• Branding a Business
• Branding a Person
• Branding a Thing

Branding a Business
When branding a business, the brand is built around a value, an idea, or a service. The relationships and the connections formed are with the brand name and the values of the brand itself, instead of an individual person or product. With this approach, the brand may have multiple products or product lines, services, or programs under its umbrella, and team members or employees are easily interchanged.

Branding a Thing
When branding a thing, the brand is built around a single product or a program. With this approach, the visual design, the message, and the marketing all revolve around the branded item. The focus is on how the consumer interacts with it, how it benefits them, and how they feel about it.

Branding a Person
When branding a person, the brand is built around the charisma, talent, and expertise of a single person. This person is the celebrity face of the brand. The voice is their voice, the marketing and the message comes from them and the visual brand uses their photo and likeness. With this approach, the brand completely revolves around the celebrity or expert, and the team or employees in place exist to support them.

In many cases, businesses have multiple brands that may include all of the above. Take a company like Apple — Apple is a branded business that sells branded things like the iPod and the iPad, and has Steve Jobs, a branded celebrity leading the company.

Or take my multi-millionaire, business coach Ali Brown — Her company Ali International, LLC is the branded business, Ali herself is the celebrity expert for brand and the face of the company, and she offers branded products like her Millionaire Protege Club, her Online Success Blueprint System, or her Product Launch System.

Which approach you choose to take when branding your business will depend on the type of business you are starting and what your goals for the business are.

If you want to grow and then sell or franchise your business, building a brand around you and your expertise isn’t the best idea. Instead, you’ll want to build the brand around the business. If you are developing a product and you hope to one day sell it to a larger company, branding the product itself would be the best course of action. In both cases, by branding the business or the product, the brand equity that has been built will be protected when the brand changes hands.

If you are a service-based entrepreneur, branding yourself is often the best choice because you are the brand — you are who the clients will work with, you are the person behind the marketing, you are the voice and life of the company.

In many cases entrepreneurs start with one main brand and evolve and grow into multiple brands.

For example, there is the celebrity chef who builds a brand first around himself, then expands his empire by opening a restaurant; or the chef who first opens a restaurant and then earns his celebrity by reputation. The chef may then expand his empire even further by launching a line of spices or cookbooks.

The key is to pick one primary brand and decide whether you are branding a business, branding a person, or branding a thing.

Your mission statement isn’t just part of a business plan, in reality, your mission statement, like your
core values, is a critical part in defining a successful brand and building a solid foundation for business growth and marketing.

It must convey your core values, your beliefs, and what you stand for, and it needs to communicate why your business exists and what you hope to achieve.

If your mission statement has meaning to you, it can be a powerful tool in guiding your company’s forward movement and your decisions. The key is infusing your mission statement into the everyday operations of your business and every aspect of your brand.

The problem is that most mission statements tend to be all statement (boring) and no mission (motivating).

The reason your mission statement exists is to succinctly communicate why you do what you do, why you care, why you believe it is important, and why you want to reach your goals. It also needs to address and mean something for your ideal clients or target market.

But how do you write a mission statement?

Get as specific as possible when describing why your business exists, who you serve, and what you want to achieve. Your mission statement needs to use concrete, clear words and action verbs so anyone who reads it will quickly understand your why, your ideal client, and your goals. Be careful not to get too vague. Don’t try to be everything to everyone. That doesn’t work.

To keep it simple, your mission statement sets an expectation of performance and needs to address:

• Your Purpose
  Ask yourself: Why am I in business? What purpose do I serve? Who do I serve? What needs, issues, or problems do I exist to solve, change, or fix?
• Your Business
  Ask yourself: What do I do? What is my unique skill, talent, or gift? What results do I create? How do I change the world, change a life, or change a business? How do I solve the needs, issues, or problems? How am I different?
• Your Values
  Ask yourself: What are my core values? What principles guide my work and my actions? What is most important to me?

Your mission statement should inspire you, motivate you, and get you fired up. It should serve as a positive reminder of why you started your business and that what you are doing matters.

Your mission statement should act as a promise to your ideal client. It sets expectations for your brand. Loyalty and trust are built on the expectations you set and how you deliver on those expectations.

When clients can recognize, connect with, resonate with, and respect the values, and mission associated with your brand, you will strengthen their loyalty and turn them into raving fans and brand ambassadors that refer you business and spread the word about you to their friends, family, and network.

Don’t worry about writing too much or too little.

