Have you felt like quitting the process of branding your business online as you try to grow your presence? Do you feel like your efforts aren’t making a different and you want to quit? I want to encourage you to “Don’t quit, keep branding your business”.

Image: SXC.hu

What this means is that as you are sharing information online about your business, don’t quit because it seems like things aren’t working. You never know where your next new client may come from or how you will be able to develop a new strategic partnership.

There are different ways that you can brand your business online. Below is a starter list to help you determine what will work for you:

• Review your brand packaging to determine if you need to update it. If you need to make changes, get 360° feedback from your clients, business associates and others who may be connected with your business.
• Determine if your brand strategy needs to be revamped. You should check out where your competition is actively building their brand. Then see where you can incorporate similar things into your brand strategy.
• Assess the buzz marketing that may be affecting your business. See if there are ways to develop a buzz about your business so that others will spread the word about your business.

These are simple things that can help you get started with revamping your business. Keep in mind….don’t quit, keep branding your business. Success is just around the corner. Please feel free to share additional ways that you have been able to keep your branding alive.

Having a unique branding message and being able to deliver it affectively, it key to having a successful business branding plan. To help business owners understand the importance of an effective business branding plan, I recently interviewed Ayesha Mathews-Wadhwa who is the owner of PixInk.info.

Below is the interview that I conducted with her via TwitInterviews.com recently. Once you have read over the interview, please feel free to leave your feedback and also contact Ayesha for more details on how she can help you develop a business branding plan.

Question 1: Welcome to your #TwitInterview. Please introduce yourself and the key areas of your expertise? How long have you been involved in this area?

Hi Kim! Thanks so much for having me here - this is such a great format  I’m Ayesha Mathews~Wadhwa, Principal & Creative Director at PixInk - A boutique design practice with expertise is Branding and Design - something I’ve loved doing for the last 10 years

Question 2: What are the top 3 tips on branding that a business owner should know and how should they implement them?

That’s a great question Kim. First, very simply I want to explain - What is Brand/Branding?

A brand is an idea about your product or service that lives in the heart & mind of your customer. All of you entrepreneurs I know have the start of a strong brand..but what do you do to differentiate/ make it truly yours? What you want to be is a charismatic brand… that’s one that people believe have NO substitute.

What’s Branding? Branding is the art and science of bringing a brand into the world and helping it thrive..its the sum total of your offering, your visual identity, your communication & packaging and your customer relationships. eg: Brands that gets branding right? Virgin. Apple. Oprah. Madonna and I’m going to add Savor the Success to this list 
So Top 3 things to remember while branding your company?

1. Have an AWESOME product that delivers high value.
2. Build on your CORE VALUES
3. Create and engaging branded EXPERIENCE for your customer

Question 3: When should a business start to think about “branding” their business services or products? Why is it important to “brand” your business?

It important to cultivate and nurture your brand as it grows and that’s why I say branding your business is like raising your kids.. you cannot start paying attention to them suddenly when they turn 20! Why is this important..because in today’s hyper saturated marketplace only those business who clearly identity their product offering and value and communicate this to the consumer in a consistent engaging way (brand language) will thrive - again the point is to be a charismatic brand - one that people believe has NO substitute.

Question 4: You are sharing great branding information. Please share specific examples of effective brands/brand strategies?

I love and follow brands that speak to the customer at every touch point - Engage them - right from the time you hand over your biz card or welcome someone at your website or on a shelf at retail: Virgin & Apple are great examples of this. In fact, I’ve never paid attn to the InFlight Safety Procedure Video till Virgin America came out with its version! And I want to make it clear that great branding campaigns don’t necessarliy have to come from Fortune 500 companies with Fortune 500 budgets. In today’s economy Small Biz and Start-Ups are poised to capitalize on the opportunity to grab market share - CD Baby and Savor the Success are both young companies in the midst of developing compelling brand language and value!

Question 5: How does Branding play a part in the social media landscape?

That’s a great topic .. one of the reasons the social media landscape is so powerful is because it the first time in history when brands are now shaped by the customer versus the “marketing department”..I love this because it forces brands to stay authentic and provide value. And ultimately a Brand is not what you (the marketing department) says it is…its what they (the customers) believe it is and what better way than social media to gauge the pulse of a brand? directly interacting with customers..getting reviews, feedback and testimonials from people you know and trust is an incredibly powerful ingredient in the brand spectrum..this landscape forces brands to be true to what they should really focus on - giving the customer/client great value.

