Successfully Brand Your Business

Every successful entrepreneur and business has a BRAND, The one thing you must have if you want to be successful is Branding that is consistent with you and your business.

Branding separates you from your competition and gives you credibility. It's what makes people want to tell other people about you, and makes them want to invest and buy from you again and again. Without branding businesses cannot survive.

Your Visibility is more important than your ability. It is important to be visible. To increase your visibility Branding is important to the recognition of your business. People need to know who you are, remember you, prefer to buy from you and refer other people to you. See the following and you should aim for Brand Insistence and Brand Advocacy.

a. Brand Awareness - they know your name
b. Brand preference – prefer to use you when possiblec. Brand insistence – will only buy your product or service
d. Brand advocacy – they tell other people about you

Develop a strong Logo and a Slogan for your business using something that is memorable so people will remember the name.

It's important to control your Brand. A lack of brand control is like having no-one at the steering wheel when driving. You need to control your Brand.

1) Your Brand is whatever people's first impression is of you.

2) A Brand should be consistent

3) A Brand should be congruent – everything in your business should be in line with your Brand

4) A Brand creates loyal clients

5) A Brand should make the clients feel they are getting value

6. A Brand should invoke an emotional experience

6) A Brand should be something people can relate to

Points your want you need to consider when Branding
a. Profitability - will your Brand help you become profitable
b. Marketability – is your Brand something you can Market
c. Credibility – is your Brand Credible
d. Visability - how will you make your Brand visible
e. Invisability – you need to ensure you stand out and your Brand is not invisible
f. Instability – does your Brand invoke stability

For long term Brand Equity consider the following:
1. The money required to Brand yourself
2. How to Brand yourself
3. What to Brand
4. Is your Brand consistent and congruent with you and your business
5. When you look in the mirror is it something you can relate to

Brand considerations:
Personal Branding (remember your Brand is a representation of yourself)
Brand Association (Brand your business so it is congruent with your personal Branding)
Brand Innovation (is your Brand different and innovative)
Brand Credibility (is your Brand credible so it is perceived as positive by your prospects)
Branding is difficult to do
Each time a client buys or invests in you, you have correctly Branded yourself
Branding is a Creative Art
Branding requires presentation, persuasive selling and negotiation
When a person is Branded they create their own mark
Analyzing your prospective clients motivation to buy is key to building your Brand
Branding by message control – Be sure that you control the message you are putting out.

Reasons people will buy from you.
1. they have a problem you can solve for them
2. they have a problem or need but are not sure if it can be solved
(Brand to convince them that you are the authority – not just an expert )
3. The person has zero need for your product or service but you convince them they need it
4. People will buy from you to alleviate dissatisfaction with another product or service
5. You promote your product or service to whatever they currently have – this is Brand positioning
6. You overcome their fear of change and persuade them to step outside of their comfort zone - having a Brand gives them peace of mind
7. You Brand yourself as a natural extension to their lives. A compliment rather than a disruptive change.

Basic Branding Rules:
1. The customer is always right
2. When in doubt refer back to number 1

There is a difference between needs and wants
There are 5 basic fears preventing people from taking action. A Branded individual, product or service can overcome these.
a. Fear
b. Procrastination or lack of focus
c. Lack of Education
d. Time Management
e. Accountability

Successful businesses talk about what they “can” do for the client, the average business talks about what “it is” they can do for the client. Brand to the WIFM formula and take care of the SO WHAT.

People will buy the brand rather than the product. Your reputation is linked directly to your Brand.i.e Brand Labeled Handbags, Clothing, Shoes, Coffee shops, Restaurants and more.

People do business with you not because you have the best product but because they like and trust you. This is something you cannot buy.

People don't buy car insurance they buy security. Branding gives people a sense of security.

When Branding it's important to understand the primary and secondary influences.
a. Primary – reasons they buy without thinking
b. Secondary – these are excuses and reasons people rationalize why they shouldn't buy

All buying decisions are emotional, rarely logical. People will invest logically but buy emotionally. Your Branding needs to set up the framework to match this.

You need to understand the left versus the right brain decision making. Left brains think rationally, numbers etc. the right brain person thinks artistically and creatively (45% left brained, 45% right brained and 10% both) Build your Brand so it appeals to both left and right brained people – it will be your key to success.

Find the emotional red button that would make people buy your product or service and build your Brand around it. The best way to do this is to create Branding surveys so you are asking your prospective customer directly.

6 Ways to Brand yourself.
1. Brand by Achievement
2. Brand by Association
3. Brand by authoring a book
4. Brand by reciprocation
5. Brand by 3rd Party recognition
6. Brand by Charitable donation

Always under promise and over deliver

Launch your Brand then link all elements of your business and any other businesses you have to that Brand. There should be congruency throughout your business so everything relates to everything else.

In other words your signage, websites, stationery, business cards and everything in your business should reflect your logo and slogan and have the same colors and text so they are uniform and people will remember you. It is best NOT to use your name in the Brand.

Appearance is also a key element, you should dress according to the type of business you are in, and the type of image you wish to portray. Remember your appearance reflects your business, so dress accordingly in congruence with your business.

Using Hotmail, Gmail and other similar generic email addresses does not give status to your business, Use email addresses that reflect your business, preferably the same email address as your website. Before using your first name in email addresses consider that first names in email addresses tend to indicate a small company. If you are looking to appear as a big company use something more corporate.

Branding isn't easy but if you master it your business will become recognized and successful.