You’ve got a small business and money is tight. The last thing you can afford is a sophisticated ad agency and a complicated brand. So you tell yourself that branding is for the big boys and you move ahead, piecing together your company’s image along the way. You tell yourself it’s not important; that you can do it yourself, that no one expects a small company to have a big brand. You see it as an expense, rather than an investment, and you can’t believe it will ever pay for itself.

Here’s why you’re wrong.

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You’ve got a client you’re dying to land.

It’s a big one, and you’re nervous about being seen, being heard, being noticed. It’s a huge, digital world out there, and everyone is clamoring for attention.

I get it. I was once starting out. And I had a list of potential big clients I was dying to nail.

Here’s the way it worked for me.

Thirteen years ago, when I left the corporate world and struck out on my own as a marketing and branding consultant, I had a list of exactly zero clients. I had experience and expertise, but no one knew who I was.

I was desperate for a way to be seen and heard.

But how to get the big boys to listen?

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A brand’s reputation is built on touch points. You might also hear these referred to as moments of truth or contact points. If you reverse-engineer a brand that makes you say “wow” – if you go backwards from the point of your last purchase and think about every step where you had an interaction with the brand – you’ll find touch points that were very well-planned and absolutely consistent with the brand’s image and message. Continue reading

There’s no point in beginning relationships unless we do so authentically. When we show who we really are, we attract people who have something in common with us. When we communicate what we truly stand for and what we’re naturally about, we connect. And real connections lead to real relationships.

We all know this, deep inside. So why do business owners brand their companies with the intention of looking like something they’re not, especially where first impressions are concerned?

Why do we read articles with headlines like, “How to Make Your Company Look Bigger than it Really Is,” or “How to Look Like a Fortune 500 Company?”

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The world is full of bad advice. The worst I’ve heard recently (and I’ve heard it from more than one internet business guru) is that it doesn’t matter much what you call your new business or product; it’s more important that you just get on with it.

I beg to differ.

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