There IS a Difference Between Branding and Marketing

When we tell small business owners that we are branding and marketing specialists, we get one or more of the following reactions:

• ·         There’s a difference?
• ·         So, what does that mean?
• ·         You do promotional products too?
• ·         That just means you design logos and websites, right?

No. We do not do promotional products (but we can recommend a fantastic promotional product business).  Yes.  We do logos and websites.  But, we won’t do the latter if a brand is not in place.

We help individuals and businesses discover their brand.  They’re ‘why’.  Their solution to consumers’ problems.  THEN we help them promote their ‘why’ – why they do what they do and why consumers should choose them.  You shouldn’t have a marketing plan in place if you don’t know your brand.  After all, if you don’t know your brand, nobody else will.

What’s the difference between branding and marketing?

1. Marketing is your message. Your brand is who you are.

Authentic brands don’t emerge from marketing cubicles or advertising agencies. They emanate from everything the company does.

When done right, your brand is your reason for being. It is the unique, authentic, singular value you offer to your customers. It permeates the culture of your company, and it is communicated to your customers every time they see, feel, touch, or experience your brand—not just when they experience a marketing message.

2. Branding comes first, marketing second.

If you have a logo, a package design, or a slogan, you may think you have a brand. What you actually have are a set of marketing materials and messages.

Whether they forget or purposely neglect it, many blow off step one of the branding process.

What’s step one? You must determine and define your brand value in the marketplace. Only then should you move on to developing a brand strategy—followed, last of all, by crafting a marketing campaign.

3. You own your marketing; your consumers own your brand.

Compared to branding, marketing is easier to control and to comprehend. You write the headlines, you choose the art, you post the Tweets. You measure conversions or awareness, and determine whether your marketing is a success or a failure.

When your customers take action and buy into your marketing efforts, there’s a reason.  That’s branding.  Many things influence your brand, you cannot manufacture brand value yourself.

Essentially, if you are authentic.  If your services provide a value.  If you have a clear understanding of the need you fill.  If you believe in your product or services and have a passion for it, potential customers will see that your brand is here to stay.

You must know the difference between branding and marketing, and don’t confuse your tactics. Marketing is storytelling. The most powerful branding happens when you listen, not when you talk. Your consumers will tell you what your brand is—or what they need it to be—because they alone know.

The strongest brands use their understanding of the difference between branding and marketing to build marketing campaigns that work hand in hand with their brand positioning strategy. They listen to their customers, and let their values, hopes, and desires define the brand’s position—then craft marketing campaigns to communicate that value through simple, creative, show-stopping executions.

If you do not see a return on your investment with your marketing efforts, it could be your brand!  Never fear – we’re here to help!  We can help you discover your story, your why and find that core element that sets your brand and your business above the competition.  Contact SK Consulting today! 

Creating and Sharing Your STORY is Essential to Marketing

When you’re explaining or promoting your business, you’re telling a story. It’s up to you whether it’s a thriller, a horror or a feel-good, curl-up-on-the-couch-and-take-it-all-in story.

Everything you do to market your business is another paragraph, page, or chapter in the story people hear from you. And the story people hear is the one they act (or don’t act) on, and repeat (or don’t repeat) to others.

Purposeful marketing stories are a sure sign of a great content marketer.

How can you make sure your story is great and worth sharing? Here’s how.

1. Know your audience

The battle is won or lost right here. The better you know the audience, the better able you will be to connect, engage and convert them – giving you a leg up on your competition. 

What do you need to know? You need to know who your audience admires, and what they aspire to, despise, fear, and cherish.

Instead of sitting around dreaming up content you guess people might react favorably to, you tell an educated story based on one or more individuals who represent the whole.

Understanding your audience at such an intimate level makes creating buyer personas important. It also helps you be a part of the market you’re speaking to, which results in a more authentic story.

Research doesn’t sound sexy, but it’s the foundation of any smart marketing plan. The more time you spend understanding the people you’re talking to, the better story you’ll tell them.

2. Select your frame

When you understand the worldview your prospects share — the things they believe — you can frame your story in a way that resonates so strongly with them that you enjoy an “unfair” advantage over your competition.

