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Many
business owners think that salesmanship and marketing
are enough to succeed in business. Bzzzt! Wrong
answer! There's another level to which all businesses
should aspire: Creating a brand.
Branding
is not marketing. Rather it is an integral part
of your marketing strategy. It's also an important
part of how you interact with clients, prospects,
vendors, employees, and anyone else with whom you
come in contact. Branding creates an identity. And,
as Robin Fisher Roffer points out in her excellent
book Make A Name For Yourself (Broadway Books),
"if you don't brand yourself, someone else
will" (p. 2). You may not like their brand,
so best to create your own.
Proper
branding creates loyalty. For example, what soda
do you drink? What supermarket do you use? What's
your favorite brand of gasoline? Take this exercise
a step further. What image comes to mind when you
think of the Sears? Neiman Marcus? Wal-Mart? Chances
are that, unless you've had a bad experience at
one of these stores, your perception is a result
of branding strategy.
An
excellent example of branding is a painting business
with whom we worked. Their main goal was to become
known as the highest-quality painters in their area
so they could work in the upper-income subdivisions.
When the two brothers were first starting out, however,
they were tempted to cut corners in order to offer
lower prices. This would have been inconsistent
with their goal, and we encouraged them to avoid
this tactic.
It
wasn't easy to lose bids to competitors who were
using low-quality materials and skipping steps,
but the two stood firm and it paid off in the end.
Within a few months, they won several contracts
in an upper-market subdivision through referrals
from a local realtor. Today, almost a decade later,
they still have a crew in that subdivision, painting
one house after another. They may never get that
crew out of there because their company is known
throughout the neighborhood as "not the cheapest,
just the best." They have achieved their goal
by remaining true to it, and by creating a strong
brand.
Here's
another example of branding, taken from my career
as a professional musician and bandleader. Few musicians
realize the importance of a total branding strategy.
They worry about how their listeners will perceive
them, often spending exorbitant amounts of money
on image enhancements: costumes, stage equipment,
T-shirts, posters and more. Yes, as a bandleader
I do many of those same things. But we also went
a step further and created a branding strategy for
the agents, club owners, and other buyers of our
services.
We
were diligent in our efforts to be known as the
easiest band in our region to work with. Especially
in the early days, it was crucial to our success.
We may not have had a huge following (yet!) but
we always showed up on time, did everything asked
of us, treated the staff with utmost respect, and
- perhaps most important of all - we were loaded
up and out the door less than thirty minutes after
the last song. We quickly developed a reputation
as an extremely professional unit, one that could
be counted on.
As
time went on, our following naturally grew. But
what got everything started was the respect we cultivated
from the buyers. They were willing to give us the
chance to win over their customers because they
appreciated our professionalism, especially when
compared with how other bands ran the business side
of their operation. The club employees became our
best cheerleaders because we worked hard to earn
their respect. That is well-executed branding in
action. Later, when my guitarist left unexpectedly,
forcing me to replace him with no notice to our
employers and our fans, both sets of customers continued
to support the band because of the loyalty we had
created through branding.
If
a band can use branding to increase business, and therefore
profits, imagine what you can do by creating a branding
strategy. If you already have a strong marketing program,
branding will enhance it. If you are just beginning to create
a one, branding will make it better. It doesn't matter what
business you're in; branding can, and should, be an integral
part of your success.
Permission
to Reprint
Permission
is hereby granted to use this article for e-zines and web sites, as long as
the complete following statement is included at the beginning or end of the
article:
Lane Baldwin
is an authority on humanistic management and servant-leadership. During his
twenty-five year career, he has worked with businesses of all sizes - from mom-&-pop
shops to Fortune 500 companies - helping them increase profits, enhance customer
and employee retention, and enjoy greater fulfillment at work. If you're ready
to push your businesses into overdrive, learn more at LaneBaldwin.com.
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