Branding: “If You Chase 2 Rabbits, You Will Not Catch Either One”
Branding is the first of 12 Essential Practices (36ixty) we use to help companies accelerate revenue. It combines your purpose, vision, mission and values all into a strategy and implementation tactics. This becomes your brand.
3 Initial Steps to Branding
In my role as a Senior Business Accelerator Advisor with 36ixty, we find 3 steps to help clients become the best at one thing. This is critical in building the recognition coming from a brand.
Step #1 – M
Get your message right. Clarity addresses questions such as why do we exist? Who are we serving? How do we behave? What values will we adhere to? What is it that we actually do?
Step #2 – A
Leverage the appropriate amplifiers. Once you get the message right, this is where you use all the marketing tools available, from social media, to press releases, to advertising, to collateral, to speeches, etc.
Step #3 – P
Persevere. Over time you need to be seen as credible, expert and a master.
There is a Russian proverb which clarifies this approach, “If you chase 2 rabbits, you will not catch either one.”
Essential Branding Questions
Answering the following questions will help get you your brand:
- What do you do when providing your product or service that is different than what everyone else does?
- Why do your clients/customers return to you and your product/services?
- When people refer business to you, what do they tell others about you? (Ask if you don’t know)
- What skills to you have that people find interesting and helpful?
As the founder of Amazon, Jeff Bezos said, “Your brand is what stays in a room after you leave the room.”