There isn’t a requirement as to what your mission statement looks like. In fact, you don’t have to ever show it to anyone! Just make sure that it is meaningful to you and that when you read it, you feel something strong, like a knot in your gut, butterflies in your stomach, a tightening in your chest, emotions bubbling up inside of you.

Whether it’s one sentence or ten sentences, a powerful, personal, meaningful mission statement will fire up the passion inside of you and inspire to you to make a difference in the world in your own way each and every day. It will also help keep you focused on what you do, why you do it, and what you want to achieve.

Please don’t write your mission statement and file it away in a cabinet, stick it in a binder on a bookshelf, or save it in your digital archives.

Keep your mission statement in a place that you will see it and read it daily so that your mission becomes your daily affirmation or mantra.

Visual Brand

Your visual brand encompasses all aspects of your brand that are represented visually. From your logo, business card, and brochures, to your invoices and envelopes, to your Facebook photo, avatar, and Twitter background, to your website, email newsletter, and blog, and even the clothes you wear, every time your brand is seen it is sending a message.

Written Brand

Your written brand includes all aspects of your brand that are represented in writing, either on paper or on screen — from your website copy and email newsletter content, to your blog posts and articles, to your social media posts, emails, direct mail, and letters. The written word is extremely powerful and long-lasting, so it must be consistent and well-planned.

Verbal Brand

Your verbal brand refers to all aspects of your brand that are represented in the spoken word — from your voice mail and your 60-second commercial, to your teleclasses and introductions, to how you describe your business at networking events and how you answer the phone. It also includes the way other people talk about your brand and what they are saying.

Tactile Brand

Your tactile brand covers all aspects of your brand that can be touched — from your products and packaging, to your business cards, direct mail, and brochures. Each of these tangible elements puts your brand in the hands of your audience to touch, feel, and save — adding a whole new dimension to how they interact with your brand.

Your brand is like a house. The architecture, design, doors, windows, fixtures, and paint colors create something amazing to look at and experience. The building has strength, character, style, and even its own personality.

Some people are attracted to modern, minimalist-style homes and others will be attracted to country or Victorian-style homes. But when it comes to actually buying the home, they want to know that the home is well-built, that the foundation is solid and the structure is sound, and that the home is a perfect fit for them.

Your branding — the strategy behind your brand — is the foundation and structure of the house. It is everything that goes into building the home that you can’t see on the surface but is there supporting and holding it together. It includes your values, personality, promise, focus, differentiation, mission, reputation, message, offerings, target market, goals, and more.

Branding is how we market ourselves to others. It is what we do with our brand. It refers to the behind-the-scenes action that creates a unique position for your brand in the marketplace so it stands out from the crowd and communicates your value. It builds credibility and influence in your market, and motivates your ideal clients to buy.

A strong, clear, powerful brand with smart, strategic branding backing it up makes getting the attention of your prospects and clients easier and makes your marketing easier because it builds credibility and influence in your niche. It will also help you stand out among your competition, communicate your value, attract new clients, charge your worth, and stay top of mind.

The photo to the right (Doesn’t that look incredible!) is a photo of our dessert platter at the Princess lunch!

Some people ask me why we love going to Disneyland so much… It’s because we know, like, and trust in the Disney brand and the Disney way of doing business.

From the moment you check-in, Disney has defined every aspect of their brand down to the tiniest of details and they take into account every possible client/customer experience so they can WOW you at every moment.

Just like the dessert platter we received at our Disney Princess Lunch! The painted white chocolate Ariel and sea shell were beautiful and everything was delicious – there was something for each person at our table. We enjoyed every bite, and then our server asked us if we would like ANOTHER PLATTER… We were stuffed and said no, but talk about service!

This week I want you to think about your brand the experience your prospects and clients have when they interact with your brand.

• What do they experience when they call you on the phone or email you?
• What type of experience do they have when they work with you or buy a product from you?
• What type of experience do they have when they meet you in person or connect with you on a social media site?
• What type of experience do they have when they come to your website or read your blog?

Look at ways to can improve the experiences people have when interacting with you and your business. Remember, experiences are memories that last and when you can create an experience, you’ll see referrals and recommendations skyrocket!

For the past six months, Brian and I have been working like crazy on our business. We’ve been evaluating our services and programs, pouring over our analytics data, and getting crystal clear about exactly what we want to do, what we love to do, who we want to work with, how we want to help people, and where we want to go.

