November 4, 2010

For many small businesses, branding is one of the most overlooked and underestimated business tools. While many business owners may think of a brand as a logo - it’s really much more. A strong brand represents the essence of your company, a clear statement of what your company is and what differentiates you. And it can have a big impact on your business. As Cardmember Laurie Cumbo, founder of the Museum of Contemporary African Diasporan Arts (MoCADA), says: “A strong brand can help us compete with much larger organizations.” 

Laurie’s museum is one of the small businesses featured in Project RE:Brand, OPEN’s new webisode series that follows five small businesses as five creative agencies help them to rebrand their companies. Project RE:Brand was created to help small business owners learn more about the value of branding, with clear take-aways to help you examine and evolve your own brands, such as: 

One key to building a strong brand is authenticity, which can begin with developing a brand mission that captures the “why” of your business and then delivering on that mission. In the series, you learn that Artyarns’  mission is to elevate the art of knitting. Rebranding is helping them to focus on communicating that mission. 

Consistency is also imperative. It’s critical that you communicate your brand through every customer experience, every day. As you watch agency Pandiscio lead aviation company Air East Airways through how their new branding could extend across various touchpoints – from the logo on the planes to the extra touches like snacks and blankets on flights – you see how creating those consistent ties can make the brand even more memorable to customers. 

Branding is more than design. Good branding extends into other areas, like how you handle customer service or innovate products or services. I like what Laurie told our team: “The rebranding process has raised the bar for everything we do, like how we present ourselves, how we greet visitors. It’s like getting a makeover; you start looking for other areas to improve.” 

I hope you enjoy Project RE:Brand, and find these and other branding lessons helpful to your business. And I’d love to hear how you’re building and communicating your brand. This is another goal of Project RE:Brand,– to help everyone learn more about the innovative brands being built by small businesses. We want to showcase more brands like Artyarns’, Air East Airways, and MoCADA – to help these and other businesses Start Booming. 

E-mail your story to me at rosa@openforum.com.  And view all three episodes of ArtYarns’ and Air East Airways’ rebrand experience, now available at openforum.com/projectrebrand.  Look for other brand makeovers, like MoCADA, to be added soon.

Related Topics

• Marketing

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Article, advertising, branding, luxury branding, Rosa Sabater, Project ReBrand

Join the conversation ( 6 )

• Mark Richman 10 months ago

  

  Wonderful article! I agree with Jason, I would also like to read more info regarding financial information for these projects.. :)

• JASON KREGER 1 year 4 months and 19 days ago

  

  I'd love to see a little more financial information on these projects. How bid, or small, are these companies? What would the total cost have been for these companies if they had paid for it themselves? Knowing what these business owners know now, would they be willing to pay that price if they had to do it again? In other words, is all of the time, effort and expense that went into this project truly worth it for an average small business?

• Boris Fowler 1 year 5 months and 6 days ago

  

  Every company should have a mantra. What is it you seek to do, and how do you plan to achieve that?

• Ro Breehl 1 year 5 months and 25 days ago

  

  Great brands aren’t just born, they are carefully developed. All companies ... especially start-ups must identify who they are, what they promise and who can most benefit from doing business with them. There is a clear distinction between brand development and branding:A brand is a unique and DELIVERABLE claim of distinction supported by evidence of performance. Branding is the tactical execution of that claim (brochures, websites, etc.)A well-developed brand is foundational to everything that follows.If a company doesn't first develop their brand ... everything they do tactically is just guesswork.

• BEATRICE JOHNSTON 1 year 5 months and 26 days ago

  

  So glad AmEx is leading the way in educating small businesses! The stories are compelling and effective. This will make the job of educating my prospects much easier. Branding works for all types of businesses.

• DANIEL ANTONELLI 1 year 6 months and 27 days ago

  

  Excellent article, and I'm looking forward to reading more case studies!