Dear business,
Today I heard that to start growing, there are a few things I should know. One, I’m supposed to consider you as a brand. What’s that? It’s this concept people use to identify and recognize this company, the products, services, or me if I choose to be the face. Go figure. All this time I thought it was plug and play. Apparently, I’ve got a lot to learn. Here we go.
So as I'm building this business, I found out can have more than one brand. These brands can be part of the original business or another company. The goal is to have them stand on their own. I wondered what that looks like. Proctor & Gamble (P&G) does this quite well. They have a lot of categories (brands) under the main umbrella. But what if I don't want to do that?
Figuring out the brand
Things are getting real interesting because there are different types of brands. The main three are a personal brand, hybrid brand, or corporate brand. There are differences. A personal brand is all about me. Most of the time, it's attached to my name. Everything is aligned with me which could make it harder to sell. While it can be done, if I'm selling specific products (especially digital), this may not be the way to go. Everyone will look at me because I am the brand.
Now, there's the hybrid brand where it's the company but I'm attached as the expert. I can have the best of both worlds because I can sell the products and services and make a name for the company, but if I needed to put another expert up there, I could. Although people know the brand, they also know me but it could very well stand alone.
The corporate brand is just that. There's no face unless it's a celebrity spokesperson (kind of like the Allstate guy), or those athletes that are promoting the brand. I don't have to be in the limelight and the brand speaks for itself with or without a mascot.
Moving things along
Now that I know what type brands I need to consider, it's time for me to do some homework. What do I want this business to do? Where do I want it to go? Do I have to be the face? Time to get to work. Follow my journey as I'm building this brand. Hopefully it helps you too. Subscribe to find out when something new is posted.