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On October 24, 2019 / by Giles Etherington / in Brand, Branding

5 reasons why defining your brand is good for business

Recently, I was fortunate enough to attend a very insightful brand presentation by Marty Neumeier, author of many great books, including The Brand Gap, Zag and The Brand Flip. Marty is the one who coined the often quoted phrase “Your brand is not what you say it is. It is what they say it is.” He’s right.

But that doesn’t mean you don’t have any influence over what they say. Spending valuable time defining your brand and managing the communication of that brand, will go a long way to getting ‘them’ say what you want them to say.

On June 25, 2018 / by Giles Etherington / in Brand, Branding

Why you need to think about your brand before creating your branding

Your brand is the story you tell and the connection you have with your customer. Define this first and powerful branding will follow.

Think your brand and your branding are the same thing, right? Wrong.

This is a mistake that manystart-ups and small business make. They go out and get a logo designed before they have thought about the brand that logo needs to represent.

On June 26, 2017 / by Giles Etherington / in Brand, Branding

Why getting 1-2-1 brand advice is so important

Last week, I conducted three brand creation sessions. Each one was very different from the others, which emphasised why 1-2-1 brand advice is so important.

Collective group brand workshops – with 10-15 people in attendance – have their use, but they need to be very generic, so everyone feels they get a benefit from them. But, every startup and small business is at a different stage. Every business has different needs.

On June 19, 2017 / by Giles Etherington / in SEO

Start-ups or startups? Should your communications be grammatically correct or findable?

I recently spent an evening changing every ‘start-ups’ to ‘startups’ on this website. As the site is all about promoting 1-2-1 brand advice and branding packages to startups, this was no mean feat.

The reason for this change was initiated by a tweet I was in the process of writing. As I typed #start Twitter offered me #startups as an option. But as soon as I got to #start- Twitter stopped offering me options. On Twitter, hashtags and hyphens don’t mix.

On May 26, 2017 / by Giles Etherington / in Brand, Branding

Brand Creation Workshop at the Cultural Enterprise Office

On Friday 26th May, Cultural Enterprise Office’s Industry Associate for Branding, Giles Etherington, ran a Brand Creation Workshop at the CEO’s offices in Glasgow.

The sold-out event was attended by 14 creative businesses and entrepreneurs, looking to turn their business into a successful brand.

On May 16, 2017 / by Giles Etherington / in Brand, Branding

The most important thing branding gives you is consistency.

Your branding is something you have complete control over.

Your branding includes your name. What you call yourself is very important. It includes your logo. The colours and fonts you use. The images and style of images you use. The tone of voice you use for your messages and the stories you tell.

And the most important thing branding gives you is consistency.

On May 15, 2017 / by Giles Etherington / in Brand, Branding, News

Giles Etherington delivers an Brand Workshop for Cultural Enterprise Office

May is all about Marketing at Cultural Enterprise Office and they are hosting a practical Brand Workshop by their Branding Industry Associate, Giles Etherington.

Who is the event for?

Creative businesses and entrepreneurs looking to turn their business into a successful brand.

On May 10, 2017 / by Giles Etherington / in Brand, Branding, News

Giles Etherington presents at Cultural Enterprise Office Masterclass

Brands Start Here’s Giles Etherington was one of the speakers at last night’s Cultural Enterprise Office Masterclass in Glasgow.

Three of CEO’s Industry Associates and marketing experts took the stage to share their experiences and expertise:
Giles Etherington – CEO’s Branding Industry Associate and owner of Brand Satellite and Brands Start Here.
Diane Lurie – CEO’s Marketing Industry Associate and owner of Diane Lurie Consultancy.
Sophie Amono – CEO’s Social Media Industry Associate and owner of I Do Stuffs.

On May 4, 2017 / by Giles Etherington / in Brand, Branding

Do you know the difference between your brand and your branding?

If the answer to the above question is ’no’, don’t beat yourself up. There are many within our industry that don’t seem to either. I have lost count of the amount of websites I have visited where someone is offering to design your brand. Brands can’t be designed. They can be created, extracted or defined, but not designed.

Here’s my attempt at distinguishing between your brand and your branding.