The Art of Branding to Build Credibility

Anyone can agree with their clients but it's a much harder job to be able to point out what can be improved or even disagree with the approach someone is taking. My ultimate goal is to help my clients move to the next level. Unfortunately, it's often painful! Kinda like when you are sick, you have to get shots or have surgery in order to get better! But, if you don’t get the shots or have the surgery the doctor prescribed – you most likely aren’t going to get better.

I like to call my approach "encouragement criticism" where I want to help someone do better at something they are already doing fairly well. You wouldn't be in business if you weren't doing many, many things right. My job is to help my clients perfect things.

Social networking opens up so many opportunities to gain exposure for your business. But if you're not focused on promoting your brand, and a unified, cohesive image at that, you'll confuse customers and prospects even damage your reputation. Toward that end, I'd like to share a few things about marketing and the importance of branding your business, no matter how long you've been in business.

Remember the KISS philosophy: Keep It Simple Stupid. Just read this article to verify my philosophy. Pay attention to the 5 basic concepts mentioned toward the end of this article.

It goes back to the old cliché’, “Don't sell the steak, sell the sizzle”. No matter how good your product, or how awesome the features are, you must invest time and money into marketing that product. Successful corporate brands understand this principle - you never stop marketing to customers, colleagues, and your virtual network of associates.

One of the most important elements when creating sizzle is credibility. In order to sell, a company and its management team must first be credible in the eyes of its prospective customers. No matter how "hot" the concept, if you can't get your prospects to believe in you, you'll never sell to your concept's potential.

You can show your company's credibility in many ways - experience, longevity, quality products, truthful marketing, glowing recommendations and testimonials, well-designed marketing campaigns, and a strong, stable management team. Your credibility grows each time you strengthen one of these exisiting characteristics or add one more to the list. And this is what attrracts buying, loyal customers.

Author and business consultant, Mark Siebert, has this to say: “If you aren't there already, you can do a number of things to polish your credibility as a company:

• Hire a designer to update the look and feel of your operation.
• Update your consumer marketing materials and website.
• Retain a PR firm to help you obtain press in the local market.
• Recruit an advisory board made up of your most prominent business acquaintances.
• Develop marketing materials that are better than those of your established competitors.
• And, from a self-serving perspective, retain the best consultants you can afford when you desire to take your business to the next level.

Maybe the idea of "branding yourself" seems ridiculous because you've been around 25, 50, or even 75 years. It's not. It's a subject that famed management guru and author of the best-selling business book "In Search of Excellence", Tom Peters, first tackled in 1997 for an article in Fast Company magazine titled, "The Brand Called You."

"Regardless of age, regardless of position, regardless of the number of years in business, regardless of the business we happen to be in, all of us need to understand the importance of branding. We are CEOs of our own companies: Me Inc. To be in business today, our most important job is to be head marketer for the brand called You. . . . You're every bit as much a brand as Nike, Coke, Pepsi, or the Body Shop."

In summary, always put your company brand first and abide by the KISS philosophy. Miraculous things will begin to happen!