blockhead's Blog

Branding is a one hot topic, although it is wildly misunderstood. To make things even more confusing, branding is often tossed in the same basket as marketing which makes its application to an entrepreneur or sole-practioner even more unclear.

While out speaking on branding, the question that I hear most is 'How do I know if my business or service is brand material?' With businesses opening left and right, and more and more closing each year, I'm glad there are smart business owners open to understanding the issue.

If you've found yourself asking the same thing, don't worry you're not alone. Perhaps, this can shed some light.

At a recent luncheon, the same question came up again in a different way. I was seated next to an attorney whose sole practice focuses on elder abuse cases, he asked me in rapid succession (a manner that showed me he'd be great in court):

'Isn't branding for businesses that make a lot of stuff?' 'Doesn't branding apply only if you want to sell a lot of stuff?' 'Isn't branding pointless for my kind of business?'

Smiling, I fired back, 'yes, yes, and... no'.

Yes, branding is most often associated with businesses that make a lot of stuff. Yes, branding is advantageous if you want to sell a lot of stuff. No, branding is not pointless because every business makes something (or offers a service) and wants to sell it. Branding is about making your product or service known to as many potential customers as possible, consistently, with the most effective use of your time and money. Branding is about repeat business. Branding is about effortless referrals. Wouldn't that be a benefit to ANY business, especially yours?

To help you gain more brand-worthy clarity, ask yourself the following questions:

1. Am I really passionate about what I am doing with my business, service or product? And I mean REALLY! If not, is there something more you can be doing in it to turn your passion switch on? It takes an amazing amount of energy and persistence to make a business take hold in the customer's mind. With more and more businesses competing for headspace, it's imperative that you set yourself apart. If you are not cooking with the fuel that passion gives you, you're missing out on a very crucial element that could mean the difference between thriving and closing.

2. Do I have a big vision of my business, service or product? Do you dream of reaching lots of customers in different ways with your product or service? Do you see a way to deliver your product or service to an increasing amount of people with less and less effort? Did you create a mindset or special approach in your field that can be delivered in a variety of mediums, i.e.- speaking, books, audio CDs, consulting, etc. Do you envision moving beyond an hour-for-hour way of providing your service? All of these support a big vision. , Not only do we begin from the inside out, when approaching your brand, we create from where you will be in five years as if it is now. Small vision does just that, keeps you small. The choice is always yours.

3. Is my product or service a real benefit to lots of customers? It's important that you answer this one as honestly and openly as possible. I was very passionate and had a huge vision for a career as a mime! (Yes, you read that correctly... a mime.) However, no amount of passion and vision would make people buy it on a large scale. Thanks to Marceau Marceau, the mime card had been played out. You may find that by being truthful with your answers will lead to branding even better products and services.

4. Am I prepared to surround myself with a team or the knowledge to accomplish the business success that developing my business as a brand delivers? The plus side of being an entrepreneur is that you may wear many hats in your business. The negative side is that you feel like you have to! The truth is, you don't! You're an expert in your field and you need to honor that expertise by supporting it with a variety of other skill sets to make your indelible mark; logo design, copywriting, website design, your marketing plan creation and execution, and others. The important thing is that you realize...you're in command...because it's your ship! And being a commander takes knowing where you want to go, gathering the maps to make the journey, and the crew to make it happen.

If your answers to these questions are yes, then you have the makings to develop your business as a brand. You just need the knowledge and practice to do so. If you're shaky on some of the questions, find out why. Even if you never develop your business as a brand, solid yeses to these simple questions will only make your business more successful and more enjoyable. After all, isn't that we all want?

? Castle Montone, Limited All Rights Reserved.

Written by Kim Castle, the Co-founder of BrandU? ? the home of only step-by- step process for developing your business as a brand from the inside out!

To get information on upcoming BrandU one-day workshops: http:// www.whybrandu.com/Public/events/workshop/index.cfm?semID=13

Get your Why You?!(sm) monthly ezine for easy-to-read tips and informative insights on branding. To subscribe: http://www.whybrandu.com/

?BrandU? ? Big Business Success No Matter Your Size?

When you're all alone in the privacy of your home office, surrounded by your computer, your phone and your business idea, have you ever asked yourself, 'Where's the line between me?in my business and the business in me'?

With hundreds of thousands of home-based businesses starting every year, and few ever flourishing, the topic of branding has become hot, hot, hot. And thanks to experts touting the need for a personal brand?in sole proprietor businesses the confusion is growing. It's no wonder.? Business... personal... personal... business-- what IS the big difference any way?

