Our Mission
We are dedicated to helping you as a small business owner uncover your unique identity and give you the support – big branding strategies, training, advice and wisdom – to create an exceptional brand that makes an exceptional difference, so you can live an exceptional life!
Big branding is a strategic necessity. Our work will inspire, motivate and move you to think outside the box and create a world-class brand that positively impacts the world. We will imagine and craft such a brand that not only appears different from everybody else, you’ll be in position to:
- Do well financially, spiritually, and emotionally
- Do something good for the betterment of our societies
- Flourish in the marketplace
Our Uniqueness
What makes me different from other ‘branders’ is that my Brand Development & Training Company offers the world’s first 3-step guided system for owners across-the-globe who want to organically create a big brand and a strong message that sells, so you can excite, delight, and ignite your market and make it easier to get new customers.
I and my team do so by engaging you as a client or student in my proprietary Big Brand Formula. I stand against the belief that in order to have a wildly successful brand you’ve got to have a Fortune 500 company budget, or thousands to spend each month on hit-or-miss marketing tactics.
Our Stand
Instead, I believe the opposite to be true!
- The road to wild success in brand creation starts with replicating some of the ‘big brand’ principles, methods, and approaches – a brand strategy – used by branding giants like the Procter & Gamble Co. (P&G)
- This is true whether you’re branding organizations, products, services, or people (said another way, it doesn’t matter if you want to create a Business Brand, Nonprofit Brand, Product Brand, or Personal Brand … the creation process is the same although there may be some added ‘self-reflection’ steps for people)
- Any organization, product or service (skill set, talent, expertise, etc.) can be highly differentiated, no matter the perceived similarities that may exist in your market (i.e. industry, category, or field of expertise) nor the size of your budget
- Having an authentically different, lucratively advantageous, & meaningful brand that surprises, connects, and appears somewhat magical to consumers is the “True North” upward that will fuel the trajectory of your business for years to come
My People
When I say or call out, ‘small business owners,’ I am including the entrepreneur, solopreneur, independent professional, contractor, online company, home-based business, a mom-and-pop business, and the like. These are my people. My ‘WHY!’ Right on!!
Basically, the backbone and engine for economic growth in America (as in most societies). They are the faceless small businesses – the coral reefs – that help buffer our economy, propel it forward, and upon which our communities grow.
Often these are men and women with hopes, dreams, and lofty goals. They may want to turn a fantastic idea into a marketable product, or skills into a profitable service business. Whether they are creating a brand from scratch or re-branding what they already have, the endgame is to have what’s sometimes called a high-impact company — a business that offers great value, even an entire new industry.
Next Steps
Click ‘READ MORE’ below to discover:
HOW branding works, WHAT my company does, WHEN branding should be done, HOW it works with marketing, WHEN a website, social media, and so on needs to be developed, etc.
The Branding Landscape
- Now, to better grasp exactly what I do, it’s important for you to first know there are many layers of a brand. The most recognized is the ‘visual face’ – it’s ‘look and feel.’ When most people think ‘brand,’ the first thing that comes to mind is a logo and colors on a website or business card. So, if you Googled ‘branding services’ what you’d most commonly find are what’s called branding agencies and design studios, not to mention marketing & advertising agencies.
- They usually offer a range of A-Z branding, marketing, and creative capabilities. Their branding may include a brand strategy, yet their focus is often on bringing your brand to life (i.e. to the forefront) or breathing new life into your brand through creative development – finding & translating its uniqueness into words & images such as a logo, website, social media marketing, a memorable brand story, print collateral, etc.
- By blending brand strategy with communications & marketing tactics to plant your brand firmly in the heart & memory of your target audience and make deep connections, they dial in to help you be distinctive & recognizable, rise above the noise, and attract attention to drive sales leads or transactions. Quite often (not always) such services are provided for a nice monthly retainer fee. Hey, steady cash flow. I get it! God bless em’!!
What We Do
- While I have much love and respect for these firms – and even others who say they ‘do branding’ – that’s not the work I do. I’m a brand strategist. That’s my niche and how I separate myself. Strategically crafting big brands with small business owners is my specialty. I teach. I encourage. I inspire.
- My Programs are pretty-much-always offered at a flat fee and have been expressly designed to architect your brand. Once our work is completed, we can refer or outsource you to such firms (we don’t compete, we collaborate) if requested to maximize brand impact.
