Branding. We all have heard the word a thousand times. Corporate branding, personal branding, national branding … family branding? I did a search on the word “brand” in amazon.com, and came up with 6,381 entries. Could there really be that many books on this subject?? After a more thorough investigation, I found that there were some book titles with names like “Brand New”, like “Brand New Baby”. I figured that there was no way *that* was going to help me, at least not with marketing, and surely not with writing this article.

I thought I would try to get it a bit more specific. So I did a search on the word “branding” (which should be either for companies or horses … but I did find a couple of books on tattoos), and came up with 575 books. This means there are between 575 and 6,381 books on this subject! A lot of bored authors? Maybe, but since publishers have to put up the cash to get the books out there – I thought they might be more picky.

Branding Defined

So what is branding? You will get a lot of opinions, especially from Creative Types. Here is a practical, effective definition of “business branding” you can use to improve and expand your business.

The purpose of branding is to create more profits with less effort. Quite simply, that’s it. But that doesn’t tell the real secret.

Your goal of branding is to generate and maintain QUALIFIED LEADS. What does that mean? You want to use your branding to attract customers who want to buy from you, not to sell to those who do not. Branding creates an environment where customers want to purchase your products, your services - before they even meet you. Before they even pick up your brochure, or pick up the phone.

How many hours, how much time, how much profit have you and your sales teams lost chasing customers who are not interested in you, or are just fishing for price quotes to compare against your competition? Tired of it?

Get them to come to you. Stop using “seller’s thinking” (who you want to sell to), and start using “buyer’s thinking” (who wants to buy from you and why).

No Secret Stays Secret

So what is the real secret? The real secret is to add value. Add value, add benefits and keep adding value to your customers. Not necessarily the benefit you want to give them, but the benefit they want to receive. Help them because you really want what is best for them. Be important to them.

So how do you go about finding real value, adding real solutions to your customers?

Before we get to that, we have to take a quick check of where we are. In my original definition, I said “create more profit with less effort.” We are looking at the “more profit” part now, how about the “less effort” part?

The “less effort” is the second secret. Leverage. Each and every part of your marketing should be leverage-able. That means that your marketing mix – all of the different tools and tactics you use to market – needs to impact many people at once. Sometimes with you being there, most times without you being there.

So how do you combine adding value, giving benefits and leverage? The first thing you should do is ask them what they want, what real problem needs solving. Then, once you know what that value is, communicate the solutions to their problems to others - others who have the same problem! Not to everyone you want to tell. Be applicable to your audience’s needs.

And even more, use the actual act of communication (speeches, articles – even your sales materials!) to add value to your current clients and other potential clients. Does your brochure give your potential clients new valuable information? Or do you just talk about your product’s or service’s features? Which do you think they want to read about?

One more thing. While writing this article, I came across an advertisement for “Fast Brand Building”. Thinking in this way will get you the same sustainable results as “fast weight loss” and “speed meditation”. Branding takes time, and takes consistency. Spend the time to get to know what value you can offer, spend the time to communicate what your customers want to hear.

Scott Minteer
BrandMade - Effective Marketing Innovation
Bangkok
Thailand