About a month back, I attended a great workshop by Tina Serano, co-owner of Beavertails, the company behind the delicious pastry that goes by the same name (and no, it’s not actually a beaver’s tail…it’s just shaped like one).
Tina had some great quotes on the topic of branding and small business in general that I wanted to share with my readers. Branding, as its name suggests, refers to a company’s brand in the marketplace. How do customers view the company? Why do they choose to do business with them? Is it because of their low cost? Quality? Fast service?
Branding is sometimes confused as being synonymous with ‘company logo’. The latter is part of the branding process, as is other marketing materials such as the website, brochures, business cards, etc. However, branding also includes business processes, strategies, and even people. It is the overall customer experience your company offers.
Here are some of the gems that Tina shared with the audience:
“What you do has to represent you.”
I liked this quote since it establishes that we must have an emotional connection with what we do. One of the reasons why I think many professionals are unhappy with their work is that they lack this connection. They are reduced to a company function or job description. They don’t see how they, as individuals, connect to the big picture, and so they feel unfulfilled.
“If you don’t buy into it, you won’t believe it and so you can’t sell it.”
Similar to the first quote, it establishes again the need for a connection between the person and the product. It’s what makes the difference between selling a product or commodity and selling an experience.
“Choose one branding word.”
This exercise really forces a business owner to think about what he or she has to offer. Some examples are “service”, “speed”, “quality” or in the case of Beavertails, “addictive”. Personally, I would have preferred a short sentence (7 words or less), but the idea is the same. Keep it simple.
“You can’t change people’s perception of you.”
Once you establish a perception among your customers, it is very difficult to change it. In other words, get it right the first time around or suffer the consequences. It’s much easier to brand than to “re-brand”.
“When you create a brand, you want loyal customers.”
A strong brand differentiates you from the competition. It creates repeat customers since you are able to deliver a unique experience.
“Don’t pay for media advertising.”
Tina is not a fan of big expensive marketing campaigns. They’re costly and the return on investment is difficult to measure. Instead, she encouraged us to use low cost marketing strategies (e.g. business to business marketing or cross promotion, free offers) to generate buzz. She also talked briefly about guerrilla marketing, the idea that costly marketing can be replaced with low cost strategies that effectively use time, energy, and imagination.
At the end of her presentation, she also mentioned a few of her favorite books:
“The tipping point” by Seth Godin.
“What happy people know” by Dan Baker.
“The monk who sold his ferrari” by Robin Sharma.
She also mentioned two cool websites worth a peek:
99design.com: Have a pool of designers create a logo for you at a price that you set.
trendwatching.com: A site tracking consumer trends worldwide.
The two books I would personally recommend for removing the mystery surrounding marketing are:
“Duct Tape Marketing” by John Jantsch.
“Guerilla Marketing” by Jay Conrad Levison.
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