Episode #1: Predict If Your Business Will Succeed or if it Will Fail

For over 20 years now I have been helping small businesses and entrepreneurs develop their brand strategy, design their visual identity, and build their online marketing platforms.

So I have seen a lot of businesses thrive and achieve great success, even through some of the toughest economic times.

I’ve also witnessed many small businesses and entrepreneurs struggle, and ultimately fail, due to the day to day grind of trying to be seen and heard in a crowded and often oversaturated marketplace.

One of the most important parts of my role as a designer, marketer, and brand strategist is to analyze and determine the reasons why some businesses easily rise above the competition, and why so many other businesses are constantly struggling to keep their head above water.

Throughout my 2 decades of research, I have isolated the one thing that every business must put 100% of their energy and focus into that will ultimately determine if their business will succeed, or if it will fail.

The one critical element that all highly successful businesses have in common is a well defined brand, and a strategy that supports that brand.

Listen, Your BRAND is the most valuable asset of your business.

• It’s what motivates customers to buy.
• It’s what makes you better than the competition.
• It’s what attracts and retains quality employees.
• It’s what builds a community of loyal brand advocates that will continue to purchase your products or services.

Without a strong brand to engage, captivate, and inspire your audience, your business will struggle to thrive in today’s competitive marketplace.

With this much power and influence, developing an effective brand strategy is critical to the success of any business.

Unfortunately this is where many small businesses, entrepreneurs, and even marketing agencies fail.

The reason is, when most people think about a brand, they think of a company’s logo, color palette, and maybe a font type.

But those are just the visual aspects of a brand. A real well defined brand is so much more than just what the consumer sees.

I was even guilty of this misconception in my early years as a designer.

I would acquire a new client, design a logo, designate a few colors to that logo, slap together a website and call it a brand.

Without ever thinking about who the target audience is or the competition.

Then I would wonder why no one was engaging with the business or purchasing their products or services.

The foundation of a brand is built by defining the core Purpose, Vision, Mission, and Values of the business.

A brand strategy is how you communicate these core values through your brand personality, your brand messaging, and your visual identity across all your customer touchpoints.

The goal is to align your core purpose, vision, mission, and values with a select group of people who share those same traits and beliefs.

These are the people who are your target audience, and will become your most loyal brand advocates. They will continue to purchase your products or services regardless of changes in the marketplace.

Once you have defined and located your target audience, the next step in your brand strategy is to audit the competition.

By knowing who your competitors are, you can determine their strengths and weaknesses in comparison to your own, and then differentiate yourself from them so you stand out to the consumer as the better choice and preferred option.

This critical foundation and strategy is exactly what I have been helping small businesses and entrepreneurs develop for over 20 years.

To make this process as easy as possible, I have developed a step-by-step process that I implement into every business I have the opportunity to work with.

This proven strategy has not only helped new start-up businesses accelerate their growth, but it has also re-launched struggling businesses by building that critical brand foundation.

Once that foundation is in place, and a business knows who they are, why they exist, who their target demographic is, and how to communicate their brand to that audience, then all the marketing tactics and decisions are so well defined that they render the competition completely irrelevant.

That is how you build a beloved brand like Apple, Microsoft, Nike, Amazon, and any other brand that has built cult-like following of loyal advocates.

So to help you build a proper foundation for the future growth and success of your business I have created this Building The Brands training series.

In each episode I will be discussing business development topics focused on brand development, brand strategy, design, and direct response marketing.

I will provide you with tips and step by step processes to get your business on the right path in the least amount of time, and I will show you how to implement each of these strategies into a variety of business types and industries.