Question 6: One final question. Please share how you work through your company, PixInk, to help company’s brand their services and products?

PixInk is passionate about nurturing brands and creating rich, insightful and emotionally resonant visual communication.

Our strategy and creative work has led to successful interactive and marketing implementations for clients ranging from Fortune 500s to start ups, including Apple, Oracle, Cat Footwear, Harley Davidson, Skin by Alison Raffaele, MTV Style (India) and Picaboo to name a few.

I’m especially committed to the next evolution in the branding spectrum - Rich Branding i.e the ability to get under the skin of a brand and extract all of the most evocative, engaging elements — and present those in a visually compelling manner, while speaking in an authentic brand voice consistently. I truly believe a great brand is like a great person - evolving elegantly through time and culture.

Question 7: Thank you for allowing me to interview you. Please share how you can be contacted.

Kim - thank you for having me and allowing PixInk to share some insights with your community here on Twitinterviews  I can be reached at: ayesha@pixink.info. Look forward to hearing from you!
To your continued success.
Ayesha

Business branding is important to business owners if they want to grow the circle of influence for their business. Brand awareness is the process of making sure that consumers of your services or products knows about your business and what you provide.

In developing your brand awareness strategy, there are a few things that you should keep in mind. Below is a starter list to help you develop it:

• Determine your vision: as a business owner, you must first try truly understand your business direction and goals. You would do this by defining your brand positioning or the nuts-and-bolts plan which is the foundation of your brand strategy.
• Make it memorable: your brand should include graphics and wording that helps to keep your business brand in the mind of your consumer. For instance, when you hear “Just Do It” you know this refers to Nike. Or you see the following image and you know it refers to a soft drink. Even if the name of the company wasn’t on the graphic, it could easily be recognized.
  
• Define branding tools: determine what tools you will use to brand your business. You can use graphics, audio, video, website, newsletter and many many more. Create a living list that you can work from to develop your brand awareness.
• Incorporate feedback. poll your current customers and business associates to receive feedback from them about your current brand.

So how are you building your brand awareness? Please feel free to share your ideas and results regarding your brand awareness.

Branding your business website through the use of video is another way of adding interactivity to your website. To help you understand how to use video for branding, I decided to share a few details that will help you as you build your brand using video.

Below are the details to keep in mind when using video to build your brand:

• Make sure your business message is stated clearly in your video
• Include your business logo and your image if possible in the video
• Make sure that the audio is noise-free
• If you add text, make sure the size of the text is not tiny
• Try creating a customer testimonial video that will have them sharing about why they like your services or products.
• When attending a special event like a seminar, make sure that you get recording of other attendees because you could use this as part of your video branding
• Create a virtual tour of your website

Below is a video that shares information and tips about business branding.

How to Brand Your Business

During a recent interview with Patrick Moran of Fuze Meeting, he shared how Fuze is a webinar service that is worth checking out. When you think about Web 3.0, you need to keep in mind that this type of software allows interaction with web visitors, can run on different platforms such as smartphones or computers. Fuze is a Web 3.0 software program that can help you deliver your brand message.

Using Fuze as a Web 3.0 branding tool means that you are focused on delivering your business message to the masses using an interactive software. To help you better about Fuze Meeting, I have included the interview with Patrick below.

Please introduce yourself and your business. Then share about your expertise and how long you have been in your industry.

How does Fuze Meeting work? Does it take training to get started? Do you provide support in case there are problems?

Does Fuze Meeting require a software download?

Please share some of the ways that Fuze Meeting is being used by your current users.

Now for ideas on how you can use Fuze to help with your online branding, I’ve shared list below from their website called the “Top 10 Uses” of how you can use their software:

1. Manage remote teams
2. Join meetings on different continents
3. Stay at home in your slippers
4. Conduct sales presentations
5. Demonstrate products and software
6. Train customers, partners, and employees
7. Hold a meeting…on a train
8. Hold a meeting…with a dude from Spain
9. Conduct a meeting going 600 miles per hour
10. Share your next big idea

The newest campaign for Dunkin Donuts (DD) include the message that they have a new “Wake-up Breakfast” with the promo message that “it’s breakfast not brokefast”. DD has decided to go with this message because they feel it’s their way of helping their customers who are financially challenged.

