911 Branding

Ed RoachWhen it comes to branding – small businesses in general assume a lot. They more or less figure that if money is coming in the door then everything must be alright. But is it? Do you have that nagging in your gut, that you simply aren’t performing to your potential? Maybe you’re not getting your fair share. Are you aware of what your brand actually stands for in the mind of your stake holders? What are you doing to distinguish your brand? Are your sales staff motivated and moving your brand higher? If you don’t know where your brand is right now or what it stands for, at least investigate what you can do about it.

911 Branding is my proprietary process that immediately addresses your brand anxiety. Working with a branding team comprising of your stake holders we determine your brand values, which are the foundation blocks of your brand and the brand personality which is the soul of your brand. Identifying these two attributes is the initial characteristics of any brand. Identifying them sets the tone in brand development.

One sure-fire way to motivate employees and especially sales staff is to give them reason to crow about your business. Many times, sales staff are tired of the same old marketing lines and don’t really believe that you need one more hook to get leads. They need to be the leader in their markets. The last thing you or sales people want is to solely compete on price. You want doors to open because of your strong brand perception not because you’re the cheap guy. 911 Branding’s advanced deliverable is the positioning strategy. Compete based on a leadership perspective. An effective positioning strategy’s sole aim is to resonate with your audience and to differentiate your brand. It is not a broad brush approach but a targeted one.

As an example of what I mean, take three of my clients’ positioning lines. Great Northern Hydroponics: “The ONLY tomatoes tested for taste”, Guardog Skate Guards: “Original Guardog – Anything else is a mutt” and Suntrition: “The LEADER in small-batch, oral-dose manufacturing”. In each case the positioning speaks directly to its target audience. Each is taking the high ground and boasting about it. Although bold, these statements reflect a real advantage that each of the businesses own. Their claims are genuine and defendable. A brand must be genuine to be of any use. Now your sales staff has a story to tell. NOW they can sell from a position of strength.

Validation of the results above is carried out by speaking directly with stake holders and getting their perceptions of the brand and see if they agree with our discoveries so far. This bit of research is key to being sure your brand is authentic. It tells us that we are headed in the true direction.

Rounding out 911 Branding, is an analysis of the competitions brand including their image and positions they hold. We also do a brand image audit of your company to see how consistent your brand image is. We are looking for inconsistencies that can cause your brand damage and cost you money. We wrap up the process establishing a proper brand standard that is adhered to by all stakeholders. 911 Branding also intends on establishing image elements that you can own and use as memorable brand icons such as colour. Much like UPS owns the colour brown.

911 Branding is my most comprehensive approach to branding and delivers in a big way. It gives you a clear perspective of where your corporate brand sits today and how it will move forward with a position of leadership that resonates with your customers. It delivers a knowledge and confidence that brings clarity to your brand.

7 thoughts on “911 Branding”

  1. Pingback: 911 Branding – Small Business Branding

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  3. Hi Cliff,

    I think you should add blogging to your marketing tool kit. I see you have an email harvester in your calculator product. Are you building a database and marketing to it weekly? I do this with my free weekly branding tips. eMail marketing allows you to speak to your niche audience. Off-line I highly recommend speaking engagements and networking events. Old school but they still are very effective. You have solutions in your name so I think you should live up to that by providing businesses with lots of free advice on your site.

    That large slideshow takes up a lot of room and says nothing. I would suggest an audio track outlining your benefits or at the very least text explaining same. I think your slogan is weak – say something that addresses how you can take away their (customers) pain.

    Your Twitter page has an egg for your avatar, I don’t get that. You should have your logo displayed on this page that is consistent with your site. Make the avatar appropriate everywhere. Determine what your brand is and live up to it. Every effort you put out should all lead back to your website where they can obtain some free information and you get their contact info to market to.

    Lead don’t follow,

    Ed

  4. Pingback: 911 Branding

  5. Ed, this was a great post. I do a marketing and branding and always welcome different perspectives. With as quick as thing change in todays market its hard to stay on top of new avenues to drive brand awareness. I would love to implement some of your processes.

    Thanks,

    Todd Skinner

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