Not Just Pretty | Building An Effective Small Business Brand

Your logo's jobs

Your logo's jobs are: 

1. To communicate to your target audience. Your logo should tell your business's story to your target audience. The 4 things you need to know: 

• Who you are (your personality, values, and mission - as a business)
• What you do (the products/services you provide, and how you deliver them)
• What makes you different from your  (what makes you stand out?)
• Who you can best help (what customers do you enjoy working with?)

Remember that your brand's job is to communicate the first 3 points above to the audience described in the 4th - not to "explain yourself in your own words", but rather to explain yourself in words they will connect and identify with.

2. To stand out. The logo has to stand out from the competition's art, and to be memorable for your prospects and clients. If it doesn't look different from your competitors' logos, then it may be mistaken for theirs - which can mean that they'll assign your communications to your competitors in their minds - which is definitely not what you're going for.

And, if your prospects can't remember your logo, then it will be harder to catch their attention. It's not often that someone will have a need for your product or service the second that they come across your materials - it's much more common for someone to shop around for a product or service. If they can't remember your logo, and by extension, your company, then you might not get the project or sale.

What to do before you design another marketing piece

Stop! Put down that Word document! And quit writing that web page!

Before you make another marketing piece for your small business, there are a few points that you absolutely need to know the answer to. Puzzling out these questions will help you make your materials more effective.

1. Decide who your best customers are. In order to know how to market, you first need to know who you're marketing to. Think about their personality, their problems, their wants and needs, their lifestyle, etc.

2. Think about how they want to be marketed to. Will your customers read an online newsletter? Will they even subscribe to one? If they get a postcard in the mail, will they just recycle it? How can you format your marketing so that your best customer will want to read it?

3. Think about - or even better, talk to - your best customers. Figure out what their questions are. What concerns they have. Address those in your marketing materials. Also ask about their color preferences, and design preferences. 

Just doing these 3 things can really help your marketing to help you reach your audience.

The Marketing Money-Pit

I did a lot of home improvement last summer, and found myself thinking about that old Tom Hanks movie, "The Monday Pit" - where a couple tries to repair a house that just keeps falling apart under them. The stairway falls apart, the bathtub falls through the floor, the chimney collapses... the repairs go on, but the house keeps getting into worse and worse shape.

Now, my house was never in that state - the changes that we made to it were mainly cosmetic (and, making those improvements were hard enough!). But, we specifically bought our house because it was newer, and to avoid "Money Pit" type problems - I didn't want to face those types of projects and problems with my first house. 

But, of course, I started thinking about how the concept of a Money Pit house relates to a small business brand. I've run into a lot of entrepreneurs who tell me "I've been marketing my business for years - but I just feel like I'm making more and more promotional materials and not getting anywhere with it".

And you spend postage or e-zine credits sending these promotions out into what seems like a big, empty customer-less void. Or, you spend money on your yearly website hosting fee - without getting any leads from it. You go to networking events, tell people your "elevator pitch" - and then get a blank stare in return.

That's how it feels to have a brand that's a Money Pit. 

You hire designers, and writers to put these promotions together, or maybe you're just writing and designing things yourself - in which case it's just a Time Pit, but your time is worth a lot, right? And it just never seems to get you anything in return - no customers, no inquiries, and no work! This is definitely not what you're spending your time and money to get back - you want to create promotions that go out into the world and get results.

How to create a brand that's a client machine instead of a Money Pit.

1. Create a Brand Definition: Having a clear definition of who you are, what you do, what makes you different and who you best help can help drive your marketing efforts.

2. Market consistently: In both a sense of timing - how often you market (not sending out a newsletter every day for a week and then going silent for 6 months!) and in a brand sense (how you design your materials and how you write them). This consistent repetition helps your prospects to remember you when they have a need, and increases the chance that your materials might be in front of them at the right time.

3. Create a marketing plan: By having a plan, you'll be able to set out a strategy that will get you the marketing exposure and kit you need without running around in a sense of panic trying to "fix" things. Part of the frustration of having a Money Pit is that you're just bouncing from project to project while things seem to be getting worse. But, if you sit down and plan out your marketing efforts instead of just reacting to events and panicking, you'll be able to create materials that look like they've been created more intentionally instead of thrown together - which can help you communicate with your prospects.

4. Mix up your marketing - but with a strategy. Instead of marketing one service one week, and something completely different the next, create a time line where you're marketing one product or service for a while, and then move on to the next. This will help you develop a conversation with the client around one product or service, and reinforce that feeling of consistency. 

Also, mix up your marketing methods - but not to the extent that you're printing things or creating web pages that won't be used. Always ask yourself how you'll use a marketing piece - if you're creating it just for one networking event, that might not be the best use of your time. Try to get the best bang for your marketing dollar and time.

