Today I was keynote at the Marketing Bootcamp 2010 – an event for small businesses by the South Texas Women’s Business Center. For my presentation called “Branding in the Digital Age. The importance of consistency and adaptability.” I put together this list of branding tips, enjoy:
8 Basic Principles of Brand Development for Small Businesses
1. Define your brand
Why are you in business? What’s unique about you that can transcend?
Develop a meaningful positioning statement and elevator speech.
2. Live it: Get internal buy-in
No branding program can be successful if your own people don’t drink the Kool-Aid.
It starts with you.
3. Be consistent
Consistent experiences build memorable brands. From your collaterals to the personal interactions your audience has with anyone in your organization, the tone and personality should be the same.
4. Stand for something
Don’t be everything to everybody. Be awesome at one thing and stand out from the crowd.
Remember that experts are able to charge more.
5. Learn to evolve
Organizations change. Align and re-align your brand experience to accurately reflect the evolution of your business.
6. Be dependable
One of the most effective practices in brand building is keeping your promises.
Remember the golden rule: Under promise and over deliver.
7. Embrace technology
Having a web site is not good enough, it needs to be intuitive.
Social media has changed the game, organizations need to harness the opportunities that technology brings to building a brand.
8. The audience will determine your brand
The only way to know your brand is through your the eyes of your audience.
Always keep in mind that brands are an ongoing process and require constant nourishment.
Great job Juan! These are great tips and a reflection of the constant change the our company goes through together with your own experience! Any company that applies your suggestions is on a great path! Cheers!
Very informative.
Great points Juan. I am sure the presentation was wonderful and everyone in attendance came away with great ideas on how to build their brand.
Great advice. Thanx for posting. I was hoping to get some of this info.