I've been doing a Weekly Q&A video series for Karbon (software we love). The series is for accountants and is aimed at answering all of their questions. It's amazing how many questions I'm getting about creating a brand for your business! I am an accountant after all.
I really had to think hard about how to answer some of these questions. Then it hit me... I had an advantage.
When growthwise was nothing other than a name I met with Daniel Borg from psyborg®. I can still remember the meeting vividly. We sat in his studio as he took me through a very thorough and detailed process. He asked me questions about what I was trying to build, who for, what I wanted to convey, the tone of our business, the personality. It was really a workshop on setting the future of growthwise.
I've never forgotten one thing Daniel said to me that day.
Brand Everything
psyborg®
It helps that Daniel has continued to remind me how important this is!
Now for some of you, you may be thinking, whatever - that branding stuff is only for big business, it doesn't apply to me. Well newsflash, it does apply to you. It applies to every business no matter what stage you are at. Especially as we now live in the world of the internet & social media.
But branding is not just about making things look pretty (designers please don't yell at me, this is accountant speak). It's about setting the tone, the culture, the vision, the communication, everything about your business. It's about bringing your entire team to the same page and letting the rest of the world understand what you are all about. It's about showing off your business personality.
You can't build a brand until you know what you are trying to create.
All too often I see people start off in business without a clear understanding of what they are creating. They go off on tangents, are really inconsistent (learn why that's important here) try to do 10 different things and end up doing all of them mediocre instead of concentrating on a few things and doing them brilliantly.
If you want to Kick-Arse in business you have to care about your brand
So when was the last time you sat down and looked at what your brand says about you? When was the last time you workshopped with your designer what you are trying to create?
When was the last time you stepped back and took a look at your business, the products/services you supply, your customers/clients, whether your external business personality matches what you do internally?
As an added bonus I interviewed Daniel on the subject of The Value of Consistency. We talk about Brand Everything, why the design process is so important and finish with the top 3 things you need to do today in your business.
These exercises are best done with an external party as a workshop. We run workshops for our clients to help them focus on business strategy but it's always important to have a designer bring that strategy to life.
When was the last time you had a day focused solely on your business?
BRAND EVERYTHING! If you run a #business get your flavour right... Then make sure everything you do & #communicate is on #brand. It's not just visual but the way you do things that set your brand apart from the rest, branding your business in the minds of your #customers. #branding #smallbusiness #entrepreneur #entrepreneurs #entrepreneurship #partmindpartmachine
A photo posted by Daniel Borg (@_psyborg_) on
