08.05.04
Posted in Branding at 12:00 am by admin
I’d Buy That: Getting A Brand Mindset
By Kim A. Castle
Feel that? The crisp tingle in the air? It’s fall. Fall ushers in the promise of eating,
seeing, and getting. It’s my favorite time of year. By now, kids are settled into
school, sweaters set free from mothballs, and it’s an amazing time to… BUY.
I don’t know about you; but for some reason this time of year lowers my normal
customer resistance to retail and turns up my desire to buy, buy, buy. And not just
anything. Products I’ve come to know have reliable value to me. You too?
Think about it. It starts with buying Halloween candy. Do you reach for the no-name
orange cellophane wrappers of chocolate dots, or do you buy the mini packages of
M&M’s? I know! Me too! Why is that? It’s the same thing! But, the brand of M&M’s
represents a certain quality that we have come to know as valuable. And left with
candy at the end of the evening, that’s what I want to be gobbling on. It doesn’t
matter how long the product has been on a shelf, an M&M is still an M&M.
A favorite thing I like to do in fall is cruise through the stores and see what “they”
think “we’ll” buy. This past weekend, I stepped into Crate & Barrel (a personal
favorite) and went weak in the knees!
I walked from beautiful table setting to even more beautiful table setting and I
thought about the perception that Crate & Barrel had created in me. As I drooled
over the dishes, I imagined how the quality of my life would change if I brought
them home. (A little bubble appeared to the side of my head. I saw an image of me
overhearing holiday guests comment about how beautiful my table was, and
subsequently how great I was.) The bubble faded as I dissected how Crate & Barrel
created that impression in me. How did they get me to think that?
I passed through living room settings that I would give my left pinkie toe to own (it’s
okay, I’m right footed). I ran my hand over the fabrics and textures. Rich leathers.
Deep colors. Luxuriant fabrics. All things I’d spend my money on to give my 10-year
old living room a facelift. They established in me a certain quality! And somehow
they knew what areas I needed to fix up… my boring dining room dishes, my tired
living room. Hmmm… Hmmm… a specific quality and knowledge of my problem.
At each display was a sign that had a certain look. A color. A typeface. Even the way
it was laid out on the page! It all matched the quality I got from the home décor
items I so desperately wanted. (By the way, I never knew I wanted an orange pear-
shaped leather vase before.) I picked up their holiday catalog. Lo and behold, not
only did it show the picture of the coveted pear-shaped leather vase, but the
typefaces and colors matched the signs in the store. Hmmm… consistent
communication and imaging. I started to tingle.
As I passed the jewel-toned velvet pillows, I thought, “Crate & Barrel is no different
from the companies and small business owners that we help.” They are no different
from YOU. Or are they? Let’s see…
You have:
• A product or service that is every bit as good and valuable as Crate & Barrel.
• You fix a problem or change the quality of life for your clients as much if not more
than Crate & Barrel.
After that, it can break down for small businesses and solo-preneurs.
You may not have:
• Consistent imaging (e.g., business card, website, brochures, leave-behind,
product packaging, etc.)
• The deep understanding of how to communicate “the brand” of your business that
can translate to your entire support team/staff. (This is easy and affordable to do
with BrandU. That’s why it was created.)
And most importantly, what most entrepreneurs tend to forget or, sadly, never
deeply establish:
• A huge, non-wavering belief in what you are bringing to people.
You have just as much of this as the people who created Crate & Barrel. They just
have more practice at it and had enough vision to bring in partners to help them
grow and communicate it.
The last three points are crucial to your business success and easier to address than
you think. Simply:
• keep up the value of your service and product AND,
• adopt a brand mindset!
It’s where EVERY brand starts BEFORE they’re a brand. In our upcoming book, Why
BrandU, we go into the reasons why it’s imperative for entrepreneurs to gain the
power of branding. You CAN have large business success, no matter what size you
are.
This holiday season, I share with you these TWO simple brand mindset tips:
• As you’re out (or online) shopping, pause a moment and think about the reasons
you buy the things you buy and,
• See how you can apply those reasons to your business.
After strolling around Crate & Barrel for over an hour (which flew by like 5 minutes),
I joyfully left with the most amazing vase for my table AND I was filled with a great
sense of delight and excitement; knowing YOU can be just as big!
© 2003 Castle Montone, Limited All Rights Reserved.
Written by Kim Castle, the Co-founder of BrandU™ — the home of only step-by-
step process for developing your business as a brand from the inside out!
To get information on upcoming BrandU one-day workshops: http://www.whybrandu.com/Public/events/workshop/index.cfm?semID=13
“>http://
http://www.whybrandu.com/Public/events/workshop/index.cfm?semID=13
Get your Why You?!(sm) monthly ezine for easy-to-read tips and informative
insights on branding. To subscribe: http://www.whybrandu.com/
“BrandU™ — Big Business Success No Matter Your Size”
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Posted in Branding at 12:00 am by admin
Are You Brand Worthy? Are You Brand Worthy?
