Small Business Branding Crash Course.

It's a very good beginner course. Found it very helpful. I'm glad I took this course. I understand that the requirements of every industry and its categories are different and it's hard to generalize it. But going through his course sparked my interest in knowing and learning what will and won't work for my purpose, so I think it's a great success.

- Pinakin Ghate

The instructor was very thorough in explaining each section. Also, I truly enjoyed completing the assignments.

- Kimberly Braboy

Note: This course is an introductory course for how to start and construct a successful small business brand, if you are looking for more advanced tactics on marketing please check my intro to marketing for small businesses course.

DO PEOPLE THINK OF YOUR PRODUCTS?

In order for your small business to succeed, stay in the market for an extended period, and gain customers' loyalty, it must be built and function as a brand, not as a product.

People trust brands, excellent quality brands will become people's default purchasing option, therefore people will get used to going back and keeping buying repeatedly.

You must shift your business strategy from a product- or service-oriented business to a brand-oriented, find your unique audience, match their personality, fulfill their desires, and deliver value.

FOCUS ALL YOUR EFFORTS ON THESE 7 GOALS!

For a small business to succeed it must connect with its audience on a personal level, Successful Brands understand the value of connecting through emotions, fulfilling People's desires. They adopt a unique personality and differentiate their products and services. 

Another factor in building a successful brand is to focus on establishing trust with your customers by providing high-value products, customer service, and combining it with a delightful experience.

IT ALL BEGINS WITH AN IDEA!

All brands begin with a unique and valuable idea, the idea must have a meaning and a purpose which is called a vision and mission, this approach should be targeted to a specific segment of the audience, if you try to serve everyone you may end up helping no one.

Then you give your idea a life and character through brand personality to differentiate yourself from the rest of the competition; you also have to dress up your brand and become visually desirable, and once your idea is attractive, you send it on its way to the market to attract and sell.

STAY AWAY FROM THE PRICE COMPETITION

That's right, stay away from price competition, as Paypal Co-founder Peter Thiel said "competition is for losers" it will damage your business and might get you out of business too soon.

Instead, significant brands focus on serving a small niche for a targeted audience then slowly grow and expand for a broader market, focus on long-term strategy, increase your brand value, provide excellent product quality, customer service and serve your loyal customers.

UNDERSTAND YOUR CUSTOMERS' EXPERIENCE PROCESS

Many businesses lack knowledge about developing and promoting their services to their customers because: 

First and the most important is a lack of understanding of how customers interact with a new brand or products, they rush to sell and advertise their products and end up with an enormous disappointment where no one is buying.

The second reason is lack of patience; they try to push customers to buy their products instead of introducing slowly to the market, if you are already a big brand or a superstar then there is no reason for you to keep reading this description, you got all the people in the world behind your back.

But if you are a new business owner, then you got to understand the process that your audience go through with your brand and learn what to do at every step of this process, it's not a good idea to talk when you are supposed to listen!

WHO IS YOUR AUDIENCE?

Have you ever asked yourself who your target audience is? Who are those you trying to help? Solve a problem for or provide a service, what is their culture? Lifestyle? Desires and needs.

For a brand to succeed, it should be designed to fit and satisfy a specific target audience, yet most of the small businesses tend to ignore this fact or lack the knowledge and understanding of how to define their target audience. 

Always remember that different people have different needs, you just can't treat all people in the same way, once you select your target audience do all your best to satisfy them with a robust and unique selling proposition.

TELL YOUR STORY

Stories are the magic of connecting your brand message and goals with your audience, If you wish to grab your customer's attention, then you got to tell a meaningful story about you, your product, and your brand.

It's much more interesting to engage with your audience if you can tell them a story about your business adventure and purpose. In the end, who does not like to listen to exciting stories?

BE UNIQUE

If you are like everyone else no one will notice you, brands with personality and a loud voice will always stand out from the rest of the competition, do you know that all successful brands around you adapt their personality to connect with and reflect their audience' self-image on a profoundly personal level, what is your brand character?

LEARN FROM THE MASTERS

It's always a good idea to study from other successful brands, brands such as Apple, Nike, Lego, and Ikea they all spend tons of money on building and designing marketing campaigns to connect with and attract their audience, you don't have to pay that much of money, just observe and learn!

COURSE OUTLINE:

• HOW - TO BUILD A BRAND WITH A VISION AND A MISSION:

  In this course I will explain to you what is branding and what isn't, make it ultra-clear for you so you know what you have to focus on and what you should not, I will also walk you step by step through creating your brand vision and mission and how to communicate it effectively with your customers, employee, and shareholders.

• HOW - TO PROMOTE AND UNDERSTAND YOUR AUDIENCE EXPERIENCE:

  I will walk you through a case-study of consumers brand experience, you will learn and be aware of how do your customers interact with your brand, how do they perceive and describe your business I will also explain to you how to deal with your customers in different stages of your brand promotion.

• HOW - TO DEFINE YOUR TARGET AUDIENCE:

  I will walk you step by step through the process on how to segment your target audience, we will talk about customers culture, needs, and customers-brands loyalty.

• HOW - TO DESIGN YOUR BRAND STRATEGY:

  We will define the core questions and methods of designing your brand strategy, study your business with a competitive advantage, weakness, and strength.

• HOW - TO DESIGN A STRONG UNIQUE SELLING PROPOSITION (USP):

  We will shift our mindset from business owners to consumers and dig into consumers psychology and behavior, walk you step by step on how to design a strong USP that differentiates your offering from the competition, we will look at other big brands strategy and how they align their USP to fit their target audience.

• HOW - TO TELL YOUR BRAND STORY:

  You will learn the three common types of story-telling for business and how you can apply them to communicate your business goals with your audience's emotions.

• HOW - TO DEFINE YOUR BRAND UNIQUE PERSONALITY:

  We will take an in-depth look and case studies on how successful brands such as Nike, Apple, Lego, Ikea, adapts a specific personality that matches, reflects their audience's self-image, and fulfills their desires, you will be introduced to the power of brand archetypes and learn how to apply it to your business.

• HOW - TO DESIGN YOUR LOGO AND COLORS:

  Visuals are one of the most important elements that reflect your brand image and interact with your audience, in this course I will explain to you all the different logo design, what makes a strong logo, and what should you avoid, we will talk about colors meaning and how to choose the right color schemes that reflect, match your brand personality and your voice.

• HOW - TO DESIGN YOUR BRAND PHOTOGRAPHY:

  Learn The rules for creating strong brand photography, how should you communicate your brand message through products/story-telling photography, and what you should avoid.