Lately I’ve been seeing a fair amount of branding seminars geared towards small business owners. Enticing them with flashy content and promising that their small business will succeed if only they polish their small business image.
While that’s all good and actually a large part of what I do with my customers – it’s only one part of many in branding.
In the world of business, people are willing to give you some grace when it comes to your online and offline imagery. They will look past imperfect logos. They will look past dull Instagram posts. They will even look past your eleventh finger if you have one; but only if you’re delivering amazing products, services, and wonderful-to-work-with interactions.
Disclaimer: This isn’t to say you shouldn’t improve your image-related business assets, just that if that’s all you place focus on… you won’t be nearly as successful with your brand.
So what is Branding anyhow?
As one who works daily in helping small businesses create their brands, I may be more of a stickler than most when it comes to the definition of the word “Branding.” So often it is confused with the word “Marketing,” and with good reason, as they can be very similar at times. They aren’t the same thing though.
Branding helps to shape how people perceive you.
Marketing is bringing a product or service to the marketplace to sell.
So branding can deal with just about every facet of your business. Not only what color your logo is or what type of clothing you wear, but how you answer the phone, how quickly you respond to enquierys, and even what you choose to include or exclude on your website.
Only focusing on the look for your brand is like only focusing on what evening gown to wear while never evaluating that huge puss-filled boil on your butt. Eventually it’s gonna be oozing through the dress and people won’t care how pretty you or the dress are. It’s important oftentimes to strip away all the imagery and prettiness of branding and evaluate the backside of your business.
Paul M., Slingshot Branding & PR LLC
Grossed out? I am a bit with that analogy above.
If your company brand is your company’s DNA. Branding is a form of communicating that DNA to everyone in the company and consumers. Does that make sense? I hope so.
And hey, if you do have an eleventh finger- call me, I think naming your business Lucky 11 would be an amazing start to a great business venture.
Thanks for reading. If you have any questions please let me know.