In branding the “Wake-up Breakfast” as the breakfast that you want to buy, they have decided to use video, TV commercials, print ads and press releases. This type of branding can help a business to singularly bring brand awareness to a particular product.

Another promotion that they are using to brand their business is DD Smart which has the as it’s center goal to communicate that “Better for you choices that keep you running’”. In running this campaign, DD hopes to educate their customers on the “smart choices” of buying the Smart breakfast items and how they can participate in a 5K running training program. To help encourage participation, DD shares the following message on their website:

Making smart choices about what you eat is one way to stay on track. Another is keeping active. Check out the DDSMART Zero to 5K Training Program for information on running your first 5K or tips on training for your next. It’s easier than you think . Just search for a race in your area,
then download our training program. Run for fun, your health, with friends or for charity.

Even though both of these branding campaigns are about breakfast items, they are unique with different emphasis. As a business owner, you can learn from their branding efforts how to successfully brand different products.

Living life as an Olsen twin and as Co-Presidents of the Olsen Twin empire can have twists and turns but can be very beneficial. As you look at how the Olsen twins, Mary-Kate and Ashley, have built their brand, one will see that it has been many years of hard work and smart moves to keep the brand image in the public eye. If you don’t know who the Olsen Twins are, then visit Hulu.com to checkout the video about them and their branding.

Since they were babies, Mary-Kate and Ashley have been building a brand that has lasted through the young years in Hollywood to the teen years which is a rarity. Many childhood stars have experienced problems when transitioning from being a childhood star to a teen star and then on to an adult star. Now that the Olsen twins are adults, they still have proven that their brand identity is very strong. Part of the ways they have branded themselves is by having recognizable products such as clothing line, DVD videos, accessories, and many more items.

When it comes to branding your business, how have you made your business standout from the rest? What lessons can you learn from their success in branding their business? Checkout the list below and feel free to share your own views about what lessons can be learned from the Olsen Twins branding machine.

• Continuously makeover your brand over time but keep a consistent central theme.
• Don’t stop growing your brand when you hit a roadblock.
• Understand all aspects of your business branding so that you will know what needs to be done to renew the brand occasionally.
• Take chances to grow your brand in new directions that may seem strange.
• Be prepared for growth when you rebrand.
• Don’t be afraid to protect your brand from competitors.
• Make sure that you manage your brand’s reputation online and offline.

There have been so many lessons that a business owner can learn from the Olsen Twins’ branding machince. Please feel free to share what you have learned from their branding success.

Image: ZumaPress.com

Many business owners are currently building Web 2.0 into their web presence to not only share their information with web visitors or brand their business but to also allow web visitors to interact with them. With the rise of Web 3.0, a new frontier for websites has arisen that will allow for a 3-way sharing of information when it come to branding your business.

The 3-way sharing would include the business owner sharing their information, the consumer receiving the information and then the third component that eDoorways brings to the table. As one of the companies leading the way for Web 3.0, eDoorways is about to launch a website that gives business owners the third component. According to their website, this is what you will experience….

What happens when you put Google, MySpace, and eBay in a blender and mix them on high power? You get eDOORWAYS, the ultimate gateway for businesses and consumers to exchange ideas, services and products in a social networking environment.

With this in mind, a business owner would be able to use this website to brand themselves as the expert in their particular industry as they connect with potential clients and business owners. Being able to connect, collaborate, and communicate using Web 3.0 is important in the near future because it will help your brand stand out in comparison to your competitors. Per eDoorways‘ website,

eDOORWAYS creates an immediate solutions network which connects local businesses with consumers in need of immediate answers, goods or services, with expert assistance. This network of people and small businesses offers immediate solutions on a level never before possible. Harnessing web resources in a whole new way, eDOORWAYS is a functional tool which enhances the market’s transparencies for real solutions, pricing and quality.