You can cater to audience beliefs and worldviews without resorting to name-calling. For example, the simple word “green” can provoke visceral reactions at the far sides of the environmental worldview spectrum, while also prompting less-intense emotions in the vast middle.

Framing your story against a polar opposite, by definition, will make some love you and others ignore or even despise you. That’s not only okay, it’s necessary.

You’ll likely never convert those at the other end of the spectrum, but your core base will share your content and help you penetrate the vast group in the middle — and that’s where growth comes from.

3. Choose your premise

The premise is the way you choose to tell the story so that you get the conclusion you desire. It’s the delivery of the framed message with dramatic tension and one or more relatable heroes so that your goals are achieved.

• It’s the hook, the angle, the purple cow.
• It’s the difference between a good story and an ignored story.
• It’s the clear path between attention and action.

It’s important to understand the difference between the beliefs or worldview of your audience (the frame) and the expression of that belief or worldview back to them.

Think about your favorite novel or film … the same information could have been transmitted another way, but just not as well. In fact, stories have been retold over and over throughout the ages — some are just better told than others.

The premise is essentially the difference between success and failure (or good and great) when it comes to copywriting and storytelling.

Content marketing as storytelling

“Marketing succeeds when enough people with similar worldviews come together in a way that allows marketers to reach them cost-effectively.” – Seth Godin

That’s exactly what content marketing allows you to do. In fact, it’s the most cost-effective (and just plain ol’ effective) online marketing method ever devised when done properly.

Even better, people aren’t just coming together. They’re coming together around you.

What’s YOUR story?  Whatever it is, remember to make it remarkable! If you need help finding, developing and sharing your story, contact SK Consulting today!  

Small businesses have small budgets.  We get it.  But, don’t limit your creativity or your marketing strategies because of it.  

There are a lot of things you can do to promote your business without spending a lot of money. You don’t necessarily need to go big – go small and intimate! 

1. Get personal.

Customers love the opportunity to make something their own. Studies have shown that the majority of consumers said receiving a personalized incentive would improve consideration of the brand.  If there’s a way for you to allow customer customization, give it a try and see how your audience responds. Not sure how to add a personal touch to your business? Anything that gets your customer’s name on your product works -- using frosting to write the order name on your donuts, or offering free monograming on your inventory of purses or apparel.

2. Promote customer engagement.

In today’s social world, whatever you can do to make your small business more shareable is good for marketing. What is something you could implement that your customers would find Insta-worthy? Create an opportunity for photo ops and increase your social reach without spending a cent. Try a selfie campaign, Facebook Live, a contest for the most creative slogan.  Add a prize component to entice people to use your custom hashtag or tag your business in their posts.

3. Say thanks.

How often do you let your customers know that you appreciate them? You’d be surprised the power a simple “thank you” can have on creating customer loyalty. Everyone likes to feel appreciated. While a card can often be effort enough, let’s try to remember that we’re thinking outside the proverbial box and go for something bigger. How about hosting a special event where guests can sample new menu items, or you highlight one of your customer’s businesses?. Try utilizing Meetup.com or another event website that can gain the attention of new customers as well as current ones.

4. Develop a loyalty program.

If you’re losing customers, you need to establish a way to cultivate repeat business. If your target audience is Generation Z – you’re LUCKY!  They are more willing than any other generation to sign up for loyalty cards in exchange for deals or discounts. Your loyalty program can be as basic as a punch card or as elaborate as a membership that rewards customers based on how often they visit or even how much they spend.  

5. Utilize LinkedIn.

LinkedIn is a frequently skipped social media networks for small businesses. But why? While not the most exciting platform, it does provide unique opportunities for marketing your business. Without even spending any money, you can connect with people in your community by creating a group, joining existing groups and reaching out to other small business owners and potential customers in your area.  This platform is geared toward the more professional audience.  EVERYONE has a Facebook page.  But, show other business professionals that you and your business mean business by using LinkedIn.

6. Survey your current customers.

If you’re not sure what types of marketing or promotions your customers will respond to best, ask them. A simple survey can provide endless insight into what you’re doing right and wrong, and what you’re not doing that you should be. Include a raffle-like component, where one participant will win a prize (such as a $100 credit to your business) to encourage your audience to take part.  Your customers are your best PR tool.  If they respond that they love this or that, ask them for a testimonial on this or that.

