What's Your Brand
Monday, February 7th, 2011
What’s your brand? Branding in small business can be the key to success. When marketing globally or locally, branding sets you apart. But there is much more to establishing a brand for yourself or your business than might at first meet the eye. In a world of infinite choices, it is one of the most important ways you can distinguish your business or yourself as an entrepreneur. Let the following roundup be your guide to the art and science branding for your small business.
Personal Branding
How to brand yourself in the workplace. Who needs a business to create a brand. A personal brand that communicates to others who you are and what you stand for is something that can benefit those working in many fields. Here’s just one example of how personal branding can be used to set you apart in the workplace in the same way a business might use the process to brand a product or service. Karen Keller
Personal branding social media style. This guest post from small business news social media site BizSugar.com looks at the use of social media in establishing personal branding. Obviously, the same techniques could be used (and are used everyday) by small business to establish a powerful brand with which customers can immediate identify. How are you using social media to establish your personal branding? The Personal Branding Blog
Trends
Social media key to even the biggest brands. Maybe the first step in understanding how branding has changed is to understand how the new tools of social media has put large and small brands on the same level playing field. A look at how the largest most traditional brands have abandon traditional media in favor of social media campaigns demonstrates how important these tools are for branding in general. And all are easily within your reach. BrandChannel
Branding your business with a strong Website. Nowadays, a great brand can come down to a great Website especially for businesses run strictly online. Perhaps the most important aspect of that branding process, says business coach Joyce Oladipo, is the picking out of a domain name. Remember, if your business is primarily online, this means your Website really is your brand. Treat it as such. The Wealthy Entrepreneur’s Journey
Strategy
Three big picture branding ideas. Sometimes people who talk small business branding get pretty darn specific when it comes to giving you advice. Here instead is big picture branding advice. REALLY BIG. In terms of the basic ideas you should always have in mind when thinking about branding your small business, this post is a great overview. CIK Marketing
Facebook as a flexible branding tool. If social media is indeed one of the chiefest forms of new business branding, especially for small businesses with limited budgets, than certainly Facebook, arguably the king of social media sites at the moment, may be among the most flexible. Here’s a look at how it can work for branding your business. Winning Workplaces
Philosophy
Why small businesses need branding too. Does your small business need an identity? Does it need to stand apart and on its own so that partners, suppliers, clients and customers will remember and come to you instead of your to your competitors. If the answers to any of these questions is yes, than you already know the answer to these questions, you already know the answers. Noobpreneur
The art of differentiation. Everywhere you look, in blog posts, at seminars in business books you will hear it repeated over and over again. Branding, branding branding. Your business needs it but why. Philip Kotler, professor at the Kellogg School of Management, explains that without a brand you are a commodity and lowest price is the only winner. Branding is the art of differentiation and in this case the business that is different will win. Dwayne Flinchum
Tips
Three secrets for effective branding. Brad Harmon has ‘em so read ‘em here. Creating an effective brand for your business (a digital foot print is what Brad calls it, if you’re talking about branding online) can be a complex undertaking involving many factors, but this list boils your task down to a couple of simple things. Improve your small business branding today! Big Feet Marketing
Branding as competition. One of the most surprising things for some business to realize is that branding is not simply a buzz word. It’s an awesome world changing concept that transforms any business into a sought after brand. The post here is about the construction industry, but read it and imagine how it could apply to many other businesses and how branding could transform them forever. Construction Marketing UK Blog