So one of the keys to having a successful online brand strategy in the near future is to build-in Web 3.0. To help you understand the different between Web 2.0 and Web 3.0, I decided to share the following video. This video shares a short explains that can help you understand how to implement something like eDoorways within your business online branding.

Eric Schmidt, Web 2.0 vs. Web 3.0

What would it take for you to “fire up” your brand? What types of things would you have to do to make your brand known more widely than it currently is? How have you used the media to fire up your brand? Let’s dive into the concept of “firing up” your brand to see what a business owner would need to do.

Image: SXC.hu

To get things started, we are going to look at ways you can use the media to “fire up” your brand. Recently, Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) received a “fire up” to their brand from Oprah. She suggested that her viewers download a coupon from KFC’s website that would enable them to receive a free sample of the newest product that KFC had release. Although there were bumps in the process of downloading and redeeming the coupon, this event still “fired up” their brand.

To “fire up” their brand, Sprint recently began showing a commercial that was center about the “NOW” factor. In essence, they stated over and over, that as the viewer was watching their commercial that many things were happening. One of those things was Tweeting or using Twitter. This not only “fired up” Sprint’s brand but it also “fired up” Twitter’s brand too.

According to the article, “How One Small Business Uses Twitter to Build its Brand“, written for Advertising Age by Leach, Crochet and Fillinger, a small pizza business used Twitter to brand itself and to “fire up” their brand. The article stated that…

How time flies in a Twitter world. In these few short months, our single-unit store in New Orleans has plunged into the deep end of the social-media pool. We have added our Twitter handle (twitter.com/nakedpizza) to all carryout menus, box toppers and our company website. We’ve provided a link to sign up in our e-newsletter, sent to about 5,000 opt-in recipients on a bi-weekly basis. In the coming weeks our Twitter handle will appear on the 5,000-plus pizza boxes that go out the door every month and will be featured on more than 60,000 direct mail pieces sent to addresses within 5 miles of our store. We have even replaced a giant sign that formerly displayed our business phone number, 20 feet above our store, with a Tweetie bird and our Twitter handle. For a brick-and-mortar company that did not have so much as a Facebook page two months ago, to say we are embracing social media would be an understatement. We are betting the farm on it.

Wow! What a way to use media to grow your business and “fire up” your brand. If you are trying to figure out ways to “fire up” your brand on a budget, checkout the video below. Many great ideas are shared on how to do this. After viewing the following video, I’m sure your answer to this question will be YES! Feel free to share your experience with “firing up” your brand. I would love to hear your ideas.

One of the first things that a business owner should do is have graphics created to begin the process of branding your business website. This is the case because graphics quickly attract the eye of web visitors and can quickly direct them to places on your website where they can buy services or products.

Image: SXC.hu

To help you determine the graphics that you would need to add to your website, I have created a starter list below. This list provides the type of graphics that are common place or branding along with a description of how the graphic is normally used.

• Logo: placed usually in either the upper left (normal placement) or right hand corner for easy identification.
• Banners: include header graphic that normally is displayed at the top of your web pages or standard banners used to advertise your business on other websites.
• Buttons: used to provide a smaller version of your logo or banner to advertise your business and is usually 125 x 125 up to 250 x 250.
• eBook covers: in case you decide to package your knowledge into an eBook, it’s a good ideal for you to have a graphic created for the eBook
• Miscellaneous images:
  • Footer: occasionally used to draw attention to special announcement or special upcoming events.
  • Order/action button: to highlight your order section and to encourage web visitors to buy your product(s).
  • Matching bullet points: would be used for your list to bring attention to them on your webpage.
  • Highlighted images: include directional arrows or stars that highlight specific information.

Now let’s take a look at the Twitter homepage to see what they included on their websites to help brand their image. In the image below, I have pointed out a couple of the images that Twitter has used to brand their website. The logo is in the upper left had corner so that when you see it anywhere, you will know that it is in reference to Twitter. They have included several action buttons that encorage you to take action on their homepage such as “Get Started– Join“.

Image: Twitter.com

Now taking a look at Facebook’s homepage, they have their logo in the upper left corner also as you can see below. Their sign-up is on the homepage so you don’t have to take an extra step to sign-up. In the upper right hand corner is the section where you can login or click a link in case you have forgotten your login.

Image: Facebook.com