Last week, I was guiding a client (a service-based sole practioner) through the same step-by-step process that I take every company (sole practioner, entrepreneur or a business of any size) through to develop their brand and I noticed that as we got deeper and deeper into the process, she was having more and more trouble coming up with answers.? ?The very answers that would separate her from other people engaged the same exact business and distinctly establish her brand.

In the middle of working on the most important step in the branding process-- the brand statement--I asked her the simple question, 'Why?does she do business she does?' she burst into tears. Halfway into the box of Kleenex she finally, revealed the most amazing answer as to why she was in her chosen field in the first place. Honestly, I think she stunned herself. We both sat silent for over a minute in awe of the power she had tapped into with her discovery. (Don't let anyone fool you, this is from where the true power of branding comes.)

Then doubt reared its ugly head and like a butterfly emerging from a new cocoon, a series of questions poured out of her: 'Is this my business or is it me?' 'Is why I do what I do really that important?' 'Why is it so hard for me to stand in the power of my business and really make something of it?'

You get the picture? You may even be standing in?a similar picture, even wrestling with the same questions yourself. Bless you if you're not.? Let's look at the difference between 'your business' and 'you the person' and see if we can clear up this question once and for all.

A business:?(be it Niketown or Bob's Shoe Bonanza) Delivers a product or service to fulfill a customer need. You: Deliver a product or service to fulfill a customer need.

A business: Establishes a certain value that a customer can rely on from every contact with their product or service. You: Establish a certain value that a customer can rely on from every contact with your product or service. (If not, get on it immediately!)

A business: Communicates consistently to reach the customers that have a need for their product or service. You: Communicate consistently to reach the customers that have a need for your product or service. (If not, what are you waiting for?)

A business: Enjoys a financial reward equal to the amount of customers that it serves, AND a personal reward for the creator/C.E.O. You: Enjoy a financial reward equal to the amount of customers that you serve AND YOU get to experience the personal reward yourself.

If you look at just these four basic, bottom-line points, the difference between a business and you as a sole business owner is... nothing; unless you count the added bonus of you getting a financial AND personal reward.

At the start of every single business, throughout history, there has never been a separation between the person starting it and the business itself. If you asked any business figure-head today, Bill Gates of Microsoft, or Jeff Bezos of Amazon.com, or if they took over a company like Meg Whitman for Ebay,?or Carly Fiorina for Hewlett- Packard, they would tell you that there is no difference in who 'they are' and what 'they bring' to their business. Why? Because there's no room for a difference.? It's the alignment that makes it possible to reach the highest of the heights.

It's challenging enough to make any business succeed. It's tough enough to make any business reside in the mind of a customer. Why would you remove the very power of 'you' in every shape and form from your business?! Why not every day do the thing that moves you the most?? ?You are the only thing that sets your business apart-- you just need a process of tapping into your power, connecting it? to your business, and a systematic way of communicating it to your customers over and over and over again.

When developing your amazing business as a brand, throw the doors wide open. Create it as you would if you were reaching millions.? ?You can always decide exactly how many millions later. Thinking of your brand as just a 'personal' one will do the opposite.? Keep it small.

If you work for yourself, be it your own business, network marketing, or even an agent/broker condition under a corporate umbrella, you are the CEO of your?business. Every CEO brings themselves personally to their business. The great ones bring every thing they are to their creation, every moment.

The majority of our lives are spent doing what we call work. As an entrepreneur or business owner, you have the wonderful opportunity to make it more. Make it your creation. Think of yourself as the Creator of an Entrepreneur Organization. When you wake up tomorrow, instead of saying to yourself, 'I'm going to work' say 'I'm going to create.' And the operative word is I'm. The true power of really making something in your business will come from investing in it the most valuable commodity you have-- you.

There is no separation on the road to big business success: just because you're personally on it. True big business success comes to those who know, it's not just?business-- it's personal too.

Written by Kim Castle, the Co-founder of BrandU? ? the home of only step-by- step process for developing your business as a brand from the inside out!

To get information on upcoming BrandU one-day workshops: http:// www.whybrandu.com/Public/events/workshop/index.cfm?semID=13

Get your Why You?!(sm) monthly ezine for easy-to-read tips and informative insights on branding. To subscribe: http://www.whybrandu.com/

?BrandU? ? Big Business Success No Matter Your Size?