Small business owners fight an uphill battle every day.  There are corporations that offer some of the services you do and have spent the big money promoting it.  The small mom and pop store down the street from a WalMart struggles.  But, don’t brush aside everyone’s inherent need to feel special.  Nobody wants to be an account number, a credit card number, a client number.  Customers will come back (and probably be willing to spend a little more) for authentic, genuine, person-to-person customer service. 

That’s something us true small business owners can hang our hat on.  If you need help finding your strengths and being the David against the Goliath, contact SK Consulting today!

Putting the Personal Back into Personal Branding

There’s no denying the importance of personal branding. After all, branding is largely responsible for the message your name (and face) transmits to the world. Because of this, it’s vital that your brand is built on authenticity and engagement, rather than half-heartedness and complacency.

For many up-and-coming entrepreneurs, consciously making an effort to build a personal brand takes a backseat to other items on their never-ending to-do lists. In their minds, personal branding will take care of itself.

This couldn’t be farther from the truth.  You need to know that everything you do, both intentionally and not, contributes to the way others are perceiving your personal brand.

Whether through social media, influencer marketing or some sort of media outreach strategy, personal branding is an active endeavor. Still need some convincing? Below you’ll find four hard-hitting reasons to give your personal brand some time and attention.

1. Sales is a human-to-human endeavor.

There’s no greater tool in a salesperson’s arsenal than trust, especially if your business makes its money on the internet. How does an entrepreneur go about building that trust? Personal branding.

It’s imperative to understand that sales is a human-to-human affair. Though there are tools out there that help automate important sales processes, you must present your most genuine self to connect with people on an emotional level.

Whether you're connecting eye-to-eye, voice-to-voice or merely message-to-message, peel back the curtain ever so slightly. It might not provide an immediate marketing return, but it will get other people to help you build your brand.

2. You are the media.

Thanks to blogs, podcasts and social networks, you don’t have the option to sit idly by and wait for others to mention your brand in the media. Yes, PR still matters, but many companies today are media companies first and money-making entities second.

Branding certainly works on a macro level, but it works on a micro level, too. Your personal brand matters. To strengthen it, recognize that you -- not just that team of interns you recently hired -- must provide value as an active media member to make people remember your name.

3. There’s too much noise to be conservative.

Thanks to the internet's sheer volume of content, it’s easy to get lost in the noise. That's why you have to make a good first impression, whether trying to get an Instagram user to stop scrolling past your content or convince a search algorithm that you’re a uniquely valuable resource. 

With social media, people and businesses are constantly talking over one another.  Your potential customers have to resonate with something you post and want to learn more.  If you don’t have the right messaging, the right tactic and the right timing, your attempt to ‘jump into’ the conversation will fall on deaf ears.

4. You're always branding yourself.

In today’s day and age, you no longer have a choice about personal branding.  The world is far too connected for you not to be transmitting some kind of personal message with your actions.

If you decide not to actively participate, people will take notice, and their professional opinions of you aren’t likely to be favorable. Without control of your personal brand, your image stands on shaky ground.

Invest in your brand. That way, you not only invest in yourself, but also in the people you lead and the organization you represent.  Don’t expect business to just come to you or that people will stumble upon your website and decide to do business with you.

You are the best PR, marketing and sales person for your business.  While the digital age definitely consumes us, there is something to be said about the old-school, hand-shake, meet and greet.  Get to know your potential customers.  Let them get to know you.  If you are authentic and true to the brand that you want to promote, you will leave them wanting more.

If you or your business need help developing your personal and professional brand, contact SK Consulting today!

What is Your Branding Story? Part 2

Tell Your Story

Buyers love to connect with brands they trust via social media and video. They love to hear stories about not only your company but the other buyers who are using your products and services successfully. They’ll share the stories with their friends and family, thus helping expand your brand through story telling.

To tell a good story you’ll need to delve deeply into your why. Why does your business exist? Why are you passionate about your product or service? If you’re not sure how to develop your story, you can use social media to distribute surveys to the customers you have that already exist if you’re collecting (and you should be) their information. In addition you can brainstorm with employees and contractors, ask them why they’re here. Ask them why they come to work each day. Also, never overlook searching the web for what people are saying about your business.

