January 26, 2012
OPEN Forum Message
Affordably Build Your Brand
FedEx Global Brand Management Director Monica Skipper shares a cost-effective way to build a bigger brand for your small business.
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Even the smallest business needs a brand—a clear message explaining what it delivers and why. Whether you’re making wooden toys, providing high-level consulting services or paving roads, a compelling brand can help you retain existing customers and attract new ones.
What’s more, a good brand can help drive operational decisions: Would a potential new product fit within your existing brand or seem out of place? If it’s the latter, you’d be wise to pass on the opportunity.
Why is branding so important? Because individuals are compelled by stories and the emotional reactions they inspire. “Whether your customer is a consumer, a business person or the government, a heartfelt story about who you are and how important the customer is to you will have an effect,” says Tom Kelley, managing partner of Concept Branding Group, a national firm that helps entrepreneurs create and revisit their brands. “At the end of the day, purchasing decisions are made by humans—and as a species we like to feel connected to one another.”
Brand breakdown
As Kelley sees it, a brand consists of two distinct parts: the core promise and the brand’s story. The core promise explains what your company delivers—not necessarily the specific product or service, but the experience your customer will have. Washington, D.C. real estate firm Brandon Green Companies puts it this way: “We promise to hear you, and to utilize our skills and resources to guide you through a customized and efficient process to make your dreams a reality—all with ease and a smile.”
The company, whose recent brand redesign was led by Kelley’s firm, adds its promise to each employee’s e-mail signature and displays it prominently on brandongreen.com.
The site also features the brand’s story by way of the background information it includes about each employee. More than a simple bio, each writeup is a narrative describing how that individual became passionate about real estate. Founder Brandon Green’s profile includes the following: “Brandon was born and raised for the first part of his life in Wyoming, before moving with his family to Iowa. In Iowa, he would gaze longingly out the family car’s window at dilapidated farmhouses with dreams of fixing them up. He rode that dream to Washington, D.C. and the founding of Brandon Green Companies.”
The result: The firm now isn’t an anonymous real estate company trying to make money off your new house—it’s a group of real people who actually care about homes and the people who live in them. As a result, potential clients can immediately develop an emotional connection with the firm—which increases the likelihood that they’ll select Brandon Green when it’s time to relocate.
Building your brand
If you’re just starting to think about your brand, you may want to bring in a consultant who can guide you through the process. Expect to spend a significant amount of time honing your company’s core promise—what, exactly, you deliver that differentiates you from the competition. Then you’ll work on backing that promise up with a story about yourself and your team that shows you’ve got what it takes to deliver.
Once those items are nailed down, your brand consultant will start developing the visual depiction of your brand. Your logo may need to be updated, as will the design of brochures, letterhead and other collateral (See “Looks Matter”). Bear in mind that if your business serves multiple types of customers—for example, consumers and government agencies—you may want to develop different versions of your materials for each audience. “The design elements have to look, feel, and be perceived as comfortable to your audience,” says Kelley. “Ultimately, a company with a compelling, integrated message will win more business than one that doesn’t know what it is or who it wants to be.”
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