If you market with intention, strategy and consistency, you'll be more likely to see great results for your marketing - instead of being dragged down into a branding Money Pit.

Batching your marketing tasks

I often get asked how I find the time to write articles, keep up with the blog, update my portfolio online, write products, and to get my newsletter out, all on top of sales, doing design work, and actually having a life.

The answer is that I batch my tasks. Whenever I get in the mood to do something, I tend to stay in that mood for a while. So, I figure I might as well take advantage of that and make some real progress, instead of writing one article or blog post at a time.

It winds up looking like:

• Sitting down and writing 4-5 pre-scheduled blog posts at one time
• Writing half a dozen articles in a week and sending all of those to the proofreader at the same time (this saves her time as well!) If I do this four times a year, the whole year's worth of articles is complete.
• Taking those edited articles and formatting them in HTML for my website all at once. At the same time, I cut and paste those into my newsletter template. Then, when it's time to send the newsletter out, I just have to add an intro and send it.
• Saving up new projects (in a special folder on my computer) for 2-3 big portfolio updates at once, instead of trying to add projects one at a time as they're completed 

While I'm in "batch mode", if I think of a project in a different section, then I add those to a special section on my to-do list so that I can work on it when I'm in that mode.

Batching works so well for me in my business that I've extended it into some of my "life" tasks. I tend to do all the cooking for the week in one or two batches, so that I'm not spending time every day chopping onions. I batch my errands. I even batch my hobbies - doing a bunch of sewing all at once, or working on several paintings.

How could you use batching to make your marketing easier and more consistent?

What to put on your sales sheet?

The other day, a client asked me what to put on a sales or marketing one-sheet.

Again, like most other marketing materials, the first questions to ask when starting up a project like this are:

"What is the purpose of this piece?"

"How will I use it in my business?"

"What questions will people have about the text here, and how can I answer them?"

"What's the next step (and, usually, it's not buying the thing you're promoting!)?"

"What do they need to know to take that next step?"

Those questions will help formulate the content of the piece. Also, consider if you can even answer all of those questions in one or two pages - if not, another type of marketing piece might be better suited to selling the offering.

Then, ask yourself if you'll really give away a vast stack of one-pagers - if you can make use of the design and printing fee - or if you'd be better off doing this design piece yourself and printing it at home.

If you get past these questions, and still want to do a one-sheet, here's the must-haves for the content:

- Your logo

- Your contact information (don't laugh, people leave this off all the time and wind up having to clip or staple business cards to the one-sheet, which takes a lot of time and doesn't look terribly professional)

- Your Visual Vocabulary

- An attention-grabbing headline - address the problem that your reader's facing, or use some interesting words. 

- A call to action - what do you want the reader to do next?

- A way to get more information - reference to your website, a way to make an informational appointment, etc.

- All of the basic features of the offering - usually, bullets are a good way to communicate this

- The benefits - what will they get when they buy? What will it mean to them? How will it change their lives or businesses?

- If there's room, tackle commonly asked questions or your purchasers' objections.

- Don't forget to leave some white space on the page. If your document is too cramped and full of text and images, no one will want to read it.

And, before printing tons of one-sheets, be sure to run them by a "best client" and get their reaction. You don't want to print these up to find that they're not effective, or you've left out an important bit of information.

Branding Is Like a Fairy Tale

"Once upon a time, in a land far away, there was a little girl who wore a red hood everywhere she went.

One day, her mother sent her to her grandmother's house in the next village, with some goodies in a basket. In order to get there, the little girl had to go through the woods. And, in the woods, she met a big, bad wolf. The wolf wanted to eat her up right there, but there were some woodcutters not so far off who would have chopped him to bits, so instead, he started talking to her.

"Where are you going with all those nice goodies?" the wolf asked. Now, the little girl didn't know that wolves were scary, and had no idea that one would want to eat her up. So, she told the wolf all about her grandmother's house, and the goodies, and whatever else she could think of.

The wolf took this information and raced to the grandmother's house, where he immediately ate the grandmother up. Then the wolf got dressed in her clothes and climbed into the grandmother's bed, and waited for the little girl, who would be much tastier than the old woman.

Finally the little girl arrived. They had a nice conversation about how big grandma's ears had gotten, and her teeth, and how well suited the wolf's mouth was for eating up little girls. And, finally, he got to eat the little girl all up."

It may not seem like the story of Little Red Riding Hood has much of a parallel to your business's brand. But, a good brand can be a lot like a story. Instead of being a story of a little girl going on a journey, and overcoming different challenges, the brand is the story of how you take your customer from just learning about your business to becoming a customer.

