• Understanding Business Branding – Part 4

  • The How of Branding

    As we continue our discussion on understanding business branding, we want to turn our attention to the HOW…

    • How do you brand yourself?
    • How do you brand your business?

    If you’ve just joined us, we encourage you to review the previous articles in this series for the groundwork we’ve laid before moving on. Here’s what we’ve covered so far…

    • Part 1: we defined the terms brand and branding, and we summarized the main benefits gained from branding.
    • Part 2: we outlined the goals of branding and examined the elements involved in reaching those goals.
    • Part 3: we looked at whether or not personal branding was for business owners.

  • Our Definitions of Branding

    Let’s remind ourselves of our definitions of brand and branding…

  • From this definition we defined branding as “the process of promoting a promise of quality AND encouraging experiences that validate that promise”.

  • At first glance, it may seem as though our branding definitions are saying two different things, but this is not the case. Rather these definitions are looking at branding from different perspectives.

    The first definition focuses on the end product (i.e. the promise) while the second one highlights what’s involved in delivering that end product (i.e. relationship making/building).

  • How to Brand Yourself

    Recall Robyn Unwin’s definition on personal branding:

  • Personal branding is the art of creating a dynamic, consistent and memorable relationship with your target audience

    Your ‘target audience’ can be anyone from an employer, client or customer to a romantic partner or social group.

    The end goal is to present yourself clearly and authentically so you attract the opportunities you want and get to where you want to go.

  • Now, there’s a MULTITUDE of information (advice and guidance) available on “branding yourself” and “personal branding”. Just Google these terms and you’ll see hundreds OF thousands of results. It’s no easy task cutting through all that clutter to get to the nuggets of gold on this subject.

    Nevertheless, using my skills of depth-over-breadth research and dissection, I’ve found that the personal branding process boils down to a 2-part system involving some basic steps:

    PART A: Defining YOUR Personal Branding Strategy

    1. Know YOURSELF.
    2. Know your OBJECTIVE.
    3. Know your TARGET.
    4. Know your MEDIUM.

     PART B: Implementing YOUR Personal Branding Strategy

    1. CONSTRUCT your identifiers.
    2. CLAIM your territories.
    3. CULTIVATE your relationships.
    4. CONSERVE your brand.

    Following the links above for a detailed discussion on each step in the personal branding process.

  • How to Brand Your Business

    Recall Lisa Haggis’ comparison of business branding with personal branding…

  • Business branding needs to be a bit more detached — the desired outcome is to grow the business and deliver something specific into the world.

    It requires you to really think about what’s best for the business, while staying in alignment to what matters to you as an individual.

    It is as much (maybe more!) about your customers and the lifestyle that you are creating for them as it is about you, and it takes strategic consideration of what’s already being offered in your industry.

  • Despite these differences in focus, the business branding process is very much the same as the personal branding process.

    PART A: Defining YOUR Business Branding Strategy

    1. Know your BRAND.
    2. Know your OBJECTIVE.
    3. Know your TARGET.
    4. Know your MEDIUM.

    PART B: Implementing YOUR Business Branding Strategy

    1. CONSTRUCT your identifiers.
    2. CLAIM your territories.
    3. CULTIVATE your relationships.
    4. CONSERVE your brand.

    Following the links above for a detailed discussion on each step in the business branding process.

  • How NOT to Build YOUR Brand

    No “How-to” discussion is complete without some “How-NOT-to“. Arruda also offers the following 10 tips of things to avoid when building your personal brand in his video, How NOT to Build Your Personal Brand…

  • Time for YOUR input

    • Do you agree with the 2-part branding process outlined above?
    • Have you developed a personal and/or business branding strategy?
    • Business Owners: How well is your branding strategy working?

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