This guide is an introduction to brand strategy, something that is often overlooked and goes way beyond the idea that brand is all about making you look pretty. Enjoy it and we hope it helps your business.

1. A QUICK GUIDE TO
BRAND FOR SMALL
BUSINESSES &
STARTUPS?BLAND
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2. a branding manual for the
small fish in the ocean
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3. LESSON 1: FORGET THE LOGO...............................................................6
LESSON 2: IT ALL STARTS WITH THE NAME.........................................11
LESSON 3: STUCK WITH THE NAME? LOOK AT THE TAGLINE!.........15
LESSON 3: UNDERSTAND YOUR VALUES.............................................19
LESSON 5: NOW COMMUNICATE............................................................22
LESSON 6: KEEP COMMUNICATING.......................................................26
LESSON 7: INTER RELATION BETWEEN BRAND AND MARKETING...32
LESSON 8: SEE MARKETING STRATEGICALLY.....................................38
LESSON 9: CREATING LONG LASTING BRANDS..................................43
CONTENTS
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4. Brand is subject which everyone in
business has some semblance of
understanding and depending on the
size and budgets that you operate on it
takes on more significance. For those
in the small or micro business space
a ‘brand’ is really just an identity and
very few small businesses apply the
tricks of the trade that brand can offer
to drive business growth.
WE THINK WE GET IT
“I know what looks
good, so therefore i
must know brand”
WRONG! Don’t
make brand about
what looks good.
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5. LITTLE OL’ ME
BRAND SUCCESS
So here are some secrets that we
have taken from the big boy world of
brand that small businesses can apply
which they normally never think about
and which help you to do brand right.
A MAP TO BRAND SUCCESS
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6. FORGET The LOGO
LESSON 1:
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7. For some strange reason and in my
experience, this ranges from small to large
businesses, but people get fanatic about a
logo. They will go OTT about how it looks,
what image it is meant to capture and the
direction of the business. Let me say this
very clearly... a logo don’t mean much! In
real terms. Having a great logo or a bad
logo ain’t gonna kill your business.
Furthermore, you are not going to be
able to communicate that your brand is
young, funky, British and professional in
a logo. Yes, you can communicate that
in a brochure or website, but a teeny
weeny little logo can’t work that hard to
communicate all of that.
A slap in the face for
all you logo lovers
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8. OVER
THINKING
STOP
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9. So what should a logo do? It should just state your brand
name. Nothing more. Yes, explore font usage for that, is it
uppercase, is it lower case, is it heavy, is it light. Look at
colour. That’s why companies like Fiverr are great. You can
get a decent logo done on the cheap.
To understand exactly what I’m talking about, take a walk
down the high street or go into a shopping centre. Look at
the brand identities.
Majority are simple and typographical.
Open your wardrobe and look at the fashion labels that
you have. Most fashion brands really, really get brand. Just
examine those logos. What do you see? Snap, it’s simple
and typographical.
LET TYPE DO The TALKING
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10. Don’t pay a graphic designer loads of
dough to produce an over elaborate mark
that is your logo. You are wasting your
capital which you have very little of.
don’t piss away your pennies
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11. It all starts
with the
name
LESSON 2:
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12. If you are in the lucky position of being in
a pre-launch phase, think long and hard
about your name. This is where your
energy should really go not faffing over
a logo design. A great brand name does
half the communication battle for you. A
bad name just means your other pieces of
communication have to work twice as hard.
But again if you are lumbered or already
committed to a name, don’t over stress it.
There is more to brand than name.
FUEL UP BEFORE TAKE OFF
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13. While we are on the subject, a couple
of dont’s. Don’t use a name for your
brand because it means something
to you. While ‘mango’ might be your
favourite fruit, most people in the world
will not care. As is the initials of all
your business partners. That is cool
for you guys, but again makes the
communication battle hard.
NO ONE CARES
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14. Great brand names are generally
emotive. They capture the essence
of what you are about. They create a
feeling in the mind of the consumer.
And if they are really, really, good
someone goes, wow, that’s clever.
Get it!!!
CAPTURE THE MINDs & HEARTS
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15. STUCK WITH
the name?
look at
the tagline
LESSON 3:
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16. Taglines on the whole are terribly
done. A tag line fundamentally
is a line of communication which
when a new prospect comes
across your brand will tell them
what it is you exactly do. So for
example, let’s say you went with
the brand name ‘mango’ and you
have a tag line that says ‘Making
You Fresh’... that tells me bloody
well nothing! What do you do? Do
I need you? It makes no sense.