We’ve also been evaluating why you should care, how we can help you, what the benefits are to you, and what you need to accelerate your online success… And all of the behind the scenes work is just about done!

I am so excited to unveil everything we have been working on and share it with you. Every time I think about it, my stomach starts to do flip flops!

Next week, we’ll be launching an entirely new website, a smaller, focused, refined suite of services, a brand new 10-month marketing training program (with implementation) for 2011, several free do-it-yourself resources, and our newsletter is getting a face lift and a new name!

Why the change? Well, part of it is because we can and the rest is because the data told us we needed to make some changes. What data? Over the last year, we have been closely reviewing and watching our analytics, opt-ins, sales, conversions, clicks, referral sources, site activity, and more … and we made some decisions based on the actual, real data we gathered. That means we’re making changes that fit you. We getting rid of what didn’t work and what you didn’t care about, and we streamlined and beefed up what you did like and what you showed us you want more of.

Not too much is going away, it’s just getting moved around, adjusted, repackaged, reorganized, and well… we’ve streamlined and simplified the website structure.

But don’t worry, the branding that we’ve become known for isn’t going to change. We’re not going to make the same mistake that Gap did. We’ll have the same logo, same bright and bold color palette, and same rainbow graphic elements, just in a more streamlined, simplified format.

So stay tuned! And, when this rolls out … Please let me know what you think!

1. Attract the viewer
2. Declare your message
3. Get them to take action

With so much noise on the web today, and the natural ADD nature of most web surfers, your worst enemy is the browser back button. After someone lands on your website from a search engine, status update, marketing promotion, Tweet, or email link, you have a very short window of opportunity to keep them on your site, so let’s cover each step.

Attract the Viewer

If your site looks unprofessional, is difficult to navigate, has boring cookie-cutter content, or has an overall harsh feel to it, your visitor will probably hit the Back button before the page finished loading. This is where good design matters.

Good design for business websites is about designing for your target market, not your peers, other designers, or your competitors. Good website design is also about is making sure the user can find the information they want quickly and easily. And it definitely helps if your website isn’t ugly and doesn’t look like your “friend’s husband who is good with computers” built it for you.

Declare Your Message

There are numerous small factors in this statement that all add up to a lot when trying to make a first impression with your website in under 10 seconds. If you are using a free hosted web design program and your site sits on a URL with anything other than your domain name in it, you are silently declaring.

1. I don’t take my business seriously.
2. Not enough people actually hire me, so I can’t afford a self hosted site.
3. I have no idea what I am doing, nor do I know who to ask for help.

The same goes for your domain name selection. In the US, a business should use a .com extension, and not a .net, .biz, .tv, or any other extension. The only exception would be for a non-profit to use a .org. Regularly our clients say to us, “But the .com of my business name is taken and I have already registered my business license.” To solve this we suggest using a domain name that declares the solution you provide.

Also, your domain name should be easy to remember and easy to spell with common terminology. Avoid using numbers in place of words and avoid using hyphens. Think about verbally telling someone your domain name. Will you say “Just go to GardeningFunForYou.com” or will you have to say something like, “Just go to Gardening dash Fun for, that’s the number four not the word, You with you spelled out.”

In web design, there is the term, above the fold, that has historic roots to the newspaper industry. After years of study, publishers and editors found that by putting the most important and compelling headlines, stories, and photos “above the fold” of the newspaper so they were the most visible in the racks and stands, they sold more papers. The same holds true for web design. Your most compelling content, calls to action, etc. should try to remain “above the fold”. In web design, this is what is visible in a browser window without having to scroll down the page. Most studies suggest that a height of 768 pixels is what most browser  windows are set to.

When designing your website or creating your content, you need to put your most important items above the fold. We usually include:

1. Business name, Logo and/or Photo, Tag Line
2. Primary Navigation
3. Email Marketing Opt-In Offer
4. Calls to Action or Primary Headlines

When someone lands on your site, and the most important information about your business is above the fold, your visitor can absorb everything quickly and determine that your site is exactly what they are looking for.

Get Them to Take Action

Now this doesn’t mean that you are trying to get someone to buy something or opt-in under ten seconds. “Taking Action” can be as little as scrolling down the page and reading all of your content or clicking on a button or link to learn more. Well written headlines that answer a question that your visitor has, along with important info in the first few sentences, is usually enough to keep someone on your page, especially if this content is visible above the fold.

