Branding - and Your business

*today’s post is also the first article in my new free subscription newsletter: LindasBusiness Newsletter.  It is being published online monthly with the first issue out today.  For a free subscription, go to the Newsletter section in the right hand side bar and follow the link.*

 

Branding…an ancient practice of applying a unique mark on property that identifies that property as belonging to a specific person or group of persons

 

Branding…a visual tool identifying – through the use of symbols – the uniqueness of a grouping of products or services to a specific individual or conglomerate entity

 

Branding…something you or I might do to align or identify ourselves with a unique product, company name or service.

                                                    

“Branding is important in the business world because it is the marketing message that is conveyed about your company based on the experiences that people have with you and your company.  If you are a sole proprietor, you are the brand – every interaction and experience you have communicates to your clients an element of your brand.  If you have a team and/or are part of a larger company, then every time your team members interact with clients they are providing an experience of your company’s brand.  Because of this experiential element, it is critical that every team member understand the impact of their customer experiences on the company brand so they can choose to interact in ways that support the company’s values and mission, as well as the value delivered to clients!” — Cheryl Mann, President Goals InSight, Inc. (510) 482-8987 www.goalsinsight.com ~ cheryl@goalsinsight.com Facilitation & Workshops for Organizational Team Building, Goal Setting and Business Strategy

Branding means different things to different people.  An athlete who is a success in his or her sport may sell the licensing rights to their name to the maker of an athletic shoe maker hence allowing that shoe maker to “brand” that person’s name as an identifier of value for the shoe maker.  People who purchase the shoes “brand” themselves by wearing those shoes, thus giving themselves added value in the eyes of themselves and their peers.

Branding is an assigned value.  You may choose to use identifying symbols so that people will know, at a glance, who and what you represent.  You may decide this has value because the symbols themselves impart value that is known in the marketplace.

“Business is conducted in the context of relationships.  Relationships exist in the context of community.  The cornerstone of a community is common language and symbols.  Symbols are more powerful in a community than language.  Your brand is your symbol for the value you offer the community.  Branding is about positioning your brand so that it is part of the common language of the community.”  - Brian Lee, Senior Chief Principal Organization Transformation Management, Delegata - 2495 Natomas Park Dr., Suite 200, Sacramento, CA 95833  (916) 609.5457 office - www.delegata.com

 

Branding has relevance for the small, and home-based business owner – as much so as for the large global conglomerate.  Your brand can also be you.

“Case in point, many years ago, in the small town I live in, a young man who owned a small gas station/car repair shop took a chance on me and agreed to allow me to pay this rather huge (in my opinion) repair bill on my car in monthly installments. None of the other repair shops were interested in my terms. That young man has aged (as we all do) and as life will have it, closed his own shop and went on to work for others. I have followed him. Wherever he is so am I. I don’t care what the name of the garage is or what name is on the gas, I have become and always will be his loyal customer. He branded himself that day and the company name didn’t and still doesn’t matter.” - Joyce Penner  - Coach, Mentor and Trainer -  www.myspace.com/mlmmentoring

Branding is a way to allow people to know and remember who you are and/or what your product or service is.  If you have signs on your car, wear a cap with a logo, a shirt with a logo, use a coffee cup with a slogan…how you do business, how you conduct your business will all be reflected in the visual brands/symbols that people see and associate with you. 

“Question: How do you create name and brand recognition in an attention deficit world? It doesn’t matter if people don’t remember where they heard about you, the important thing is that they have heard of you.  And, sometimes just the notion is enough.  It’s sort of like recognition by association.  Sometimes if your name or brand is bantered around enough, people become convinced that they’ve heard of you even when they really haven’t.  Your name or brand has simply become acceptable as an “everyday” item.  How do you create your name recognition?  Passionate Repetition!  Treat each opportunity to be seen and heard as if it were the first time.” - Lorraine Lee Rinker, Principal, Rinker and Associates - Real World Career Strategies, 916-952-9938 www.rwcs.biz  PO Box 4513, El Dorado Hills, CA 95762

In a world where online/internet business has become part-and-parcel of daily commerce, branding can be integrated into an email signature and a logo on a website.

Branding…a business tool of value.

My Olympic-size hurrah!

Like most people, I love watching the Olympics.  I love swimming, diving and track and field events the best with men’s gymnastics right behind that.  At our home we don’t watch television, so we’ve had to watch the highlights of each event via internet…but I’m telling you, that doesn’t diminish the excitement one bit!

Watching Michael Phelps throw his arms up in the air and holler in triumph as the team won gold was awesome.  Nearly as much as watching his mother in the stands doing the same thing!  Celebrating victory…feels very good.

This is a blog about business and I can tell you that there are moments in a business where you can throw your arms up and yell a loud “hurrah!”  You landed a contract, you got an important sale, you signed a new distributor, you got a thank-you note from an associate…these are all things to celebrate.

I’m on the road to Gold in my business, just as the athletes in Beijing are on the road to Gold in their sports events.  And when it happens…HURRAH!

7½ things to do in business today

1.      Visualize your success.  Have you defined it?  Do you know where you want to be in 5 years?  10 years?  What does success look like to you?

