sales & marketing: branding

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Sales & Marketing

Next Level Personal Branding: Turning You Into the “Product”

Maria RossCreator & Chief Brand Strategist, Red Slice

www.red-slice.com@redslice

Wireless Network: Fairmont MeetingsGroup and Password are both: BlogHerPro


First, an exercise…



What is brand?

Brand is not just a logo; it’s your promise to the world

Brand is the impression, mindshare you create!

Brand guides your marketing (and content…and operational…and design) decisions to tell the right story to the right people

at the right time.

Would Nordstrom ever sponsor a Monster Truck Rally?

Would Dr. Oz ever talk about small business strategies?



The simple truth…

Effective branding is not about how much

money you spend, but about how

clearly and consistently

you communicate the right message to the

right audience through everything you do.



Why does brand matter…to you?

CLARITYGuide & focus investments

CUSTOMERS:Attract the right

readers

COIN: Stand out &

increase revenue



Why does brand matter…to them?

CLARITYWhat can I find

here?

CUSTOMERS:Is this my tribe?

COIN: How does it “enrich” me?



How is brand communicated?

Brand

Verbal

ExperientialVisual



If you want to make money….

Your blog is a product. It is consumed. It needs to attract an audience and add value to their lives in order to thrive.

You write your blog in your voice, with your perspective. Therefore, your personal brand is the foundation for the blog – and business - brand.

But….a product needs to deliver VALUE. What aspects of your personal brand offer value to your audience?



Personal or Business Brand? Lines Blurring…but Same Process



Parlaying a Personal Brand into your Business

• Wrote a brand positioning statement that aligned to his personal values as to why he built the company and what value he wanted to offer clients

• Adopted his trademark tone and manner in the brand personality and copywriting

• Used aspects of his background to create a unique brand slant that no other competitor could claim

• Created a Values Manifesto that was grounded in his personal values but phrased as guiding principles for entire business



The 10 Key Questions to Build a Brand Strategy

1. How do you describe yourself and your blog/business?

2. What are your offerings and prices?

3. What are your strengths and weaknesses?

4. What are the feelings and emotions around your “brand?”

5. Who and where is your ideal audience?

6. What are the benefits you offer and why do they matter?

7. Who is your competition? How are you different?

8. How do you communicate with “customers” vs. “prospects”?

9. What is your one Greatest Asset?

10. How will you measure success?



Q1: Start with the basics

What. Do. You. Do?

No marketing speak! You must start with defining this well and simply before embarking on brand strategy. What do you offer? Who

do you serve? Why does it matter?

Pretend you’re speaking to someone who knows nothing about you, your blog or your expertise area.

From this, you can craft a loftier Mission and/or Vision Statement, Philosophy or Manifesto! Baby steps…



Q2: Offerings/Pricing

What do you offer? What do you charge?

Free blog posts only with ads? Video? Products? Courses?

Later, you’ll align this with your ideal audience and determine if they have a need and if what, if anything they will pay



Q3: Strengths & Weaknesses

• What’s in your “brand arsenal”?

• Where is the brand vulnerable?

• Consider network, connections, education, experience, story

• Think about how can you parlay these strengths into reader benefits? How can you turn your weaknesses to a positive?



Q4: Brand Attributes

What do you want people to associate with you or your blog? What is authentic? Think of pictures, images, adjectives, famous people, locations, personality traits

This is a huge help to designers and writers in understanding your brand personality, tone and voice.



Attribute Examples

PlayfulButtoned-up

Savvy

Snarky

Bubbly

RomanticNaturalSober

Comical

Casual

Cutting-edge

FastFresh

ManicFlirty

ProtectiveEfficient

HandcraftedGeeky

Calm

Designers can translate these into strong visual/verbal cues

Warm



Q5: Ideal AudienceThis is the single most important aspect to a strong Brand Strategy. Who is your ideal realer? If you don’t know them intimately and make them real, you’ll be shooting at a moving target.

Think IDEAL, not average. Defining this well guides your content and new offerings, advertisers, and ensures that what you offer appeals to the right people.



Q6: Benefits, a.k.a. Who cares?

“What’s in it for me?”

Talk in terms of benefits, not just features

Develop a messaging platform by audience to inform all communications



Q7: Competition/Differentiation

Branding is all about differentiating yourself/your blog from the other guys

Find the “whitespace”

Knowing what you’re up against will help you craft your message so you can clearly and concisely convey why you’re the best alternative.



Q8: Audience Communications

Brand is about two-way communicationHow do your existing vs. new readers want

to get info? What are the different messages?

Different brand relationship = Different messages, methods



Q9: One Greatest Asset



Q10: Measure Success

Effective branding is a journey

The ultimate metric is sales, but you have to lead people there in phases, often called the sales cycle:

Effective branding and messaging at each phase can help move your customers to the Purchase phase faster.

Awarenes

s

Education

Consideration

Purchase



What will you measure?METRIC CURRENT STATE GOAL

Blog readers 1000 per post 5,000 per post

Guest blog requests 2 per month 4 per month

Comments per post 5 per post 10 per post

Shares 15 per post 30 per post

Email signups 20 per month 40 per month

Press mentions 1 in 2012 5 in 2013



What’s in a Brand Strategy Document?

• Mission/Vision

• Values

• Ideal customer profiles

• Messaging platform/Key benefits

• Differentiators

• Brand attributes and voice

• Offerings/pricing/packages/distribution model

Your brand WILL evolve: Revisit or refresh yearly



Crafting a Visual ID for your brand

Craft Brand Strategy and Key

Messages first

Hire an experienced

designer

Develop logo and color palette

Create visual ID system (business cards, graphics,

standard materials)

Carry color palette and design look

into your website

Create a Style Guide for

consistency

Consistency = memorable, professional. effective communication



A clear brand strategy helps you…• Define who you are and who you serve, crisply and cleanly

• Spread the word about what you can do

• Focus on the most effective marketing channels

• Create customized messaging by audience

• Integrate your communications across channels

• Remain true to yourself in all content/business decisions

• Save time and money on marketing



Questions? Comments? Clarity?

Red Slice: www.red-slice.com

[email protected]

@redslice ~ Facebook.com/redslice

Branding Basics for Small Business: How to Create an Irresistible Brand on Any Budget

*Sign up for The Juice at red-slice.com

http://www.red-slice.com/

sales & marketing: branding

Documents

blogherpro

personal brand

personal values

brand matterto

brand personality

fairmont meetingsgroup

press releases

greatest asset