Avoid pop-up windows, videos or audio messages that automatically start, or too much advertising. Your business website’s sole focus is your target market and serving them to the absolute best of your ability. It should focus on providing useful, valuable information quickly.

• Your content must be easy to find, well organized, clear, and reachable by two to three clicks of the mouse or less to reach it.

• Your design must help reinforce and enhance your brand, position you as an expert, and build your credibility.

• Your back end must integrate automation tools that make your job easier, make the visitors’ experience better, and streamline your processes.

Your goal is to create a synergy between the overall site, the design, and the content that helps create chemistry with your visitors so they keep coming back.

To answer the questions, “What is a brand?” and “Why is branding important?” I must share the true goal of a brand:

The primary goal of your brand is to get your prospects, clients, and customers to see you as THE ONLY SOLUTION.

When you become the only solution, your competitors fall out of the picture completely and your marketing and sales become much easier.

With a powerful, passionate, purposeful brand, you will pull your perfect, ideal clients right to you – and you will finally be able to stop chasing them!

When I first start talking about branding with my clients, the first question I get asked is, “What is a brand?” Many mistake a brand for a spiffy logo design and branding as the design of their marketing materials like brochures and websites and business cards. But in truth, the design and visual look of a brand is only a small piece of a brand.

Others, who want to skip branding and move right to developing their website ask me, “Why is branding important?” Usually the purpose or goal of a brand is misinterpreted to be getting your target market to choose you over their competitors and see you as a better choice. But unfortunately that really isn’t accurate.

You are the engineer of your brand. Just as an engineer must always start with immaculate plans, you must always start with a well defined brand

When you invest time into building and defining your brand, and you lay a solid foundation for all of your marketing and communications, you will gain a complete understanding of where your business is now, where you want to take it, and why you will be able to achieve your goals. This alone will increase your confidence in your brand and make your business introductions and commercials more effective and it will make your marketing presentations more effective.

Branding is important in defining your target market and niche as well.

Just as an engineer must understand every tiny nuance with the land, environment, materials, and plans he or she is using, to truly succeed in business branding, it is critical that you understand every nuance of the wants and needs of your prospects, clients, and customers. Your brand is the whole of their experiences with you and perceptions about you. Your true brand is what lies in the minds and the hearts of your audience.

Only after you have done the work to define your brand, create your message, develop your own unique compelling story, and understand your target market, can you begin on designing your visual brand.

Your logo, business cards, website, and other marketing materials are the last step in the branding process.

I know it’s hard because as a new entrepreneur, you are so excited about your business that all you want to do is get out there fast, help people, and make money following our passions. So you skip the brand development work and jump straight to working with a designer to design your logo and marketing materials.

But here’s the problem… when you don’t take the time to develop your brand, it is going to be a lot harder to get where you want to go, because your marketing materials won ‘t be doing the heavy listing for you. They may look pretty, but there isn’t going to be a strategy or clear, concise message behind them.

When I work with my Elite clients – even those with established businesses  – on increasing brand visibility and growing their business, we start with branding. We evaluate what already exists, identify what needs to be worked on, and we get work.

Your brand is the cornerstone of your success… Do you really understand yours inside and out?

In week three of my Online Marketing Acceleration Bootcamp, I be walking you through the branding process step-by-step in a 90 minute training session, and I’ll be answering all of your questions about your own brand in a 60 minute Q&A session. Plus, you’ll get several worksheets to help you accelerate the process.

I’ll share with you tips, techniques, and strategies to create a brand that will stick in the minds of your target market and keep you top of mind, including how to craft “commercials” that make people want to learn more. We’ll talk about your offers and packages, and how to market them with emotion. And, we’ll discuss how design effects the success of a brand.

After week three of my Online Marketing Acceleration Bootcamp:

• You will have a powerful commercial for your business
• You will be able to powerfully communicate your own unique story
• You will understand your target market like never before!

If you’re ready to take your business to the next level, but you’re tired of the hypey calls with big upsells and you just want someone to show you what to do and how to do it in a clear, easy to understand format – my Online Marketing Acceleration Bootcamp is for you!

Register by July 27 and participate in the Bootcamp for only $199! That’s not only a $50 savings, but it is exactly what you need to transform your business for less than a day at the spa or a trip to a major league ball game!

I hope you’ll join me!

Branding is about so much more than a professional logo design. Both personal and business branding also encompasses all of the interactions and experiences your audience has with your business.

In reality, your true brand isn’t what you say it is. Your brand is what your customers, peers, and prospects say about your business.