 

2.      Take 20 minutes to look through your “dream book” or look over your “dream board.”  You don’t have one?  Then how do you know where you are going and what you are working for?  A scrapbook or bulletin board is a great place to put clippings from travel magazines, new home flyers, information about gadgets and cars you’d like to have and causes to which you’d like to contribute.

 

3.      Review your goals for 15 minutes.  Are your goals [measurable milestone markers] in line with your dreams and aspirations?  Are your goals indeed measurable?  How will you know when you have achieved one?

 

4.      Spend 10 minutes being grateful.  Fill your mind and heart with gratitude that you have been given health, intelligence, support, encouragement, financial assistance…whatever has come your way to get you where you are in your business right now.

 

5.      Send a note to 2 customers thanking them for their patronage.  Without your customers…their goodwill…their repeat orders…and their referrals…your business goes nowhere.  Somewhere along the way in the 21^st century, the “niceties” of saying “please” and “thank you” and “you are appreciated” have fallen by the wayside.  It’s time to pick them up and make them added values of doing business.

 

6.      Have coffee with a business associate and ask them how they are doing.  Don’t talk about yourself or your business at all…give that person your full attention.  This associate could be an employee or a downline member of your team. 

 

7.      Give yourself an attitude adjustment.  Do you take a “half full” or “half empty” approach to your business and your life in general?  Remember this: whatever attitude you wear, others see and respond to.  An attitude that tends to the negative will draw that in return.  Is that the vision of your business you want others to see?  An attitude of positive, of winning, of “can do” will draw that to your business…and therein lies success.

 

7 ½.  Smile all day today.

How do you see your business?

Are you a home-based business person?  Are you home-based but travel often?  Are you home-based half the time and in a satellite office the other half?

Are you a business owner or does your business own you?

If you are the owner of a home-based business, do you see your business as “small?”  OR do you see your business as BIG?

Are you in an internet retail business where your customers find your products online?  Do you consider this business to be a small, part-time hobby, or do you see it as a major enterprise?

Is your business a home-based network marketing business and you are an independent contractor, an independent distributor?  Have you realized that this means you own your business?  Do you see it as a small, part-time it-helps-with-the-mortgage business?  OR do you see its ultimate potential to set you free financially?

These are serious questions for anyone with a home-based business. 

My business is home-based and it is a big business.  I’m always looking for people to team with who are ambitious, trustworthy, willing to work and willing to learn.  My aim is to have an international business.

What is your aim for your business and how do you view it?

A bit of poetry in a business day

One of the pleasures of having a home-based business is being able to choose  the background music.  No “elevator music” here.  There are no employees to have to contend with who might not like the choice of music; no customers who will complain of the choice, or remark it’s too loud or too low to hear.

What is wonderful about being a business owner with a home-based business is being able to sit at your desk drinking your favorite soda - Jarritos brand, Tamarind flavor [which I discovered at the little Mexican cafe about two blocks from my home...and again at my local Safeway].  This is a great product at a great price. 

While drinking my favorite soda and listening to one of my favorite cds: soundtrack to the movie, “Memoirs of a Geisha,”  [the solos by Yo-Yo Ma [cello] and Itzhak Perlman [violin] are achingly beautiful] I can work in poetic bliss.  How many business owners can say this?

What are some of the side benefits of your choice of business?

Importance of Networking

Much is being made lately of “networking” on the internet to further your business aims.  That sounds pretty good, but what is networking?

One of my favorite “go-to-his-books” resources for business information is Jeffrey Gitomer.  His “Jeffrey Gitomer’s Little Black Book of Connections: 6.5 Assets for Networking Your Way to Rich Relationships” has some very insightful gems. 

On page 97, Jeffrey gives a “Universal Truth of Connecting:  The question you have to ask yourself is: How can I make people better as a result of connecting with me?  Note well: This is not just a strategy to connect at a networking event, this is a strategy to connect with anyone, anywhere, at any time.”

I believe an important truth in business is that people – in general – like to do business with people they know and like.  Knowing and liking leads to trust and respect.  And, isn’t networking, or connecting, all about building relationships of trust and respect?

In looking into this further, I came across the Stanford [University in Palo Alto, CA] Technology Ventures Program.  I suggest following the link I associated with the title and you’ll find a wealth of information.  In particular I came across a talk given by the executive director, Tina Seelig, Ph.D. that she had done in 2006 [the video is archived here: http://edcorner.stanford.edu/authorMaterialInfo.html?mid=1471 ]; she talks about making “sure that the relationships you build are ones you are proud of…and will not come back to bite you in the behind.”  Well said!

With the proliferation of online networking sites, and the continuing practice of real world networking events [everything from trade shows to chamber of commerce mixers] the idea is to connect with people, establish relationships over time, and as Jeffrey Gitomer suggests you ask yourself: “How can I make people better as a result of connecting with me?”

This question, this idea of networking and connecting is valid and important whether you are attempting to network in the virtual or real world, or whether your business is a one-person home-based business or a multi-country global conglomerate.

