To follow up from last week’s blog, The Power of Branding, I wanted to outline some tangible ways you can brand yourself or your business.

First, your brand has to be front and center on everything you do.

• Do you have embroidered shirts? Polos? Button downs? Sweaters? Do your salespeople wear them? Or inside staff that works with customers? Everything you do should have a logo on it. It will always be a conversation starter.
• Is your car wrapped? Does it stand out?
• Are your notes, emails and public advertisements branded?
• What about promotions? Pens? Mugs? Tumblers?
• In your area, are you known as your brand’s king or queen? The name recognition will get you business.

Second, make a list of three things that you want people to think about when they see you or your brand. If you want to promote quality products why would you have an old beat up shirt? You will also need to consider what groups you are a part of, what type of person buys your products and what do those things make others feel.

Your list of three things you want people to think about when they see you or your brand might look something like what’s listed below.

1. High quality
2. Speed
3. Customer Service

Once you’ve created your own list, give some thought to ways you can portray that and what are products you can buy to get your brand in front of those things?

For instance, if I want to be known as high quality, I would look for other things or brands that are considered high quality and try to connect with them. For example, I may wear a local sports team logo when I’m out on personal time. They make the fan base feel connected to the city and ultimately connect with other people.

Dual branding can help with getting a message out faster!

Tell people what you want them to think – your tagline is key to communicating this. When it comes to branding, your brand’s messaging within your advertising is also critical.

To conclude, branding involves many factors and all of these pieces play off one another so it is important to give serious thought to all elements of your branding and how they will integrate with one another. Overall, build the brand and live the brand, especially on a local level.