By Kim A. Castle
Branding is a one hot topic, although it is wildly misunderstood. To make things
even more confusing, branding is often tossed in the same basket as marketing
which makes its application to an entrepreneur or sole-practioner even more
unclear.
While out speaking on branding, the question that I hear most is “How do I know if
my business or service is brand material?” With businesses opening left and right,
and more and more closing each year, I’m glad there are smart business owners
open to understanding the issue.
If you’ve found yourself asking the same thing, don’t worry you’re not alone.
Perhaps, this can shed some light.
At a recent luncheon, the same question came up again in a different way. I was
seated next to an attorney whose sole practice focuses on elder abuse cases, he
asked me in rapid succession (a manner that showed me he’d be great in court):
“Isn’t branding for businesses that make a lot of stuff?”
“Doesn’t branding apply only if you want to sell a lot of stuff?”
“Isn’t branding pointless for my kind of business?”
Smiling, I fired back, “yes, yes, and… no”.
Yes, branding is most often associated with businesses that make a lot of stuff. Yes,
branding is advantageous if you want to sell a lot of stuff. No, branding is not
pointless because every business makes something (or offers a service) and wants
to sell it. Branding is about making your product or service known to as many
potential customers as possible, consistently, with the most effective use of your
time and money. Branding is about repeat business. Branding is about effortless
referrals. Wouldn’t that be a benefit to ANY business, especially yours?
To help you gain more brand-worthy clarity, ask yourself the following questions:
1. Am I really passionate about what I am doing with my business, service or
product? And I mean REALLY! If not, is there something more you can be doing in it
to turn your passion switch on? It takes an amazing amount of energy and
persistence to make a business take hold in the customer’s mind. With more and
more businesses competing for headspace, it’s imperative that you set yourself
apart. If you are not cooking with the fuel that passion gives you, you’re missing out
on a very crucial element that could mean the difference between thriving and
closing.
2. Do I have a big vision of my business, service or product? Do you dream of
reaching lots of customers in different ways with your product or service? Do you
see a way to deliver your product or service to an increasing amount of people with
less and less effort? Did you create a mindset or special approach in your field that
can be delivered in a variety of mediums, i.e.- speaking, books, audio CDs,
consulting, etc. Do you envision moving beyond an hour-for-hour way of providing
your service? All of these support a big vision. , Not only do we begin from the
inside out, when approaching your brand, we create from where you will be in five
years as if it is now. Small vision does just that, keeps you small. The choice is
always yours.
3. Is my product or service a real benefit to lots of customers? It’s important that
you answer this one as honestly and openly as possible. I was very passionate and
had a huge vision for a career as a mime! (Yes, you read that correctly… a mime.)
However, no amount of passion and vision would make people buy it on a large
scale. Thanks to Marceau Marceau, the mime card had been played out. You may
find that by being truthful with your answers will lead to branding even better
products and services.
4. Am I prepared to surround myself with a team or the knowledge to accomplish
the business success that developing my business as a brand delivers? The plus side
of being an entrepreneur is that you may wear many hats in your business. The
negative side is that you feel like you have to! The truth is, you don’t! You’re an
expert in your field and you need to honor that expertise by supporting it with a
variety of other skill sets to make your indelible mark; logo design, copywriting,
website design, your marketing plan creation and execution, and others. The
important thing is that you realize…you’re in command…because it’s your ship! And
being a commander takes knowing where you want to go, gathering the maps to
make the journey, and the crew to make it happen.
If your answers to these questions are yes, then you have the makings to develop
your business as a brand. You just need the knowledge and practice to do so. If
you’re shaky on some of the questions, find out why. Even if you never develop your
business as a brand, solid yeses to these simple questions will only make your
business more successful and more enjoyable. After all, isn’t that we all want?
© Castle Montone, Limited All Rights Reserved.
Written by Kim Castle, the Co-founder of BrandU™ — the home of only step-by-
step process for developing your business as a brand from the inside out!
To get information on upcoming BrandU one-day workshops: http://www.whybrandu.com/Public/events/workshop/index.cfm?semID=13“>http://
http://www.whybrandu.com/Public/events/workshop/index.cfm?semID=13
Get your Why You?!(sm) monthly ezine for easy-to-read tips and informative
insights on branding. To subscribe: http://www.whybrandu.com/
“BrandU™ — Big Business Success No Matter Your Size”
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Posted in Branding at 12:00 am by admin
Branding Is Not Selling Out: IT’S SELLING IN
By Kim A. Castle
Ever see an amazing band perform and wonder why you’ve never heard of them
before? Ever see an astonishing artist on the street and wonder why isn’t their work
isn¹t in a gallery? Ever see an astounding independent film and wonder why people
all over the world don’t know about it?
