Thinking About Brand

Establishing a "brand" is a surprisingly difficult assignment for any business.  When I talk with business owners about their brand, I get a fair amount of "well-I-think-get-it" nods but it is all too clear many don't have a handle on it.  And that's okay.  It's hard.

We understand good brands at a visceral level.  Either the business name and/or logo instantly convey certain images, values, or product.  It's more than top-of-mind-awareness: we expect that business to deliver a certain product or service at a certain quality level, within a certain ambience, within a certain customer service level.  For example, our friends at Apple have a high end brand.  We expect them to deliver a sleek, innovative product (one that works well), at a pretty high price point.

How do we, as small business people, think about our brand?  how can we build a good brand?  I don't think we can simply invent any brand we imagine.  So much of our brand is going to be bound up in the kind of people we are: how we treat our clients and customers, how attentive we are to the little things, how quickly we can supply a product and service.  When I counsel others I advise that what they are and do is going to be the framework of their brand.  If there is weakness, it needs to be proactively and assiduously addressed!  As hard as it is to hear, every word one says can influence a brand!

A lot of your brand is going to be conveyed passively by your advertising and promotion.  The look and feel will give prospects a strong sense of whether you are a professional or a schlub.  Is the logo classy? is the body text attractive?  are images clean and exciting? is your web site informative or dull?  All of these questions must be asked before you commit to placing something before the public.  Asking others can rescue disasters-in-the-making.

If we boil it all down to a nutshell, brand is going to be about who we are and what we do.  And our success hinges on leaving the impression that will reassure a prospect.  And no amount of razzle dazzle can or will make up for that.