far from it. They are just much better than their competition, as they know how to course correct when required, and they know why they exist as a business.

Brand + Culture = Market Growth

Without a strong base (your culture and brand) it is nearly impossible to deliver consistent and high quality products and services to your market. (In this case, what you end up delivering are excuses.)

Companies with a strong brand and a strong culture are leaders in their market, whether it’s a small local market or a large international market. It doesn’t matter. A positive brand and cultural alignment is a powerful competitive strategy!

The greatest opportunity for performance improvement and growth is to concentrate on building a strong brand expression (the promise) and focusing your culture in delivering on that promise.

Identifying your market and building a strong base (culture and brand) to deliver to that market is a competitive differentiator. Why? Because many of your competitors (and could be competitors) will not take the time to do this. And your clients and customers will notice and will reward your efforts.

About the Author:

Management Consultants and Business Performance Improvement Specialists Sara Laforest and Tony Kubica have 50+ years of combined experience in helping small and large businesses accelerate their business growth in record times. Failure to make and actually keep your promises is just one way to sabotage your business growth. Get the full report on Self-Sabotage in Business now at: http://www.kubicalaforestconsulting.com/resources.php

Are you running a service-based business and believe your branding is all about your logo, tagline and brochures? While these are important elements of your brands ‘touch points’ when I refer to your business’s brand what I am talking about goes much deeper than your stationery and tagline.

So what is a brand? Your brand is your reputation; it’s the promise of value you offer a client and the immediate thought that a prospect and/or client has when your business name is mentioned.

While it can take time and commitment to build a strong brand, it is well worth the effort if you want to build a thriving business.

Here are 3 signs that your service-based business has a weak and incoherent brand:

1. Your ideal clients/prospects are not investing in your services

Sending out weak, mixed messages will only confuse a prospect and a confused mind says ‘no’. If you are unsure of what makes you unique, what sets you apart from your competitors, and the value/benefits you offer your clients, then your brand communications will be ineffective in showing your prospect why they should be investing in you and not your competitors.

2. You feel on the verge of marketing burnout, exhaustion and desperation

What often occurs when businesses are not generating the results they desire is that they increase their marketing efforts. However, the problem is not the amount of marketing being done but the fact that their marketing message is confusing and not speaking to the needs of your prospects, which leads us back to our previous sign of clients not investing.

3. You struggle to charge what you’re worth

A business owner with a weak brand will often find it difficult to charge a premium fee because they fail to demonstrate the value, benefits and results clients will achieve through hiring them. For this reason the level of income the business generates is often considerably lower than a business with a strong reputation and brand.

Here are five benefits of building a strong, authentic brand

1. Position yourself as an expert

Having a strong brand will enable you to position yourself as a specialist to build a reputation as a credible authority in your field. Showcasing your knowledge and expertise in your articles/blog posts and through sharing your success stories and that of your clients is important.

Q: What are your strengths and talents? What makes you unique and sets you apart from your competitors? What stories can you share to showcase your expertise?

2. Charge a higher fee due to increased perceived value

It’s a well-known fact that experts and specialists are able to charge a higher premium for their services because of the perceived value.

When I first started the career coaching arm of my business some 15 years ago and compare it to where I am now, through building my brand and positioning myself as an expert I have been able to increase my fees by over 12000%. I would never have been able to achieve this if I had a weak and incoherent brand message.

Q: What’s the value you offer clients? What solutions can you offer them to help them overcome their issues and problems? Are you writing about this convincingly in your marketing materials?

3. Create a powerful, clear and consistent message

Having a clear understanding of your brand and your brand message will ensure that everything you write, including your articles, blog posts and social media messages continues to portray a clear and consistent message.

When planning my content I know the topics I write/speak about (including branding, marketing and mindset) will help service-based business owners in getting noticed, hired and paid what they’re worth. This is a consistent message that I continue to share with my community therefore building my reputation as an expert in my field.

Q: What are the topics you are an expert in? Do these topics relate to one target market? Is your target market interested in this topic? How frequently will you connect with your audience?

4. Attract your ideal client

A strong brand and brand message will enable you to attract and speak directly to the needs of your ideal clients. It’s vital you understand the problems and issues your clients are experiencing and demonstrate that you have the solutions to support your clients in overcoming these problems once and for all.

My ideal clients are service-based businesses that have amazing value to offer their clients however continue to struggle with generating the level of income they desire. My clients can see that I provide a solution to their issues in my article/blog posts and videos/podcasts and when they’re ready to take action and generate the level of income they desire they know where to find me.

Q: Are your communications attracting your ideal client? If not, is your message focused on the needs of your target market? Are you explaining the benefits and results your clients will achieve through investing in you?

5. Create a unique brand that is difficult to copy

While your competitors may try to emulate what you are doing, it will be difficult to maintain because an authentic brand is one that is unique to you and very difficult to copy and maintain in a believable manner.

Q: What makes you unique? What qualities and characteristics do you possess that have enabled you to generate amazing outcomes and can become your promise of value to prospects? Remember, these things are unique to you and will become an important element in building a strong brand.

To start building a powerful and authentic brand, ensure you identify your unique qualities and strengths; communicate a clear and consistent message that speaks to the needs of your ideal client; and continue to showcase the value and benefits your clients will achieve through investing in you.