Fill out your profiles on the “About Us” area of your websites, blogs and social media. If you guest post for others ensure that your author’s bio is succinct in telling your story. Create videos or ask your clients to create videos that tell your story. Even your contractors and employers can help tell your story via their LinkedIn.com profiles, or social media profiles that mention your company and what they do for your company.

Place photos of your products or important components of customer testimonials that showcase all the positives of your services on your website and social media sites in a prominent location. People want to know what is behind the products and services in a way that shows them that you care, and that you are dedicated to solving their problems. That’s right, all successful products and services solve a problem. If you’re not sure what problem you solve, it’s time to research and figure it out.

Your blog is a terrific place to start talking about your why for being. Create posts, and ask for guests posts from service providers, contractors, employees, customers and clients that show in their words how important your why is to the world. Be open and transparent in your discussion of why you exist. If you’ve done your home work, your story will resonate with your clients and potential clients and make them proud to do business with you.

Spreading the Word on Social Media

Social media offers a tremendous opportunity to brand your business. In the old days we only had TV, Radio, Newspapers, Billboards and the cocktail party. Today, the world is truly open for businesses who see the value in using technology to expand their reach.

The best way to enjoy the advantages of what social media can offer is to realize exactly what you can do with social media. Yes, still go to local events, and live events, but never underestimate the importance of being part of the online conversation about your industry.

You can use social media to:

• Study your market

• Network

• Share important information

• Announce new products and services

• Tell people about sales

• Expand your brand

Some ways to do the above are:

Facebook — Use Facebook to build a community and participate daily. Answer questions professionally, and interact with others in your community. It’s important to give your customers a reason to talk about you. Ask them to create a videos or showcase them on a live video describing how they used your product or service and what kind of success they enjoyed due to it.

Twitter — Share new content with followers, comment on their shares, and participate in the conversation your followers are having. Share coupons, sales, brand news, answer questions, share how-to’s and interviews that you’ve done. Consumers love getting coupons and freebies, so ensure that you offer them.

Google and YouTube — While other social networks remain at the top, Google+ remains a place to engage in collections and communities, share your posts, and gather the latest news from influencers in your industry. Images and video work well here — especially with YouTube’s integration where you can grow your brand audience through pre-recorded video or live video.

LinkedIn — This is a more serious business networking social network in which you can join professional groups, share your latest blog posts, and network with influencers in your niche. With the simple publishing features it is a great place to attract more visitors to your website for free.

Instagram and Pinterest — Create compelling image or video that showcase the inner workings of your brand including your products and services, and customer testimonials. This type of visual social media will expand your brand in many ways and could even go viral. Pinterest is especially important to retail businesses as well as bloggers who would like to grow their readership.

On any of the popular social media avenues today it’s possible to search keywords that describe your audience, product or service including competitors to keep up with what is happening in your industry. It doesn’t matter if you have an online business or offline business. Using social media to further your brand is an essential component of any branding effort today.

Before you get started take a look at your mission statement, and remind yourself of who your target audience is. Keep the same visual brand throughout all your social media networks. In fact, your online visual brand, the logos, the graphics, colors, tag lines — they should remain the same across all marketing channels.

Before joining the conversation, create full and compelling social media profiles using your other marketing collateral as a start. Don’t reinvent the wheel. You’ve already developed a brand offline, and that brand should stay the same. The idea is to expand your brand, not replace it. While your brand is more than just your photo, there is no point in confusing your audience. You want current customers who find you on social media to share you with others and they will if they recognize you immediately.

All businesses need to use social media to promote their business today. But, many business owners don’t realize that their actions on social media comprise an extension of their brand. To expand your brand it’s important to use social media in a strategic way that aligns with your core business values. How you promote your business with social media depends on what kind of business you have.

If you’re a speaker, author, life coach or your business is completely about you, you will handle your branding through social media differently than if your business is about a product or service. If you have products and services it’s important that you develop a brand for those in addition to your personal brand by creating accounts for each business component. Your @JaneSmith Twitter account should be used differently from your @ProductorServices business account.