PEOPLE
CAN’t
READ
YOUR
MINDBLAND
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17. On the other hand, you have a tag line
that goes; ‘Mango’, ‘Brand Strategy
Specialists’.
Even though the name and the tag
don’t actually work well together, it
at least does the job of giving me
and understanding, and unless you
are super fucking famous, like Nike
(and your tag is a statement of your
philosophy) most people when they
come to your brand haven’t a clue
what it is that you do, so help them
out.
Don’t worry that it is a boring stale
line. You have a vast array of
communications to bring out all the
funky lines that you want to use.
GIVE IT TO THEM
STRAIGHT
DON’TDOTHIS
DOTHIS
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18. The best taglines out there really help
unpack the name and do the job of telling
people what it is that you do. Example:
Lush - fresh handmade cosmetics.
The name creates a feeling, it is a rich
word, and then the tag expounds what the
name is all about.
Very, very good.
WHAT IT’s SUPPOSED TO LOOK LIKE
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19. Understand
your values
LESSON 4:
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20. All the elements so far, most small business
would have thought about. The one thing
they normally don’t and where we make a
living (not a killing, but a living) is defining
what the brand stands for. The brand values.
give yourself something
to stand on
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21. Now, those who flirt with this idea of creating a set of
words that represent what you stand for typically do it
terribly.
First thing we look for is preferably single word terms,
no statements, no catchy phrases. Single words
which boil down exactly what the hell you are about.
The next issue is that most of the values I’ve seen
are uninspiring words, which they don’t really own,
that doesn’t represent them well and more commonly
are so over used.
Values like ‘professional’ ‘satisfied’, ‘unique’,
‘interesting’, ‘British’, ‘quirky’, ‘premium’, ‘happy’.
And the one that is very current at the moment is
‘disruptor’.
That’s why drawing the values out of a company is
a skilled task and why bringing in a professional is
often recommended. Cha ching!!!
DON’t BE
SUCH A
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22. communicate
LESSON 5:
Now
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23. Let’s assume you nailed your values. The next task
is building a website. You need one. There was a
point when I thought you could get away without
having one, but that disappeared a long time ago.
For a website don’t get bogged down with the
design of the site. You can find great looking
templates online, checkout Themeforest.
Pick one.
The trick for a website is not the structure and
look of the site but the content and the flow of that
DON’t GET
TANGLED UP -
CONTENT IS KING
content on your site. It’s like saying what makes
a good brochure is the quality of the paper and
whether you used debossing techniques or custom
colours. All great. All nice. All not necessarily
required.
It’s the content within the brochure which makes
it good. Same with a website. What language you
use, the heading and titles which guides a person
across your site. The imagery, is it stock? Probably
is. But don’t use shitty stock stuff that looks cheesy
and over used.
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24. Look to have as many communication
‘tools’ as possible i.e brochure, flyers,
pdfs etc. The more you have at your
disposal the easier it is to build trust
with customer bases. They will see
that you have already produced
content that deals with the problems
or questions they are facing.
SHOW CLIENTS YOU’RE
A SWISS ARMY KNIFE
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25. If you have extra budget look to create
communications that are funky, quirky,
memorable, especially in print formats.
I’m a big believer in print as it’s tangible
and harder to dismiss.
Print tends to hang around.
In most marketing efforts potential
customers don’t always have a need for
what your selling when you approach
them. However, 6 months from now
they might do, and if they receive
something funky and cool from you,
they will keep it to one side and when
the time is right they will pull it out and
think ‘I’ve gotta call these guys!’
YOU CAN’t ‘DELETE’ PRINT
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26. Keep
communicating
LESSON 6:
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27. To build perception around your
business and brand you need to keep
communicating. Don’t just think that I got
my website and brochure and that is it.
Wrong!
The more you communicate, the more
you’ll connect, the more people will
understand you, the more you will
create an impression about you. This
is the space that if you want people to
get that you are young, funky, British
and professional and they will start to
understand it.
DON’t STOP NOW
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28. Knowledge and sharing of knowledge
(like I’m doing now) is great way
to keep on communicating with
your audience. You’ll be kept at
the forefront of their minds without
seeming like you are asking for
something. And when the time is right
that they need what you sell, you’ll
already be in their consciousness.
