posted by Brenton on June 18th, 2010
When they asked Michelangelo how he went about crafting his masterpiece, the statue of David, he’s rumored to have said, “It’s easy! You chip away the stone that doesn’t resemble David.” This, essentially, captures the most difficult part of defining a brand.
The hardest part of defining the brand of your small business or non-profit organization is deciding what to leave in and what to chip off. There might be many problems your brand can solve and many target market possibilities. But the tendency of small businesses trying to tell people everything and hope something sticks just doesn’t work. I’ll let my post “Does Your Brand Need to Shed Weight?” fill you in on all the details.
Tips for defining a winning brand:
* Start with the mindset that less is more
* Remember that complexity is the enemy
* Shoot for simple
* Be strikingly clear and distinct.
* Lastly, liken your brand to the statue of David, a block of marble you must chip away at until the only thing remaining is the brand’s purest essence.
What do you think you should chipped off your brand to strengthen it? What extras add confusion currently?
I’ll leave you to think about it over the weekend. Remember to share you discoveries, and on Monday I’ll give you some suggestions of my own.
Tags: brand identity, capturing brand essence, defining a clear brand identity, tips for branding
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posted by admin on June 16th, 2010
Does this look familiar? Maybe a little bit like your brand?
Has your brand swelled so big that you’re now trying to offer everything to anyone? Businesses seem to be, more and more, adopting this “quantity” over “quality” idea (that they need to provide everything to their customers), but in essence they are diluting their brand. Because I’m seeing more and more of this in the businesses around town, I thought it was prime time to provide a helpful list of questions to help you determine if your brand is overweight. Here are the questions:
Do you keep adding new features, products and messages to your brand, but are you rarely cutting things out?
Are you in a market space that offers you no competitive advantage or ability to create value above and beyond the competition? Why do you stay in that space? What is occupying that space doing to your core business?
If you had to reduce your product line, your marketing copy, your team, your prospect list down to the 20% that generates 80% of your success, what would you chose to cut first, second?
When you answer these questions, write down what instantly comes to mind and share it with the rest of us. This way we can all learn and strengthen our branding initiatives together. I look forward to your insights.
~ Brenton Schmidt
Tags: brand advantage, brand identity, core marketing value, niche marketing, online marketing, web marketing
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posted by admin on May 27th, 2010
We all want purpose, to be the preferred choice, to have the admiration and attention of others—whether or not we admit it. That’s why our personal brand (in other words, how people think and feel about us) is so important.
Our personal brand is all about the reputation we’ve built. If positive, it should open the door of opportunity for us to do what we love. But it can also have the opposite effect.
I’d like to share the 7 Laws of Personal Branding that I learned from sales and personal development guru Brian Tracy, but I’ve put a bit of a marketing spin on them so they’re relevant and helpful to you.
1. Law of Specialization
If you needed to get in shape you’d seek out a personal trainer or a nutritionist, wouldn’t you? People naturally seek out experts because they offer professional insight. People want to be regarded as experts because they are in higher demand and can command higher rates. Within the marketing discipline there are many specialties—e.g., SEO (search engine optimization), Social Media marketing, email marketing, webinar marketing, etc. Obviously, if your name is backed by a highly desirable specialty; you can create a stronger brand identity.
Key question: In what areas that matter deeply to my customers and colleagues can I excel?
2. Law of Leadership
Marketing today is all about leading by example. So discovering your own leadership style is essential to strengthening your personal brand appeal. People naturally want connections to individuals with a clear and persuasive vision.
Ask yourself the following 3 questions to help pinpoint your brand identity and your purpose:
o Why would someone follow me?
o Where value can I offer?
o How will they be treated because of this association?
3. Law of Personality
Energetic and positive personalities are generally liked over bitter complainers. If your personality is unique and likeable; people will be drawn to you and relate to you more easily. When defining a personal brand, start by identifying your top 1-3 personality traits…the ones that make you likeable among your colleagues and customers.
Ask yourself: What aspects of my personality are liked and valued? What is my strongest personality trait, the one people would typically associate me with?
Well, that’s enough for today. Tomorrow I’ll share the final 4 Personal Branding Laws for Marketers.
~ Brenton Schmidt
Tags: brand identity, brand marketing, brand strategy, branding laws, Brian Tracy, web marketing
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One Calendar with Social Networking Powers