Me too!
It breaks my heart to know that there are musicians, painters, sculptors, and
filmmakers everywhere starving. Starving… for their art.
Why is a branding expert like me, who mostly deals with entrepreneurs and small
business owners, addressing musicians, artists, and filmmakers? It’s simple. Artists
are the ultimate entrepreneurs.
Think about it. Some create products and look for a market; others look at a market
and create products. Every entrepreneur starts the same way! It’s the notion of
business that often trips artists up.
Creating any piece of music, art, or film, is like creating a product. I’m not
suggesting that all products, art-based or otherwise, are equal. We all know a good
product, or painting, or film or vacuum cleaner when we experience it. Its just with
some artists, imaginary barriers get created. These illusive barriers can keep them
from creating the very success they want.
All creators have the same goals: to make a good product that is useful or
meaningful, have it well liked by many people and to be paid portionally to the
market they reach. Who doesn’t want that? Making music, paintings, sculptures,
photography or film should be addressed like any business with the same attention
to the big picture, IF you want to make a great living from it. But something often
holds artistic creators back from making a great living from their art.
As usual fear is the culprit.
Artists sometimes fear that if they develop the recognition and financial success that
comes from branding from them ’selves’, their peers will think that they’ve ’sold-out’
if they ‘make it’. Fellow starving artists might say that on the surface, but what they
are really saying is that they are envious of the success that you have created. It’s
far easier to put down someone else’s success than to make it them self. What’s
more important: what your peers think OR having your ‘art’ enjoyed by as many
people as possible and having the financial freedom that comes along with it?
Another fear that may prevent artists from taking their craft mainstream is that they
think that they will lose control of it by becoming a business and, heaven forbid, a
BIG business at that. Just like the art you make, what your business becomes is in
your control. If you develop your brand based on your vision of it from the start, you
protect it from becoming something else. Business is not bad - people that run
them can make bad decisions. The power of your business is always in your hands.
The largest fear for some artists is that the very nature of getting paid, and paid
well, for their art will change it. This will then set in motion the loss of creative
connection with the ‘art’ itself. I would argue that those that get lost were not very
centered on their purpose and passion in
the first place.
It’s odd to think that financial freedom, the freedom to do whatever you want, could
cause one to lose their way. In one of our workshops, we were fortunate to have a
successful artist who was ready to take his brand to the next level. When I asked
him what does he do, he answered, ‘Whatever I want.’ Who doesn’t want that?!
With the money you get from branding your craft, you can set up systems so that it
doesn’t interfere with your focus; donate to causes, invest in real estate, create
other products/partnerships. You can even hire the people to manage it all.
Leaving you free to… create.
The bottom line is simple, everyone has control over what they do and what they
manifest, it’s just that most people haven’t been shown how. Commitment to your
‘art’ does not preclude your ability to make money from it. In fact, the more
financial freedom you create for yourself, the more art you can create. A branding
mindset is taking that control into your own hands and owning the future. And it
must truly start from the inside - from your innate talent and your grand vision for
your art. Branding your art comes down to your commitment to yourself and to the
art itself. Branding is not only slogans and TV ads; it’s the power to be who you are
and communicating it to everyone proudly.
The definition of artist:
1. somebody who creates art
2. somebody who does something with great skill and creativity
3. somebody who is very good at doing something
Nowhere does it say you have to starve to make good art or good products.
Remember that the next time a musician, or painter, or sculptor, or filmmaker you
know breaks through to success. Ask yourself, what are you really committed to?
Don’t cheat the world of your gift. Developing a
brand mindset with integrity from the inside out is guaranteed to reach more
people. Period.
If you do something that you really love, you’re really good at it, and people pay you
to keep doing it, then branding it is not selling out, it’s selling in… to you!
Written by Kim Castle, the Co-founder of BrandU™ — the home of only step-by-
step process for developing your business as a brand from the inside out!
To get information on upcoming BrandU one-day workshops: http://www.whybrandu.com/Public/events/workshop/index.cfm?semID=13“>http://
http://www.whybrandu.com/Public/events/workshop/index.cfm?semID=13
Get your Why You?!(sm) monthly ezine for easy-to-read tips and informative
insights on branding. To subscribe: http://www.whybrandu.com/
“BrandU™ — Big Business Success No Matter Your Size”
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Posted in Branding at 12:00 am by admin
Don’t Get Caught In the Trap: The BIG Difference Between Personal and Business Branding
By Kim A. Castle
When you’re all alone in the privacy of your home office, surrounded by your
computer, your phone and your business idea, have you ever asked yourself,
“Where’s the line between me in my business and the business in me”?
