Do It! Marketing Blog: Marketing for Smart People™

You may have already heard about the upcoming Expertise to Empire Bootcamp Webinar Series produced my good friend and National Speakers Association colleague Shari Alexander.

This 6-Session Weekly Bootcamp includes information, materials, and coaching on:   

• How to create your personal Brand that puts your competition to shame
• Strategically navigating the world of Social Media so that it doesn't eat up your life and your productivity while still generating leads 
• The business of Public Speaking; learn what the top speakers are doing in today's market to get gigs and build their list
• The ins and outs of the fast-changing Publishing world. Discover which method of book publishing is right for you. Then put the steps in place to successfully execute the book you've been dreaming of
• Insider secrets of a successful Product Launch. Get more product sales in a shorter period of time with these tested and proven techniques
• Find out what the masters are doing for their Market Research.  Get the edge in your business plan right from the start by implementing these easy and quick techniques

As with most well-marketed, well-delivered programs, naturally you get some nice bonuses in addition to the Early Bird pricing that is now in effect.  

Branding is everything - and I mean everything.
-- Scott Bedbury

Branding is overrated.
-- Regis McKenna

I'm going to go with Regis McKenna on this one.

There is so much hot air being blown around about brands
and branding, by everyone from Tom Peters ("Brand You!") to
hundreds of smalltime business coaches who have glommed
onto branding as a buzzword - and refuse to let go!

Small business branding is often code for a lot of BS from marketing consultants and ad agencies who are more interested in what's in your wallet than what will grow your small business and make the phone ring!

I'm going to define brand very clearly and plainly...

A brand is a promise of an experience. Period.

You walk into a McDonald's for lunch versus a Ritz-Carlton Hotel because that's the kind of lunch you want that day. You would probably be confused and more than a little upset if you found waiters and linen tablecloths in that McDonald's or if your bill came to $110.

So in order to punch through a lot of the mystique around building a brand - especially for small business owners - let's call it a promise.

• Who can make a promise? Anyone.
• How much does it cost to make a promise? Usually nothing.
• Can you make a promise to someone across the hall? Sure.
• Across the country? You bet.
• Can you make promises to people in just your local area? Of course.
• Do you need to be crystal clear on what that promise means, before you try to communicate it to others? Yes, that would be smart.
• If asked, could your top level executives say what your promise is or means? Would the answers be consistent?
• Hmmmm...

Brand is communication. Brand is consistency. Brand is integrity. Brand is simply recognition for a job well done.

Boiling all these timeless business ideas into a 5-letter word doesn't change them.