"Once upon a time, in a land far away, there was a little girl who wore a red hood everywhere she went."

This is what the introduction to your brand should look like. Notice that instead of trying to tell you all of the details about what's going to happen in the story, this story picks out just a couple of important details. And, one of those details - the red hood - is a big differentiator for the main character. 

This is what the first introduction to your business - your main brand statement - needs to look like. Instead of trying to tell your clients every detail about your business and creating a confusing introduction, stick to the must-know facts - and if there's a differentiating factor in there, then that can be a big help.

"One day, her mother sent her to her grandmother's house in the next village, with some goodies in a basket. In order to get there, the little girl had to go through the woods. And, in the woods, she met a big, bad wolf. The wolf wanted to eat her up right there, but there were some woodcutters not so far off who would have chopped him to bits, so instead, he started talking to her."

Now, here's a bit of background - the situation that all this is set in. Plus, you've got the first problem statement - what big, bad wolf do you help your clients tackle?

"'Where are you going with all those nice goodies?' the wolf asked. Now, the little girl didn't know that wolves were scary, and had no idea that one would want to eat her up. So, she told the wolf all about her grandmother's house, and the goodies, and whatever else she could think of."

This section parallels how you should ask your clients questions about their needs, wants and problems, in order to uncover how you can really help them (not eat them up!)

"The wolf took this information and raced to the grandmother's house, where he immediately ate the grandmother up. Then the wolf got dressed in her clothes and climbed into the grandmother's bed, and waited for the little girl, who would be much tastier than the old woman."

Now, this is a bit extreme - you don't want to take the feedback you get from your customers and use it to trap them. But, you should write your brand statements and marketing packages to address their needs, in their words. And, think about who your best (tastiest) clients are - and how you can set yourself up to fill their expectations.

"Finally the little girl arrived. They had a nice conversation about how big grandma's ears had gotten, and her teeth, and how well suited the wolf's mouth was for eating up little girls. And, finally, he got to eat the little girl all up."

Again, tell your clients what characteristics make you stand out - this may be your personality, your services, your differentiators, or the type of client you specialize in serving. While you probably don't want to eat your clients all up, you do want to form a good business relationship with them, by letting them know what to expect beforehand. And, telling them what makes you stand out can make the job of sales and of working with them easier for you.

What does your business's fairy tale look like? And how can you create a story that you can tell to your clients to help you live "happily ever after" together?

Do you really need a trifold brochure?

In the world of printed marketing materials beyond just business cards, one of the first items that tends to spring to mind is the trifold brochure. At least, that seems to be the case with my clients.

What I want to know is, why a trifold? My best guess is because they've been around for a long time - since they're just made up of one sheet of paper, they're relatively affordable to print.

The downside is, there's not a whole lot of space on it, so you have to really focus your words and images. Many small businesses try to give an overview of their whole business in the space available on a trifold - and, if you have an eye-catching cover and a back cover with contact information or a self-mailer, then you have less than one and one-third pages to get your point across - which is not a lot of space.

Keys to trifold success

1. If you're seized by the desire to create a trifold brochure, ask yourself how you'll really use it in your business:

• Will you give it out at networking events?
• Mail it to prospective clients?
• Use it to build credibility when giving out estimates or having a first meeting? 
• Give it to existing clients to hand out when they make referrals? 
• Give it out at a trade show?
• Use it as in-office promotional materials (either in your office or your partners' offices)?
• (If you've got another use, leave it in the comments below!)  

Make sure that if you are going to make one, they won't sit in your office gathering dust.

2. Create a test version before you go to the expense of designing and printing it. Fire up Publisher or Word, and create a brochure that you print a few copies of at home. Then, give it to your clients and networking partners, and ask their opinions. Even better, give it out in the same way that you'd actually use it in your business - take it to that networking event, mail it to a few prospective clients, or do whatever else you want to do with it. Ask yourself:

• How does the interaction feel? Do you want to repeat that 500 or 1000 times, until you're all out of printed copies?
• How do your customers react to the text in the brochure? Are you using the right words? The best calls to action? 
• What questions do they have after reading it? Can you answer any of those for them, in the brochure?
• Is there another way that you could accomplish this same end result? A better way, like a website page, PDF or regular, printed one-sheet?

3. Find a designer who will help you make the text and design effective. You want your brochure to be more than just pretty, just like everything else in your business.

Doing what you do... for yourself

I was at a workshop last week, and during the course of the workshop, the presenter (Sean D'Souza of Psychotactics) admitted that he wasn't using some of his strategies on his own website.

This got me to thinking... what do I always make my clients go through that I haven't been doing for myself? The answer is going through a really thorough, written-down version of my Brand Definition worksheet, and then sticking to it in all my marketing materials.

