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.
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.
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 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.
Brands Start Here enjoyed a very exciting launch at The Business Startup Show at ExCeL London on May 17th & 18th May 2017.
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.
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.
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.
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.