About the Author:

Annemarie Cross is a Branding Specialist and Business helping ambitious business owners to get noticed, hired and paid what they’re worth, INSTANTLY! Are you doing these 7 must-do business building strategies? Find out here: http://www.AnnemarieCross.com and access our free audio mini-series ‘7 Easy Steps to Build Your Brand, Your Biz, and Your Income.’

Article Contributed by Lisa Cherney

To stand out in today’s busy marketplace, you need to capitalize on what makes you as an individual unique. In other words, you don’t need to focus on the product or service, but on YOU, the owner, the CEO, the practitioner.

Your business is a direct reflection of you and you need to own your greatness and have that come through in your marketing. Even if you have 15,000 employees, you founded the company. It was your vision and your juice, so your energy needs to come out in your marketing.

So how do you capitalize on your uniqueness? Start by asking yourself this question: What do clients, friends and family compliment me on? This has nothing to do with testimonials; it’s a whole other layer. It’s capturing the essence of what people compliment you on and respect you for.

Why is this important? Because people want to know you and who they are doing business with. And your ideal clients have certain things they want to know about you.

I’m not just talking about your biography here. It’s more than that; it’s your story and what makes you unique and has you doing the work you are doing.

Here’s an example: If I’m looking for an acupuncturist, and I have a child who is dealing with asthma, and I read someone’s story who says something about that or something along those lines, I’m much more likely to give them my business.

One of the things I’ve really started to own and share is that I work part-time and spend Mondays and Fridays with my daughter being mom. And I’ve had the best year yet, tripling my income. That really resonates with a group of my ideal clients out there. They are moms and dads and think, “I want to work part-time and do that too.”

Think about how you can translate more of who you are into your marketing. If you are a small business owner and you’re not adding in the juicy layer of who you are, you are missing an opportunity. In this culture right now, it is more important than ever to own your greatness and stand out.

About the Author:

Lisa Cherney, a.k.a. the Juicy Marketing Expert, founded Conscious Marketing 12 years ago to help small business owners find their authentic marketing voice, attract their ideal clients and increase their sales. Following her own Stand Out & Be Juicy program, which centers on owning your unique self and laser-focus marketing, Lisa has tripled her income while working part-time.

Prior to Conscious Marketing, Lisa worked with many Fortune 500 companies, including AT&T, Lipton, Nissan, Blue Cross and Equal. She is a highly sought after speaker and often shares the stage with experts such as Jack Assaraf (The Secret), Jack Canfield and Jill Lublin. Learn more about Lisa at www.consciousmarketing.com or call 887-771-0156.

Article Contributed by Jeff Beals

Here we are in the first month of a new year. This is one of those years where many professionals are feeling more optimistic than they were at this time 12 months ago.

That’s refreshing. It’s a much better feeling than we had at the beginning of 2010. But while the stock market has been rising, tax cuts have been extended and business is picking up, these are far from ideal times. High unemployment persists, and the economy still has a cautious, uncertain feeling to it.

Today’s business environment remains somewhat perilous, but at the same time, there are great prospects for those who play their cards right. That’s why it is so important for you to build your personal brand and create opportunities.

Whether you want more/bigger clients or a better career opportunity, make a commitment to market yourself in 2011. To get you started, here are 10 items to consider:

Live actively and focus externally – Be active and involved outside your home or office. Show up at networking events. Go out of your way to talk to people when you are in public venues. Remember that 75% of all jobs are never advertised and a similar percentage of big clients only come from relationship-building.

Determine what is most interesting – You need an “area of self-marketing expertise,” something about your business or career that is fascinating to people outside your profession. Focus on this when you are networking or using social media.

Focus on results when networking – When you go to networking events, go in with a goal in mind. Sure, you should try to enjoy your conversations, but make it a mission to find a good lead or a golden opportunity.

Exploit social media – Don’t just have a presence on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube. Make sure you post material that is interesting and not just inane personal stuff. Use social media to strengthen your reputation by building on your area of self-marketing expertise.

Make people feel important – When you are talking to someone, make him or her feel like the only person in the world who matters to you at that moment. This will help you develop advocates, people you can count on when you need help.

Build your “Google trail” – Rest assured, that people are Googling you on a regular basis. A prospective client will probably Google you to know who he or she is dealing with before meeting with you. That’s why a Google trail is so important. If nothing or very little pops up when someone Google’s you, there’s a problem – they’ll assume you don’t have much going on. Therefore, Google your own name on a regular basis. If you’re not very visible on line, deliberately get your name out there to build an Internet presence.

Ask probing questions – Don’t just chit-chat and make small talk during networking conversations. Ask some questions designed to uncover the critical information that leads to new opportunities.

Refresh your elevator speech – Does your 20-second intro speech need updating? You need to be able to say what you do quickly, clearly and in a way that captures a person’s interest.

Listen to your clients and colleagues – When we get too busy, it’s easy to start making assumptions. Those assumptions can cause you to lose opportunities. Instead, ask the important questions and truly listen to the responses. Don’t just go through the motions. Let the other person’s words sink in and make an impression on your brain.

Never let up – When things are good, don’t let complacency stop you from perpetually marketing yourself. When things are going poorly, don’t let discouragement be an excuse for apathy.

About the Author:

Jeff Beals is an award-winning author, who helps professionals do more business and have a greater impact on the world through effective sales, marketing and personal branding techniques.  As a professional speaker, he delivers energetic and humorous keynote speeches and workshops to audiences worldwide.   You can learn more and follow his “Business Motivation Blog” at www.JeffBeals.com.