Don’t be a
distant memory
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29. The key to any communication is
repetition. The main principle on which
advertising works is not the creative it
is repetition. You could have the best
creative ad in the world but if people
can only see and interact with it once,
fat chance they’ll act.
BE THE BROKEN RECORD
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30. SHOW
THEM
Every business large or small
needs to acknowledge that they
need to communicate regularly.
Especially when you are in
market and your competitors are
not doing that.
It allows to be seen as a thought
leader, you’ll build goodwill within
your industry and be admired
by your contemporaries. The
more that you can invest in the
production of content, with video
being the best, and well-shot
video not just off your phone,
with some production budget, is
an excellent investment.
DON’T TELL THEM YOU’RE GREAT...
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31. While all of this goes on, the real trick is to distribute the content. To find new
audiences and ways to connect. Regardless though, if you are placing your content
on your website what it does is create more avenues for people to find you, and
Google likes sites which are content rich and which update regularly.
So without a shadow of a doubt it’s a win win, and I encourage whole heartedly for all
business owners to change the perception of their brand by producing regular content.
IT’S A WIN WIN
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32. Inter relation
between brand
and marketing
LESSON 7:
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33. Where I see the fundamental advantage
of creating a brand is that when it comes
to marketing the job becomes much
easier. If your brand sucks and you don’t
communicate it well no matter how hard
you push your marketing, it will just fail.
Similarly if your concept or product is not
up to scratch winning is very hard.
DO IT WELL, BUT PRESENT IT BETTER
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34. The analogy I often give to people
is imagine that if you are going to a
club to pick up a girl or a guy, think of
marketing as the act of going up to
someone to say ‘hey, let’s get jiggy’.
So if that is the case then brand is the
act of making sure when you show
up you look right and you have got
something interesting to say. Because
if you look and talk like everyone else
in that club, what will make you stand
out and what will create desirability
in the mind of the person you want to
hook up with?
I WANT YOU BABY
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35. That’s why we create brand values, it
allows you to define yourself explicitly
in a way that only you could really say.
It makes you immediately unique from
your competitors.
You are not competing on the products
and services you sell, it becomes
about the values that you trade off.
You then need to follow that through
with your brand communication. Your
brand communication flows from your
values, it becomes meaningful and
highly impactful.
DEFINEWHO YOU ARE
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36. What many businesses suffer from when
it comes to communications is that they
look and sound just like their competitors.
Ever done the ‘what’s on our competitors
website, let’s just copy and paste it.’ Or
what images have they got, let’s find
similar ones. You end up regurgitating what
is already out there in the market, why
someone wants to choose you will then
come down to price. People will see you as
a commodity and nothing more. Any form
of cut through then becomes so hard.
NO MORE COPYCAT SH*T
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37. Following on from our initial point.
Powerful brand communication sticks
in the mind. Good communiations are
like glue... they stick around. Weak or
uncreative communication very rarely
gets recall.
This is where advertisers or agency
like mine make their money.
The creative endeavour.
That’s something that can separate.
However, if it isn’t built on values it is
more often than not highly hit and miss
as it has not been driven from a point
of reference, the brand values.
KEEP IT STICKY
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38. See marketing
strategically
LESSON 8:
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39. When most small businesses think about
communications they think advertising. So
they either think we can’t afford it or they say
let’s do it, but typically they do it badly. That’s
not just from a creative level but more on
media channel selection.
THERE’s MORE THAN ONE WAY
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40. SHOOTI like marketing that returns me a list. By
that I mean if I’m doing tech branding. I can
research and find a list of the biggest tech
firms 10 miles from me. That becomes my
market and within that market I need to
DON’t BLINDLY
becomes famous. It is not that every single
tech firm in the UK needs to know me, or
everyone in my locality needs to know that
I do branding. Niche down who or what you
want to target. Then wage war.
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41. Strategy is a military term. So I find
branding and marketing is like seduction
and war. Brand being all about seduction
and marketing all about going out
fighting tooth and nail to win business.
So as the famous saying ‘all is fair in
love and war.’
ALL IS FAIR IN LOVE AND WAR
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42. So with a list in hand I know who I want to
target. This allows me to be very precise in the
communications I create.