On your personal social media accounts it’s important to be yourself and be transparent. Admitting mistakes, showing your personality, engaging with others, sharing information is important in branding yourself. On your business account you should also be a real person, share, engage your audience, and try to be compelling and interesting. However you slice it, social media is an excellent way to increase your brand.

Using social media can increase brand awareness quickly. Whether you like it or not, people will be talking about your business via social media. If you’re not invested in social media the conversation goes on without you. Not only do you want to be part of that conversation, you also want to be in control of the conversation.

In order to be in control of the conversation regardless of which social media you use, start the conversation. Create excellent content on your websites. Write excellent guest posts for other people’s websites. Share compelling information that other people have shared. Comment in a meaningful way on content that you enjoy, or even content that you disagree with. Always be respectful, but showing each audience your expertise will increase your authority, even if it’s controversial.

Never, ever delete critical information that you find, whether it’s a comment on your blog, or a complaint you discovered on Facebook. Instead, publicly deal with the comment in a professional way. Of course, delete offensive comments riddled with swear words, but don’t delete genuine critical comments or complaints. How you deal with these issues will speak volumes to your target audience who sees them.

Use social media to promote the things that your company does and is involved in. Every blog post you make, every new product you create, every new service you offer should be worthy of the same promotion as the next.

Remember, branding is more than a logo or pretty picture. It’s really about the perception your target audience has about your business’ culture. It’s a compilation of your name, logos, tagline, mission statement and the messaging that leaves your office. Without knowing your story and conveying a compelling story to the marketplace, many people will miss out on enjoying your products and services.

If you need help developing or telling your story, contact SK Consulting today!

What’s Your Branding Story? (Part 1)

Developing Your Branding Story

When we think about the important aspects of building our brand, most people focus on Name, Logo, Identity, Colors, Marketing and Strategy. While those along with your product and services are important components to your business success it’s amazing how important the story is too. People want to buy from those that they know, like and trust, and your story is how they first feel something.

A lot of businesses under estimate how important their “about us” page is, or how important the story of their why is.

To develop your story answer the questions, “How did you get started, why do you do what you do and where are you going?”

Many people think about branding in terms of logos, pictures and other graphics that are on our letterhead, business cards and websites. But today, it’s so much more than a picture. Branding is about an attitude. It’s feeling that is conveyed by the story you tell consumers about your business, eliciting enough feelings of trust from the buyer that they happily open their wallet and spend money on your product or service.

To properly brand your business you need to answer the following questions:

• How did you get started?

• Why did you get started?

• Who is your target audience?

• What is your product or service?

• What makes your offerings unique?

• Where do you see your business going?

Sure, you do need to choose your logo, general colors of your marketing collateral, website graphics and so forth. But, it’s more important to answer the above questions ensuring that you accurately represent your answers with the themes you choose.  Any marketing that you do should further the ideas that the answers provided. By being consistent through all your marketing efforts you will expand your brand.

What’s Your Mission?

Once you answer the questions, you can then use your answers to assist you in creating a mission statement and an appropriate tag line. Your mission statement and tag line can help you define yourself even further in terms of expressing to your future customers or clients who you are, what you stand for, and what you do. Not only will the answers, and the resulting mission statement and tag line help your clients understand you, they will help you stick to your goals.

Knowing your mission, your reason for being, will help spread awareness about your brand to your target audience. A mission statement provides focus for every area of your business from A to Z. You have to remember that branding is a process that evolves and develops over time and consistency and persistence is an imperative component to that process. Knowing your why enough to create an effective mission statement will take your business to the next level.

Branding is about getting clear concerning your business so that you and your entire staff can be laser focused on every aspect of your company from ensuring you are marketing to your ideal client, creating products and services for your ideal client, and expressing what your business stands for to clients, contractors and employees. The mission statement is an expression of your brand, written in a clear and concise way that helps not only your customers understand your business focus but you and your business partners too.

You should be living your mission statement every single day, which will in effect promote your brand. Live your mission on social media. Live your mission on your website. Live your mission in all your marketing collateral, products and services. Yes, part of that is knowing which graphics to include that expresses your brand, but as you see branding is so much more than a picture.

The next part in Your Branding Story is TELLING it.  