With hundreds of thousands of home-based businesses starting every year, and few
ever flourishing, the topic of branding has become hot, hot, hot. And thanks to
experts touting the need for a personal brand in sole proprietor businesses the
confusion is growing. It’s no wonder. Business… personal… personal… business–
what IS the big difference any way?
Last week, I was guiding a client (a service-based sole practioner) through the same
step-by-step process that I take every company (sole practioner, entrepreneur or a
business of any size) through to develop their brand and I noticed that as we got
deeper and deeper into the process, she was having more and more trouble coming
up with answers. The very answers that would separate her from other people
engaged the same exact business and distinctly establish her brand.
In the middle of working on the most important step in the branding process– the
brand statement–I asked her the simple question, “Why does she do business she
does?” she burst into tears. Halfway into the box of Kleenex she finally, revealed the
most amazing answer as to why she was in her chosen field in the first place.
Honestly, I think she stunned herself. We both sat silent for over a minute in awe of
the power she had tapped into with her discovery. (Don’t let anyone fool you, this is
from where the true power of branding comes.)
Then doubt reared its ugly head and like a butterfly emerging from a new cocoon, a
series of questions poured out of her: “Is this my business or is it me?” “Is why I do
what I do really that important?” “Why is it so hard for me to stand in the power of
my business and really make something of it?”
You get the picture? You may even be standing in a similar picture, even wrestling
with the same questions yourself. Bless you if you’re not. Let’s look at the
difference between ‘your business’ and ‘you the person’ and see if we can clear up
this question once and for all.
A business: (be it Niketown or Bob’s Shoe Bonanza)
Delivers a product or service to fulfill a customer need.
You:
Deliver a product or service to fulfill a customer need.
A business:
Establishes a certain value that a customer can rely on from every contact with their
product or service.
You:
Establish a certain value that a customer can rely on from every contact with your
product or service. (If not, get on it immediately!)
A business:
Communicates consistently to reach the customers that have a need for their
product or service.
You:
Communicate consistently to reach the customers that have a need for your product
or service. (If not, what are you waiting for?)
A business:
Enjoys a financial reward equal to the amount of customers that it serves, AND a
personal reward for the creator/C.E.O.
You:
Enjoy a financial reward equal to the amount of customers that you serve AND YOU
get to experience the personal reward yourself.
If you look at just these four basic, bottom-line points, the difference between a
business and you as a sole business owner is… nothing; unless you count the added
bonus of you getting a financial AND personal reward.
At the start of every single business, throughout history, there has never been a
separation between the person starting it and the business itself. If you asked any
business figure-head today, Bill Gates of Microsoft, or Jeff Bezos of Amazon.com, or
if they took over a company like Meg Whitman for Ebay, or Carly Fiorina for Hewlett-
Packard, they would tell you that there is no difference in who ‘they are’ and what
‘they bring’ to their business. Why? Because there’s no room for a difference. It’s the
alignment that makes it possible to reach the highest of the heights.
It’s challenging enough to make any business succeed. It’s tough enough to make
any business reside in the mind of a customer. Why would you remove the very
power of ‘you’ in every shape and form from your business?! Why not every day do
the thing that moves you the most? You are the only thing that sets your business
apart– you just need a process of tapping into your power, connecting it to your
business, and a systematic way of communicating it to your customers over and
over and over again.
When developing your amazing business as a brand, throw the doors wide open.
Create it as you would if you were reaching millions. You can always decide exactly
how many millions later. Thinking of your brand as just a ‘personal’ one will do the
opposite. Keep it small.
If you work for yourself, be it your own business, network marketing, or even an
agent/broker condition under a corporate umbrella, you are the CEO of
your business. Every CEO brings themselves personally to their business. The great
ones bring every thing they are to their creation, every moment.
The majority of our lives are spent doing what we call work. As an entrepreneur or
business owner, you have the wonderful opportunity to make it more. Make it your
creation. Think of yourself as the Creator of an Entrepreneur Organization. When
you wake up tomorrow, instead of saying to yourself, “I’m going to work” say “I’m
going to create.” And the operative word is I’m. The true power of really making
something in your business will come from investing in it the most valuable
commodity you have– you.
There is no separation on the road to big business success: just because you’re
personally on it. True big business success comes to those who know, it’s not
just business– it’s personal too.
Written by Kim Castle, the Co-founder of BrandU™ — the home of only step-by-
step process for developing your business as a brand from the inside out!
To get information on upcoming BrandU one-day workshops: http://www.whybrandu.com/Public/events/workshop/index.cfm?semID=13“>http://
http://www.whybrandu.com/Public/events/workshop/index.cfm?semID=13
Get your Why You?!(sm) monthly ezine for easy-to-read tips and informative
insights on branding. To subscribe: http://www.whybrandu.com/
“BrandU™ — Big Business Success No Matter Your Size”
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