Branding (Rm 105)
TOPICS
How to create a brand?
Define branding?
Why do you need a brand?
Branding product lines
Controlling your brand
Personal branding/corporate branding
Using your brand (elements)
When to bring in outside help?
FORMAT
Group facilitator Rue Smith (RFI Marketing) @RueSmith
1. Definition of branding:
A brand – Perception of your company, both visually and community and interaction, perception of value
Branding – “Making sure the outside perception of your company and inside reality are equal or close to equal.”
Wiki Def: a personality that identifies a product, how everything you do in your business reflects outward
Note: There are differences in branding between service v. product company
2. Why we brand:
What you stand for and how you stand out in the market place, personality, creditability.
The example of branding cattle – I own this cow, I own this particular segment of the marketplace. Addition, the “value perception” in that particular segment of the marketplace.
3. What/how do we brand:
As freelancers we brand ourselves… everything.
Your brand speaks when you stand in front of someone or a crowd. “My brand story is being shared with all of you when I opened freelance camp through direction action,” ~Kevin Buecher
Not only actions, but prior actions, create a brand.
Know yourself, you are your brand.
Marketing is knowing your audience, branding is knowing yourself.
Cultural analysis: New generation not trying to fill market needs, but are finding what who they are/what they want to do and creating a need for it in the market.
Book recommendation: “Flip” by Peter Sheahan RESOURCE book on Gen Y
Brand comes before market (in Rue’s opinion).
How Rue would help his client brand their company – the questions he would ask?
1. What are your unique selling points USP / value
2. What is your niche
3. What is your unique culture (examples New Belgium, Zappos)
4. Use 5 words to describe yourself and then 5 words to describe your business – find out where they converge and then move forward from there.
Things to keep in mind when branding:
Social cultural awareness
Delivery of value
Simplicity of message/defining message
Consistency across the brand
Controlling your brand:
Consistent messaging
Understanding what your market wants/giving them a deliverable
In every interaction, answer the needs of clients
How do you promote your personal brand?
Evolving brands/controlling it while it evolves
Ocam Razor RESOURCE
Top 3 pieces of advice for someone with an established brand to kick it up a notch, take it to the next level -
Box tiers:
1. Understanding who you are and what you are (promotion)
2. How you interact?
3. Advanced, industry specific things that you are doing
(examples, sponsoring events and volunteerism with target market)
“If the event doesn’t exist, build it,” Nick Armstrong
Simplicity discussion –
Spreading marketing, spreading brand
Is it possible to go too wide?
Okay if it stays within a certain
Diversifying your market.
Utilizing elements of your brand (specifically your identity):
Make sure you are using multiple avenues, but that they all point to the specific element of your brand.
Pick a primary target for people to hit when they recognize your brand, possibly a Web site.
Smashing Magazine article “20 best resources for branding guides” RESOURCE
*Link being tweeted by Ron & @RueSmith.
Advanced topic – consistency of message
Example: Blackberry logo
“A Branding Guide is absolutely necessary for every new business,” Rue Smith.
A company that did a really good job of putting in their values into their brand and making it pretty for the public is LuLu Limon (yoga company) manifesto. RESOURCE
People who mind, don’t matter, it’s the people who don’t mind who matter.
Kevin Kelly’s discussion of true fans RESOURCE
Seth Godin “Tribes” RESOURCE
“Rework” by Jason Fried RESOURCE
Interesting question that came up during discussion: As we are building teams and collaborating, how do we do this with all our separate brands?
