Posted by Stephanie on Apr 28, 2009 in
Small Business Marketing 
I just read a fantastic post about branding written by Jonathan Mead on the Lateral Action website. He describes branding as “being paid to exist,” which, when you think about it, is how people like Chris Brogan, Brian Clark, and others make their money. They write, people read them, and they get paid to speak. They get asked to “be” at certain places (and get paid for it, of course).
If branding has always been a confusing topic when it comes to your small business, check out Jonathan’s post. It’s quite fascinating. Here’s a little chunk of it:
“You don’t tell people why they want to be like you, or why they want to connect with you. You show them. It’s not about trying to win a popularity contest. It’s about boldly emitting the frequency that you resonate on. Sending the signal “This is what I’m about and why it matters.” When people pick up on that authentic wavelength, if they connect with it, they will naturally be drawn to you.”
This isn’t a mamby-pamby post, either. It gets down to the heart of the matter, of why you have a small business and why you work, because the “why” is an important part of your brand. He even takes you back to the cave-man days, and points out that the old reasons for working (like food and security) aren’t such a big deal anymore. We get food shipped in to us and we could get hit by a bus tomorrow, so who cares about security?
So why should we work? Passion. We should, as he puts it, “give a damn.” If we give a damn about what we do, if we are passionate, then we are halfway to being branded. There’s tons of good stuff in that post and I won’t spoil it for you by spilling all the beans here.
Go read Jonathan’s post and, by golly, give a damn!
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Photo credit: Give a damn: Banned Books Week 2008
Tags: small business branding
What’s Your Small Business Brand?
I love to dig through “how to” books, ebooks, and newsletters on marketing, especially online marketing. I’ve read a lot of pages about a lot of marketing topics, and one question I always comes away with is, “What the hell is small business branding, anyway?”
Small Business Branding from John Jantsch
Sure, I’ve read all the books about it, but when it comes to small business branding is a completely different animal than branding for an international conglomerate. I recently came across a great definition of branding from John Jantsch that is perfect for small businesses. He says:
“I like to define small business branding as the act of intentionally becoming more knowable, likable and trustable - in a way, much more aligned with how we might think about a personality.”
To me that makes a lot of sense. After all, we can readily identify people by their personalities. For instance, a friend asks you, “Do you know so-and-so?” If the person has a strong personality, they immediately come to mind, and you reply, “Oh yeah, he’s the guy with the bulldog personality.”
Small Business Branding in One Sentence
The same thing can happen around your small business brand. If you could define your small business brand in one sentence, what would you choose?
In my personal life I am a complete horse-freak. I haven’t found too many horses I can’t love. I read, watch, and inhale just about every horse-oriented piece of information I can find. As with any industry, certain businesses in the horse industry are well-branded and others are not. Here is a mixed bag of one-liners from the horse world. I have heard more than one person say about each of these businesses or business personalities (please note these do not necessarily reflect my own opinions):
Country Supply: “Wal-mart for horses, without the service”
Meredith Hodges: “That mule lady on RFD-TV who outsmarts mules”
Pat and Linda Parelli: “Great ground work … do their people ever get on?”
Fly Predators: “Those bugs that eat flies.”
Smart Pak Equine: “Supplements custom-made for me, the lazy horse person”
Notice how each of these one-liners is a statement about the degree to which each of these businesses or business personalities is “knowable, likable and trustable.” Some are knowable without being trustable (Country Supply) while others are knowable, likable, and trustable (Meredith Hodges). Some are just knowable, like the Fly Predators.
What is Your Small Business Brand?
If you could make a one-liner brand for your small business, what would it be? How could you shape it so that if reflected your brand’s ability to be known, liked, and trusted? How does this affect what your business does, how it offers products and services, to whom it business markets, and with whom your business is associated?
Got a hot small business brand? Something fun or quirky? Tell us in a comment!
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Photo credit: “So this mule walks into a bar …”
Tags: examples of small business branding, small business branding