For example we might target a particular tech firm
in the city. We’ll create a Facebook ad campaign
for all the workers who in their profile have
listed this particular company as their employer
(facebook ads are great value for money at the
moment and can be highly targeted). We create
an ad which plays off our brand values and uses
the principles of advertising for us to get the
clicks we require.
Here is the clever part, they click on the ad and
they come to a landing page specifically created
for their company. That level of targeting works
because I have started with a list and narrowed
down my targets.
GET THEM IN YOUR
CROSSHAIRS...
This is obviously a B2B proposition but the same
is true for B2C you just have to profile your
audience and look for the places that they’ll be
and engage with them in a relevant way. But
again don’t play the game of thinking everyone
and anyone is a potential customer, create a list.
That list might be for only one user group
but at least you can try and win on that, and
when you do well with one audience, create
targeted comms for another audience and so
forth because unless you have a lot of dosh
it becomes hard to communicate with wide
audience bases.
Even if your product or service is for everyone,
break it down into winnable battles, rather than
a full on assault on all fronts which is hard to
manage and hard to be successful at.
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43. Creating long
lasting brands
LESSON 9:
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44. Our final thoughts here are for
you to imagine a line or a scale
where at one end you have
brand communications at on
the other end you have direct
communications.
Direct communications is your
‘logical rational stuff’ where you
tell people that you exist, where
you are located, what they can
buy from you, dare I say it, even
offers, all a very functional level of
communication.
Brand communication is the
sexy stuff. It creates desirability,
it is expressed through images,
it seduces, it appeals to the
emotions and it has serious
personality. Most people do the
former and not the later but every
successful business needs both.
tip the scales
inyourfavour
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45. DIRECTThe more that you do brand communication, over time you’ll move up the scale and less
and less you’ll need to do the direct stuff. I know they aren’t a small business but take Apple
as a classic example, all their ads are pretty much brand communications, they create
desirability, there is no where from, how much, what processer, or any of the nitty gritty stuff.
Occasionally they do some direct stuff, but on the whole it all makes you go ‘that’s cool.’ And
if you see it enough, it might make you go ‘I want it.’ That’s where any business wants to be.
That by doing brand communication in itself you can sell the products or services you have.
the big boys don’t have to BE
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46. To do all that your brand communications
needs to appeal to the emotions.
Emotions go beyond any reason or
argument. They are expressed through
images and create propositions which
are almost impossible to justify. You have
to understand very clearly what your
brand personality is all about, and again
that all comes from a well defined set of
brand values.
make people dream
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47. To get brand communication is a long game. It doesn’t happen over night, but the benefits
are ever lasting. If you want to grow or scale your business, your brand has to be part of
that process. The benefits that having a brand can bring to a business are immense.
Firstly you can charge higher prices, as everyone is attracted by a brand. Next, you
can create a barrier to the competition, as you are creating preference in the minds of
consumers while alongside selling your products and services. Your immediate competitors
are only focused on the ‘now’ of selling more stuff, it is a short game, not a long one.
BUILD A WALL TO
SCAREOFFCOMPETITION
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48. With brand comes terms like brand loyalty,
brand equity and brand personality.
The brand personality is what you want to trade
off and where differentiation arises from.
Brand loyalty arises from people not just liking
you, but loving you. This flows from the fact that
you have a brand personality that connects with
certain audiences.
Finally brand equity means that the value of your
business is more than its net assets, it is the
perception, feeling and emotions that surround
your business, that have an intangible value.
Take Coca Cola, its listed on the stock market at
value of $170bn, $90bn of which are its assets,
$80bn is its brand value. That’s almost half!
an investment for eternity
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49. Final words, I promise.
To be a true brand means that you polarize.
Some will love you, some will hate you. If
you want to be cool with everyone, it means
really people are indifferent about you.
We are just scratching the surface here of
what brand is and how it works. Hopefully
it has given you some food for thought and
made you realise that just because you are
a small business go beyond the idea that
brand is just being that tiny little logo thingie.
pick a side and
fight for it
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50. + 44 (0) 1923 605 505 yo@blandtobrand.co.uk www.blandtobrand.co.uk
LOVED IT?
WANT MORE?
DROPUSALINEBrand Strategy & Communications Agency
Unit 6, Suite 14, Blueprint Commercial Centre, Imperial Way, Watford, WD24 4JP
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51. ...and remember
brand sells & bland smells
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