Now, doing this is pretty scary, because I have hundreds of pages of website written, and lots of other marketing materials done. But, I think if I'm going to preach something, then I should actually go ahead and go through the process - that can only help me make it better, right?

What do you tell your clients they should do and then you don't go do it yourself?

Why your Business Brand Shouldn't Be An Exact Mirror Image Of You

"Mirror, Mirror on the wall... Who's The Fairest One Of All?" The wicked witch uses this line to ask her magic mirror about her beauty, and time and time again, the mirror always says, "Why, you are, of course!" Then, one day, the mirror answers "There is one fairer than you—and her skin is white as snow." This simple truth sends the witch on a rampage. She disguises herself, poisons poor Snow White, and puts her into a magical coma.

This tale of jealousy and deception cautions children everywhere that nothing good can come of vanity. But if you ask the average small business owner what differentiates their business from the competition, one of the first answers you'll hear is "Why, I do. I'm the best at this in the land!"—or some variation on that refrain.

Vanity is not the "fairest one of all."

Vanity, even when backed by your business acumen or experience, is never pretty. And it's not universally attractive to customers—unless they've worked with you in the past or know you socially. The fact that it's you running your business probably won't mean much to the average new customer.

Customers and prospects are more concerned about their needs, their businesses, and their situations than they are about how good you are. What they want to know is how you're going to help them. And if you're a one-person business, they're likely to be more concerned about the fact that you're the only one there rather than being thrilled about your experience.

And this is where a brand steps in.

Your business brand's job is to take your one-person business and make it seem established and stable—rather than fly-by-night and risky to work with.

A brand should also make your business seem more "businesslike"— and that means credible, dependable, and customer-focused. A business brand can help you position your business as helpful, concerned about clients, and capable of delivering.

Finally, a brand allows you to speak about and present your business as a separate entity—instead of constantly talking about your, you can talk about your business. In other words, a brand helps to take the spotlight off the entrepreneur and give the business a personality of its own. This allows you to do a bit more "crowing" about your business, without seeming as if you are bragging about yourself.

Keys to separating your business brand from you.

1. Think about how big you want your business to eventually be.
If you're planning to stay a one-person business, then your business's brand can probably be closer to your own personality than if you're planning to grow your business and eventually hire employees. If you are planning to hire people, make sure that your employees will be able to demonstrate the brand characteristics you choose.

2. Look at other businesses in your industry and how they present their brands.
This can help point you in the right direction for your brand and also help you make sure your brand will stand out. Look at the things they talk about and how they talk about their businesses.

See which business's materials and brands you're most drawn to and the lessons or suggestions you can pull from their materials and repurpose for your own. Just don't copy them exactly, or your brand won't be unique. Look at the pictures they use and the words they describe their businesses with—both elements contribute to your brand.

3. Figure out which of your personality traits are most valuable to your business.
The best way to do this is to think about your target audience and the reassurance it needs to go from being interested in doing business with you to making the committment.

Some of these traits are likely to be those expected of any business worth working with—fair pricing, good service, and the list goes on and on. So you also need to think about the factors that differentiate you from your competition. You also want to focus on factors that make you appealing to the people you want to hire you.

This is a pretty tall order, but try out your brand on your target audience and see what resonates with them before "carving it into stone"—which, in the case of your brand, means before you print any marketing materials. Test your ideas out with temporary materials or by incorporating them into an elevator pitch at your next networking event. At the very least, call up some of your best clients and run your ideas by them.

4. Consider creating a logo as the face of your business.
If you use a photo of yourself as the primary graphic for your business, it suggests you're always going to take personal care of all client accounts—which isn't a message you should send if you're planning to grow your business or hire subcontractors or assistants. Using a photo also brings in the vanity aspect again. "Look at me, I'm here to do business with you." may not be the best message to send.

If you keep these 4 steps in mind and create a brand that leaves you and your vanity out of the picture, your business won't come across as a wicked witch. Instead, you'll create a brand that will make your business "the fairest one of all" to your best clients and help you live happily ever after.

Why Define Your Brand? Part 6

By Defining your brand, you'll be able to be more organized in your thinking about your marketing and designs.

Instead of designing things on a piece-by-piece basis, you'll have your brand communication goals recorded and available for you - and for your designers, writers and other marketing team members - to consult. Or, if you're a very small business, you'll be able to consult this definition over time.

This way, even if you have multiple people creating your brand, they'll all be working from the same goals, and trying to communicate the same things. This, combined with creating a record of the words and images you use to communicate your brand definition (i.e., do you know what phrases you use throughout your materials? How about having copies of your logo and stock photos?), can help you to create a consistent and well organized marketing effort moving forward.