If what your market is saying and what you are saying don’t match, your audience will begin to feel a disconnect, and ultimately, it will hurt your business. That is why your brand development must address your messaging, tagline, business philosophy and personality, target market, position, approach, and visual identity.

Bourn Creative helps business owners create personal, purposeful, passionate, powerful brands that stick in the minds, and ideally, in the hearts of their audience by focusing on three different areas of branding, the visual brand, the written brand, and the spoken brand.

The Visual Brand
The visual brand is made up of what your target market sees. It includes your logos, business cards, letterhead, envelopes, note cards, print marketing materials, websites, blogs, email newsletters, landing pages, product graphics, photos, and more.

The Written Brand
The written brand is made up of what your target market reads. It includes articles, press releases, emails, newsletters, blog posts, website copy, print marketing materials copy, social networking posts, sales letters, ebooks, and more.

The Spoken Brand
The spoken brand is made up of what your target market hears. It includes audio recordings, teleclasses, public speaking, how you answer the phone, marketing videos, vlogging (video blogging), your live commercial, and how you speak about your business.

By clearly defining your brand and its focus, marketing your business will be a smoother, easier, more streamlined process. A strong brand will also provide added credibility, professionalism, and confidence. It will inspire trust and help you attract more clients and prospects.

Social media is an increasingly popular way for individuals and businesses to build brand equity and brand strength. With more and more businesses turning to social media to marketing their products, services, and programs, it is imperitive that you dedicate the time to not only present your brand consistently across all media platforms, but that you actively protect your brand.

The first thing you need to do is secure your social media brand by registering your name and business name, where appropriate, on all of the different social media sites you will be using.

Even if you aren’t planning on using a certain social networking website or you don’t plan on being highly active, securing your name on those sites is important. Why? Because it prevents other people from using your name or business name.

Imagine what could happen if someone else registered your name or business name:

• Your brand could get confused with another brand – potentially a competitor’s brand. This could cause your brand to lose some of the valuable brand equity you have worked hard to build.
• Offensive or completely inappropriate content could get posted to the profiles and result in a detrimental hit to your brand image, perception, and reputation.
• You may have to use different profile names/user names on each social media site or social networking site. This could cause inconsistency in your brand and make it difficult for your audience to find you or remember you.

The easy way to maintain brand consistency across all social media sites and build your brand equity online is to secure the same profile or username on all social networking and social media websites.

For example, I am “jenniferbourn” (or bourncreative where appropriate) on all of the social networking sites I participate in:

• facebook.com/jenniferbourn
• facebook.com/bourncreative
• linkedin.com/in/jenniferbourn
• twitter.com/jenniferbourn
• plaxo.com/jenniferbourn
• friendfeed.com/jenniferbourn

If you are using social media marketing as part of your small business brand marketing plan, and you haven’t yet grabbed your name or business name on the social networking sites, you can check and see if it is available quickly and easily for free. Simple check out NameChk.com and Knowem.com and grab your names!

Your small business brand is made up of three branding elements:

1. The written brand
2. The spoken brand
3. The visual brand

As you can see a brand is so much more than a single logo design. The visual portion of the brand is the most well known and is made up of the brand logo design and support marketing materials such as business cards, letterhead, brochures, email newsletters, websites, blogs, and more!

The key to and starting point for all of your marketing materials design is the brand logo. A small business brand logo is made up of three different parts:

The Graphic
The graphic element of a logo can be an icon, an illustration, a texture, a pattern, or even a well designed line. It typically can be used both as a part of the entire brand logo and on its own. The graphic element for your brand logo should have a reason for being included and it should hold meaning and purpose in the communication of your brand logo.

The Typeface
The typeface is the style of type or font used to typeset the name of the business and the tagline for the logo. The typefaces are usually complimentary and are limited to two different typefaces. The typefaces, whether you are using a serif font, a sans serif font, a script font, a display font, or a handwritten font, should also have a reason and meaning associated with its use and your brand message.

The Color Palette
The color palette should be chosen based on the emotions you want your brand to evoke in your audience and the story that your brand tells. “I used blue because I like it,” isn’t good enough. The colors palette, when chosen correctly will help reinforce and enhance your brand communications.

Each of these three parts of a successful small business logo, the graphic, the typeface, and the color palette, are designed to work together to represent your unique point of differentiation and brand personality. Together these three components communicate your overall brand message to your ideal client clearly and simply.