***Tina Seelig, Ph.D. is the Executive Director for the Stanford Technology Ventures Program where she is responsible for strategic planning, operations, and outreach efforts of STVP. In addition, Tina is the Director of the Stanford Entrepreneurship Network and the co-Director of the Mayfield Fellows Program.

Take a reporter’s eye-view of your business

When I was younger and thought I was Lois Lane of the Daily Planet, I worked as a newspaper reporter.  Point of fact, I worked at two separate newspapers at different times…both small weeklies.  In both I covered community news, lifestyle news and once in a while, “breaking news.”  Regardless of its category, every story needed the Who, What, When, Where, How  and Why.

 

Have you ever thought of looking at your business  in this fashion?  Could be instructive, and it doesn’t matter if you are the CEO of a mega-corporation, or the owner of a home-based network marketing business, your answers might surprise you.

 

Who:  who runs your company?  Who is your business about?  Who benefits from your products or services?  Who benefits from your business’s daily operations and in what ways?  Who are your customers?  Who are your direct competitors?  Who matters the most to you in your business?

 

What:  what is your product or service?  What value does/do your product(s)/service(s) have?  What does your business give back to your community?  What does your choice of business vehicle say about you and your life choices?  What is your business supposed to do for you?  What are your dreams?

 

When:  is the timing right for your business?  Is now the time to expand?  Is it time to go global?  Is it time to diversify?  Is it time to downsize?  When are you available to your customers?  When do you find time for yourself and your family?

 

Where:  where are you located?  Is an internet presence appropriate?  Is a local presence appropriate?  Where will you hold meetings? Where can customers find you?  Where are you going in the future with your business? 

 

How:  how will you take the next step of growth?  How do you know you are meeting your customers’ needs?  If you have them, how do you know you are meeting the needs of your employees?  How do you measure milestones?  How do you know you are keeping to your business plan? 

 

Why:  why did you choose the business vehicle you have?  Why are you working so hard?  Why should your customers care about your products/services or opportunity? 

 

A reporter’s eye-view of your business can be revealing and informative.

Here’s a poll: looking for answers

If you were to sit down tonight and say to yourself: I want to start a home-based, internet-based business, what would I need start-up money for?  What don’t I have that I would need to get?

Here’s a poll asking that very question:  - I hope you’ll take a moment and fill it out.  I’ll publish results next month.

Just what is it you believe about your business?

Belief is one of those things you either do or don’t do.  Either you believe the earth is round or you don’t.  Often we believe something even when empirical evidence would convince us otherwise.  Sometimes we believe because not to is not a good alternative.  

What do you believe about your business?  Is it possible for you to believe your success possible before the evidence is available for anyone else to see? 

Many people with a home-based business, or a very small brick-n-mortar business with 1 to 5 employees, find that belief is a necessary business staple.  You had to believe your business idea was a sound one to begin with.  You had to believe that it was possible for you to do the business…that you were the right person at the right time with the right qualifications.

You had to believe that success would come in measurable amounts so that once you reached one milestone you could continue on to the next.   You had to believe that your “gut instinct” was sound  when you went with marketing plan A over plan B.  And you have to continue to believe that the business plan you crafted will get you through the challenging times as well as the good times.

There are many small and home-based business people right now counting on their belief  in their businesses to get them through the tough financial times facing us all right now.  “Gut instincts” play a huge roll: do you raise your prices because your supplier raised his prices because gasoline prices are so high?  Do you believe in yourself and your decision-making abilities enough to make some hard choices?  Do you downsize or do you take a chance and put more into advertising?

Belief is a huge asset in business.

Is business all about location?

The cliched saying in real estate is “location, location, location.”  That could be true or not, depending upon the location!  Donald Trump is putting up a new building in Waikiki and it is revitalizing an area that had declined…so in this case, location is everything. 

Another location worthy of discussion is the World Wide Web, better known as the Internet.  There is a new cool search engine that just started call Cuil [pronounced cool].  I put the www. into my browser and there it is, a shiny, new site window.  Then I search for Trump Plaza, and yep, this is a new search engine.  It’s location?  The Internet.  Location is everything in cyberspace.

What if you are a business on Main Street, in Tourist Town and you sell candle-making supplies.  Let’s suppose your town is a tourist destination, so besides candle-making supplies, you also sell a variety of finished candles.  Because your town is a tourist destination you probably chose the location on Main Street for your shop that would be convenient for tourist foot-traffic.  Physical location is important in this case.

What about your location on the Internet?  Isn’t this location also important to a candle-making supplies business located in Tourist Town?  Can you afford NOT to be located on the World Wide Web?  What would you need?  A website that offers a catalogue of products that can be ordered and shipped via the site.  You could have a blog that talks about how to make candles, how to display candles, what candles would make good gifts for which occasions.  You could even offer a free subscription to a monthly newsletter  to fans of candle making.  You could utilize an online newsletter and autoresponder service to take care of the newsletter. 

As a business owner you could locate yourself  in a business social marketing site like FaceBook or LinkedIn as a way of promoting both your physical store in Tourist Town and your web-based store on the internet.  Your “location” in the social marketing site gives you added exposure.

Location, location, location…it’s not just your snail mail address anymore.