Like this article? PLEASE +1 it! Evan Signature
Evan Carmichael Top Header about About Home Profiles articles Tools forums inspirational quotes About facebook Twitter YouTube Blog
Share for a Cause











Are You Hiding In A Schlumpy Brand?

Guest post by: Erin Ferree

Article Overview: Are you using a brand that doesn’t look stunning as a way to hide your true genius? I know that this sounds kind of silly, but there are lots of small businesses out there using brands that don’t reflect them.

Free Download - 7 Proven Strategies For Going Viral By Erin Ferree
Name: Email:

Are You Hiding In A Schlumpy Brand?

Are you using a brand that doesn’t look stunning as a way to hide your true genius?

I know that this sounds kind of silly, but there are lots of small businesses out there using brands that don’t reflect them.

Maybe you spent “all that money” on a brand that was never right from the start, yet you use it because you’re afraid to waste resources.

Maybe your brand was just fine at the start, but now your business has really changed on the inside and your brand just doesn’t show it.

Maybe your brand was okay to get your business off the ground, but now you want to grow it – and your revenues – up, but it’s holding you back.

In any case, your brand could be a poorly fitting mess. If you see this and are ready to fix it, that’s great! Get on the phone with your friendly brand designer (like me!) and get the branding party started.

But if you’re using that messy brand to hide behind, then we have a bigger problem. If you think that the fact that your brand doesn’t look like you is okay, it could be a sign that you’re not really showing up in the world.

In order to gore a successful business, you have to show up and get known. You want to make a fabulous first impression, make sure that your materials cut through the visual clutter out there, and become unforgettable.

You can’t do that with a schlumpy, old brand. Unless it helps you become unforgettable for all the wrong reasons – and you certainly don’t want that.

Ask yourself this question: Why are you hiding in a blah brand? What fears do you have around becoming known, getting the word out about your business, or even experiencing glowing success in your business?

Related Articles
  Any Volunteers For The Next Presentation?
  Publicity -- What Do You Do When PR Goes Horribly Wrong?
  The Power of a Brand Name and how to make your own brand powerful
  Let Me Tell You About A Truly Great Brand
  How Your Personality Can Grow Your Business
  Strategic Branding Questions
  Are You Hiding Out Or Shining Your Light?
  Do Bean Counters Understand Brand Value?
  How Branding Can Lead to a Business's Success...or Failure
  How to use brand bidding
  Branding Techniques
  Everything You Do
  The Three Cs of Branding
  A World of Contradictions
  5 Ways Social Media Could Have Improved My Life
  Brand Creation-How Do You Create a Compelling Brand?
  Think of Your Brand as an Orange
  Your Brand is More than a Logo or a Tagline
  The No Nos of SEO
  Build Your Reputation

Home > Marketing > Erin Ferree > Are You Hiding In A Schlumpy Brand >
Article Tags: brand, branding, design, hiding, marketing, small business

About the Author: Erin Ferree
RSS for Erin's articles - Visit Erin's website

Erin Ferree is a branding coach, design genius and strategic thinker. She's been told that her right-brain, left-brain combination of creativity and logic is hard to come by... and that it's what small business owners need to be successful. She loves connecting the dots between passion and profit, mixing strategy and inspiration and shaking things up. She deeply enjoys working with entrepreneurs who want to help more people and look good doing it. Who want all of their branding and marketing to make sense and speak to their ideal clients. And who want an open, honest, inviting brand with integrity - instead of using icky, pushy, sleazy marketing tactics and trickery. She's branded over 450 small businesses in the last 10 years. She's been published in so many books and periodicals that she stopped counting. She's shared stages with some awesome people - like Michele PW, Linda Hollander, Lisa Cherney, Sheri McConnell and Kelly O'neil. In the rare moments when she's not obsessing about branding or design, she can be found hugging her corgi-dog Stanley, going for long walks, cooking improvisationally, or throwing parties so her friends can enjoy them.

Click here to visit Erin's website
Dashed Line

More from Erin Ferree
How To Brand Your Livestream


Related Forum Posts
Re: Partner with Sony Pictures.Coca-Cola and Toyota Re: Partner with Sony Pictures.Coca-Cola and Toyota - I've truly always been amazed by small businesses who have big name company's listed on their websites with whom they have done work for or partnered in the Past. Has anyone on the Forum has such a partnership with large organizations or Brand name companies? Would you mind sharing how you were able to set up the partnership without giving away names of people you work with?
Brand Babble Brand Babble - I recently read another great book called "Brand Babble" The book debunks a bunch of branding 'myths' that have seem to get passed around as conventional branding wisdom. The authors are Don E Schultz & Heidi F Schultz. ISBN 0-538-72714-4
Franchise Support. What is it to you? Franchise Support. What is it to you? - I do a lot of due diligence on franchises that we work with. Most of the time I call up existing franchisees and act like I am interested in buying a franchise in their system. I ask a ton of questions just like any normal buyer, they do not know that I am an experienced franchise consultant. My question for this forum is: What do you consider support from the franchisor? Is it: - Communication? - Brand growth? - Advertising? - Assistance? - Or something else? The reason I ask this is that some franchisees tell me that they don't get enough support from the franchisor and when I ask them what support they would want, they don't have an answer outside of "helping me get more business". So I thought I would throw this out to the group and ask you what you consider would be support to a franchisee. .
Hello from Captain Franchise Hello from Captain Franchise - Hello Everyone, I'd to introduce our company and give everyone a bit of an overview of what we do. CaptainFranchise is based out of Hopewell Junction, NY. We have a strong belief entrepreneurship, and we feel franchising can be a huge help in that quest! We offer internet advertising services to small and large, new and old franchise concepts. Brand exposure is our specialty. We have a talented team who believes in making a successful match between the entrepreneur and franchise concept. Our team has a background in sales, marketing, finance, information technology and of course franchising. Our ultimate goal is to place individuals in the right businesses to satisfy their entrepreneurial spirit. Well, enough about us! I just wanted to say Hello and I look forward to being an active student and teacher on the forums. Best, Captain Franchise
Re: What makes a good online review? Re: What makes a good online review? - Hi Kevin, True that the net is inundated with information, but there are flaws too, like you are not always sure as to whether the information provided is authentic or not. Therefore many organizations have set standards maybe of their own or laid down by Authorities. But for the common man, there is always a chance of falling in the trap. When I search for some product on the internet, there are two options for me (and I believe for most of us). When we are into purchase of a product, we are mostly after a specific brand. In such a case, any review does not matter. But for the other products (when Brand Name isn't that important), I generally take into account the reviews. I consider both - Expert Reviews and Consumer reviews. But many a times, they don't publish negative comments of products. So I do a search on Google or other search engines for related content to know more about the product and generally prefer to read Forums, Online Communities and Blogs (in that order) to decide on the purchase. Regards,


Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.



Featured Article

Bottom Footer



Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!
Name:
Email:
Popular Articles

Self Employed Business Ideas

The Right Job - Part Five 'Compensation'

Five keys to business success

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.