- We also work with our clients (be they teams or individuals in charge of branding and/or marketing) as partners and collaborators in their businesses in a coordinated and coherent fashion to achieve the delivery of designated outcomes on time and on budget. Additionally, we can serve as advisors and consultants to ensure proper creative development.
Think Of It This Way
- You see, my primary objective is to help develop your brand upon a solid, multi-layered, strategic branding foundation. This is done before you jump into creative development and any kind of marketing or selling activities. With me at your side, you dive head first into essential in-depth, initial, phase one, upfront strategic brand thinking (mapping out your big brand strategy).
- With a solid strategically designed foundation I give your brand a soul, a voice, and a body. It ensures that buyers will have a clear understanding of what makes you different and better than every other option or competitor out there. This increases the likelihood they will think about and consider your brand when they are in the market for a product or service like yours.
- Think about it. Would you ask a builder to put up a roof and drywall for your new home, without a solid foundation in place? Concrete must be poured, steel reinforcement bars & studs must be in place, etc. to support the house that will sit on top of it.
It’s the Same Principle
- It stands to reason that if you want a profitable brand that stands upright, a solid foundation (your brand strategy) must FIRST be in place to build its unique value on. This can also help you withstand the winds of unpredictable problems, challenges, and changes.
- It’s a 4-phase process. Once your foundation is firmly in place (Phase 1); from there you can think about what kind of marketing (Phase 2) needs to be developed to promote your brand – this includes creating thoughtful design (i.e. brand identity) to creatively express your brand’s uniqueness AND formulating a sales strategy so you can realistically make money selling online or offline to get from where you are today to where you want to be tomorrow; then implementation of your marketing and selling (Phase 3); and how to wisely manage your brand (Phase 4) for ongoing success.
- Simply put, you can monetize the brand we develop (start making money) when you consistently and effectively market and sell; I call this the ‘golden triangle‘ – Brand, Market, Sell. Create a strong brand then market and sell the heck out of it!
Makes Sense?
- This is the proper way to go about branding! The bling bling attraction of creating graphic images of any sort to define you, then marketing and selling that image along with other stuff to potential customers, before or without laying down your strategic branding foundation for growth, may sound good but it can hurt your sales
- Capturing emails, communicating through social media, using webinars, podcasts, and video marketing to generate leads, getting lots of followers and subscribers, building your list, converting leads into paying customers, creating or enhancing your website, spending money on advertising, etc. becomes a lot easier
- You’re jeopardizing your success if you think that your brand is your image (deciding to not include or emphasize what makes you truly unique and sets you apart, what you stand for, what you promise or guarantee, what your mission and message is, etc.) and ‘putting the cart before the horse’ or the ’tile down before the cabinets are up!’
SIDEBAR
Suffice it to say, as a seasoned, bona fide brand strategist:
- I have a ‘particular set of skills’ very different than, yet they complement, a brand designer (also known as a graphic artist) who does visual branding (e.g., logos, colors, shapes & lines; web design, photography, animation, collateral, packaging, etc.)
- Not to mention advertising specialty companies (who provide promotional products, merchandise & apparel to keep your brand in front of customers and prospects) and quite often others who say they’re ‘in charge of branding’ for a company or they’ll ‘help create your brand.’
- The work we do is not about swag bags, tote bags, and logos … nor images and pretty colors … or making you a social media star; PLEASE NOTE: beware of people who claim to do ‘strategic branding’ but mainly do the visual stuff
Our Primary Focus
To help you:
- Produce unconquerable advantages by strategically creating a big brand that can leave a lasting impression and be untouchable in the marketplace (this can be for your business, nonprofit, product, service … or even YOURSELF as a personal brand)
- Originate unsurpassed perceptions in the mind of prospects
- Magnetically attract the right customers for unrivaled growth
- Generate unforgettable, core messages that reflect your brand’s unique value
Our Methodology
- By conducting deep-dive assessments, challenging conventional ‘what is’ assumptions, and engaging in honest, thought-provoking ‘what could be’ discussions, we unearth the problems, practices, and attitudes that may be preventing you from being more, having more impact, and making more money.
- We then engage you in our signature Big Brand Formula process through any one of our various Programs.
- Through the application of core strategic branding principles and practices within a big picture framework combined with innovative thought, we cast new light and offer insights that strengthen your marketing, help drive sales, and move your company to the next plateau.
Is Your Brand
Distinct or Risking Being Extinct?
Take this Big Brand Biz Quiz to find out!