This month's Business Trends is the second in a limited series about branding your business. Adding their experience and expertise to the discussion in this installment are Kae Groshong Wagner, founder and CEO of North Star Marketing and president of Inside Small Biz, and Vito Montone, co-creator of BrandU, with 30 years of business, product and marketing creation.
Given current economic uncertainties, is this really an appropriate time to launch a branding initiative or add to your company's existing branding efforts? Vito Montone acknowledged that although the natural inclination may be to cut back spending in the face of today's financial challenges, not doing anything really isn't an option. "Whether you realize it or not, your business is always branding itself," he said. Savvy business owners recognize this and actively direct their branding efforts.
"When you work on establishing your brand, there is a process to follow if you are going to be successful," Montone said. "The first step is to establish your mindset or philosophy. Business owners sometimes think that their brand is something outside themselves that they need to 'go get'. But the power of a brand is when the business 'owns' it and it comes from within," he said.
Kae Groshong Wagner agreed that, "It's a great time for small businesses to work on their brand," and cited several reasons:
Technology. There are numerous Web-based services available to help you improve your branding capabilities. Specific sites allow you to network, prospect or promote your business. Other sites allow you to hire low-cost independent contractors for specific jobs or projects.
Quick start/low cost. Web-based services typically require no special software or hardware, which means little to no additional cost for your business and almost immediate implementation.
Positioning. Historically, entities coming out of the downside of a business cycle that maintain or increase their publicity end up with a larger market share when the cycle turns.
Getting Help
Many business owners say that one of their biggest problems is finding the time to work on special projects like branding initiatives. "Owners with the best of intentions will start a campaign, but then get lost in the day-to-day work," Wagner said. "If you're not technically proficient, hire a service or an independent contractor to help." Students or interns are great candidates for this type of work; there also are Web sites dedicated to matching you and your project with the right freelance help.
Hiring a professional marketing consultant can be a daunting task. There are many choices, fees can be high, and most insurance people don't have much experience in this arena. Wagner suggests using a firm with prior experience in branding campaigns for the professional services sector. During your interviews, ask the consultants to tell you about the successes they have had with past clients and how they achieved them.
Montone emphasized that the consultant must be willing to listen to you; no one knows your business better than you do. You also should enlist the consultant's expertise in helping you develop your own communication skills.
"As an owner, you have rules for your business — accounting rules, sales rules, underwriting rules," said Montone. "In the same way, there are branding rules. We've spent our careers finding out what the creative process is and teaching business owners how to do it themselves."
Evaluating Results
Both Montone and Wagner emphasize that a successful branding campaign is quantifiable. Montone suggested measuring results by asking and answering two questions: First, do people think of you or your business when they are looking for these products? Second, when they think of you, what do they think? You can answer these questions by tracking inbound calls, Web site traffic, response rates, referrals, cross-sales, customer interviews, and the like.
Wagner emphasized the value of technology in the evaluation process. "Technology allows for a much quicker response than what has traditionally been available, and it is so easy to quantify the results," she noted. "Web traffic reports, for example, can be as specific as who visited a certain page, where did they go and for how long; e-mail logs can show who opened it, who read it, and, if it was forwarded, to whom." All of that information, if used properly, is very helpful as you analyze your efforts.
"The ultimate goal is growth," Wagner said. "I believe the pattern should be to first create awareness of the product or service, then provide a venue for customers to quickly express their interest. This will fill your pipeline with prospects and allow you to move the appropriate customers to sales."
A company's brand is much more than a logo. It is the collective experience of your customers and the public at large and how they think about and react to your company. The branding process can be time intensive, complex and costly. However, a few very achievable steps can help streamline that process and make results attainable for any business.
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