Anchor’s Away: Articulating Your Brand With Your Anchor Statement

When you’re trying to sell something, you need to have answers prepared for any question that comes your way. It’s a tough goal, but if you prepare, you are better able to understand what you are selling, who you are selling to and why you do what you do. 

Whether you’re selling a prospect on your product or service, or an angel investor on your startup, you need to have a complete grasp of your value proposition(s) and positioning statement(s) so you can craft a good elevator pitch. What’s the difference between your positioning statement and your value proposition?

Value proposition. This is simply the value you bring to your customer or client. It’s the solution you’re providing to the problem your customer is experiencing or the way your product or service increases profits or saves money. How is your customer better off purchasing your product or service? If it’s unclear to you how you help your customers, it’s even more unclear to your prospects.

Positioning statement. Unless you’re Thomas Edison, there’s a good chance that others are providing a similar,­ if not exactly the same, product or service. Your positioning statement should define your place in the market. Both Ace Hardware and Home Depot sell hammers, yet they have different strengths that they use to appeal to their customers. They are positioned differently within the market.

You need to understand your competition and what niche you’ll occupy within the market for your product or service. If you can’t do this, you won’t know which customers to target, where to advertise, how to price your product, etc.

Elevator pitch. This is a short “best of” presentation that takes the best of your value proposition and combines it with the best of your positioning statement. Above all, it is crafted for your target audience. Your value proposition and positioning statements won’t change – unless your business pivots – but your elevator pitch may change for every person you present it to.

Sometimes, it is hard for an individual to step outside of their own bubble to figure out their value proposition, their positioning statement and their elevator pitch.  The main reason is because people don’t understand how to articulate their WHY.  Why do they do what they do.  If you are struggling to set yourself apart from your competitors, try asking yourself the below about you and your potential customers.

1. What would you want to hear them say about what you do?  Be careful: The question here is what you would want to hear them say about what you do, not what you think they would say or what you expect them to say.

2. What would you want to hear them say about the results you produce? What are the outcomes, impacts, end products, and consequences you’d want people to say they received by working with you or using your product or service?

3. What would you want to hear them say about your authentic qualities? What are the contributions, characteristics, talents, and virtues you bring their life?

Take a look at the answers you wrote down for all three questions. The first answers describe the fundamental activities that define your work or business. For example:

• A dental hygienist cleans teeth and shows patients the proper way to floss.
• A business law firm writes up contracts, advises on business law, and crafts clever letters designed to get the other side to say “uncle.”

The “Doing” part of our brands is a fairly straightforward description of the day-in, day-out behaviors that make up our work. What you do is the service that you offer, the process you put in place, or the product you provide. It’s the way most people talk about their brands. While this part of branding is necessary to clearly communicate, it is usually the least interesting aspect. 

Next, take a look at the answer you wrote down for question two. This relates to what people will “have” in terms of results, impacts, and outcomes from engaging with your brand. For example:

• The dental patient will have bright, shiny teeth and a world-class flossing ability.
• The small-business owner will win her case and have an iron-clad contract.

Many people articulate their brand in terms of what they provide to their clients and customers, defining it by the results they produce. While this is more interesting than just describing your brand as what you “do,” it’s still not the complete picture.

Finally, take a look at what you wrote about the qualities you contribute. These are the qualitative characteristics you bring to what you do. It’s the bigger picture of the results you produce. It’s the why behind it all. For example:

• You generate well-being for your patients, since they feel confident, relaxed, and secure that their dental health is in good hands.
• You generate peace of mind for your business clients, since you help remove the stress that can be associated with legal matters.

The most powerful part of your brand is the qualitative part, yet ironically, that’s the aspect we spend the least time articulating. What we’re contributing with what we offer (do) and the results we produce (have) are important—but the biggest difference we make is by what we are.

It’s important that the layers of your core anchor statement include all three levels of brand definition: what you do, the results you produce, and the way you are that makes the difference.

Now, take a crack at crafting the anchor statement for your brand. Once you have something you feel works, try it out on people you meet. Keep what resonates, and tweak the rest. It won’t take long before you have an anchor statement that sings the true tune of your brand. 

If you need help developing your anchor statement, your vision statement, your mission or elevator pitch, contact SK Consulting today!