Ideas To Deals

What Does Your Brand Say?

A couple of months ago I attended a presentation by my friend Nate Riggs at the Ohio Web Leaders meeting.  Nate presented "Brand You" (many of the concepts of the presentation can be found in the post "Brand Ownership").  What I found interesting is the concept that the ownership of your "brand" does not really lie with you.  Your "brand" is really defined by the perception of others.  You can work to position yourself to provide the view you want people to see but it is on them how they see you.  While people will always view you through their lens there are things you can do to help them better understand you.  This is the core of "Personal Branding" and as a small business person your personal brand will translate to your business brand.

The key thing for small business owners is that they are usually the face of the business. The business is your passion, you set the tone for the business.  When people see you, the business owner, they see the business.  Even if you are not out in front (which most of the time you are) the perception of the business is a reflection of your personal brand. One of my favorite places is TehKu Tea.  It is not that I am a tea connoisseur, it is because of the business' atmosphere and feel, all of which is set by the owners.  It is genuine and an extension of the owners' personal brand. 

So what should you do as a business owner to extend your personal brand to your business.  First, be authentic and show your passion for the business.  You started the business for a reason and more than likely it was because you have a passion for what you deliver.  When you meet Kip Robinaugh, owner of  Peach Tree Books & Company, in Bellefontaine, Ohio, you know he is genuine, real and passionate about his business and the community.  The image he projects is not only a personal image but also a business image.  When you see him you not only see Kip but you see Peach Tree books.

Keep your brand clean and easy to understand.  I know that we are all complicated and there are many layers between the  surface and our core.  If you want your personal brand to represent you and your business you need to think about what you are putting out there for people to see.  It is easy now with social media tools to reach people all over the world.  It's up to you how many of your various layers you choose to project but know that it will contribute to your brand and your business.  In my case when people see me or my posts they know I work with small businesses.  They may see other things and they may not know exactly what SBDC stands for or exactly how my program works but they know I am a go to person relating to small business.

Here are some tips I took from Nate's presentation that every small business owner should take to heart:

• Know thyself
• Listen and engage
• Be authentic
• Spread good karma
• Be transparent
• Ask questions
• Always be in Beta

Finally and most importantly...Project trust.  Customers need to be able to know that you are on their side.  Build a purpose based business and the profits will follow (thanks to Raymond Taylor for that one).  Focus on relationships and how they interrelate with your business.  Listen more that you speak (you have two ears and one mouth for a reason). 

Step outside of yourself.  What do you want to see and what do you see?  Start today to bring these two together.

When To Jump

One of the keys to launching a business is knowing when to make the jump into the market.  I usually run into either the entrepreneur that wants to rush in or the one that wants to over-think everything.  One will want to know the answer to every question and continually build, rebuild and delay the launch.  The other usually uses more of a "Field of Dreams" strategy...if we build it they will come.

I don't think there is any one thing that will let you know it is time to jump and launch your business.  There are many factors that should be considered and these often vary by type of business.  The way to identify and address the issues specific to your business is through preparation.

If you think about a long jumper they spend time in advance getting their steps down so that when they are ready to jump they hit the board at the right place to allow them to get the maximum distance without either leaving precious distance on the runway or fouling.  They have gone down the practice runway thousands of times both in real life and in their minds before they jump in competition.   This preparation is what will allow them to be confident that they are ready and will hit the board where they should when they jump so they can succeed.  You can do the same thing.  Preparation in a business case will include knowing your market and how you are going to address that market.  The more you know about your customers they better you will be able to execute when you do launch.  Advanced research and interactions with prospective customers will allow you to avoid many costly stops and restarts after launch.  Note...stops and restarts after launch equal unexpected expenses and lost revenue, not a good thing.

Preparation also allows you to create your own game.  In the Chris Brogan / Julien Smith book Trust Agents they talk about setting your own rules.  More now than ever before you are able to change the rules of the game through use of social media tools.   These game changing tools can allow you to bring your message to more people than ever before for less money than ever before.  However, I have always said that just having the tools will not make you successful.  It is the strategy in employing those tools that will make you successful.  By understanding where you want your business to go you can come up with innovative ways to promote your concepts, ideas and brand.  You can determine where your customers are and how to best communicate and reach them. Without this knowledge you may be taking shots in the dark.  As a business owner you want to hit the target more often than not, preparation allows you to do that.

So when is the right time to jump?  When you have identified your entrepreneurial passion and coupled it with strategic, customer focused preparation you will be ready to jump and succeed.

Ideas To Deals...Live

Ideas to Deals Live...It's pretty cool to have an event that takes the concepts of my blog and brings them to life in a live training.  Granted, I created the event so maybe it's not really that cool but still...

Over the past three weeks we have been discussing issues relating to building an investment ready business. We have covered topics such as seeking government SBIR funding, structuring your business to accept investment and how to approach and pitch investors. 

Its often difficult to control various parts of the fund raising process.  One thing you can control is your level of knowledge.  You need to know what is going on in the mind of the person across the table from you.  Some of this only comes with experience but as long as you take every opportunity to learn you will be in a better position.  Below is my PowerPoint presentation relating to approaching and pitching investors, hopefully this will help. 

Ideas To Deals 8 27

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If you have questions or recommendations please leave a comment.  Let's learn from each other.