Booklets - Building Blocks of Branding

Liz Goodgold of www.redFIREbranding.com and I recently shared a speaking venue at an event about marketing with books. She generously offered to let me bring you some of her ideas so you, too, can light a fire under your branding efforts.

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So, Just What is Branding?

Branding is fun, hot, and creative. It is not difficult, it is not complicated, and you can do it.

What branding isn’t: it isn’t a hot iron searing into your hide (although with the proliferation of outrageous tattoos, that might someday be true). And it isn’t your logo, Web site, TV commercial, or slogan. It is, rather, the sum total of all of these marketing messages, including unintended ones, delivered via blogs, e-mail messages, social networking, and voice mail greetings that influence how others see you.

Your brand is not what you say it is. It’s what others say it is. Branding is perception.

You might walk around like William Hung believing you are destined to be a rock star on American Idol (remember “She Bangs”?), but in reality you can’t carry a tune. In fact, Hung became famous not because he can sing, but because he can’t!

Expanding Upon The Differences

Your goal is to find the background, nuances, specialty, or way of doing business that sets you apart from your competitors and then exploit, promote, and publicize these differences (your brand) into every single customer or prospect touch point.

If you are a dentist, for example, you can create your point of different based upon these options:

• Your Target Customer - children’s dentistry
• Your Way Of Doing Business – sedation dentistry
• Your Atmosphere – gentle, soothing (ex: Gentle Dental)
• Your Background – dental surgeon with over 20 years of experience

Quality, Service, and Price are NOT Points of Difference

As you’re determining your brand DNA, it’s important to dig beyond the obvious. Your key points of difference cannot be price, quality, and value. In fact, the assumption is that you have all of those traits before you even consider being in business.

Here’s a company that doesn’t get it: JC Penney. In a previous series of ads, the retailer did a good job of connecting with the customers by talking about the concern with price. But, then they tout that JC Penney is all about price, value, and style.

You need to focus on the things that really set you apart.

Hot Examples

Here are a few hot entrepreneur brand examples:

• Photographer Kristen Peelle is correctly positioned as a high-end, exclusive photographer; her image is burnished by demonstrating to her clients and prospects that taking good photographs to exceptional images is her specialty. This is an expert who not only takes out ugly “exit signs” or water sprinklers that taint a photo, but also nips in waists, eliminates unusual clothing issues, or takes out a few wrinkles.
• Mary Berney created The Dating Café. The challenge was to communicate how her events targeted specially for singles over 40 is better and different than just going to a bar. She now fully explains how she provides different and structured ice-breakers that start a meaningful conversation.

Find a Target and Stick with It

Many marketers will tell you to define your target customer by age, gender income, or zip code. Instead, target by your prospects’ mindset. In other words, get into their head to determine if they consider themselves health-minded, eco-conscious, frugal, a competitor in any circumstance, etc. This additional layer will help you create better copy, promotions, and marketing that will appeal to them.

Determine who Your Target Isn’t

Just as important as determining who your target is, create a list now of who your target isn’t. Perhaps you’ve already developed a screener for clients you accept. Knowing who should never be your client or customer will help keep you branded, delivering special experiences to a specific target.

Speaker and author Liz Goodgold is a considered a fireball of energy with over 25 years of experience in marketing and branding. She is the author of RED FIRE BRANDING: Create a Hot Personal Brand and Have Customers for Life and DUH! Marketing.Liz has worked for such major clients as Quaker Oats, Times Mirror, and Arco Oil as well as with small business owners and start-ups. Her specialized, one-on-one branding and coaching programs spark new ideas that deliver sure-fire results. An often quoted expert, Liz has appeared in over 500 media outlets including ABC, NBC, CBS, PBS, CNBC, CNN, The Wall Street Journal, and The New York Times. She also was the branding columnist for Entrepreneur magazine reaching over 1 million readers per month. www.redfirebranding.com

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Until next time,

Paulette - whose booklet brand has been out there since 1991

www.tipsbooklets.com

www.CollectionOfExperts.com