Small Business Branding

Rebranding a Newly Acquired Business: They Told Me Not To

Not long ago, I purchased an online business. When I bought the business, it came with its own, pretty well known brand, was a fairly profitable business and had a loyal client base. After obtaining the business, I pondered over completely rebranding it. The business didn’t require a fresh image, but it was something I personally felt would be a profitable choice as the new owner. I had plans to grow the business prior to acquiring it and giving it a brand make-over is just one of the ways I hoped to do so.

During the planning process, I consulted with business coaches, owners, and even those who worked in the same type of service based business. During that time, I had not one, but two business coaches tell me NOT to rebrand it. Both suggested rebranding the site was not necessary due to the fact it already had its own unique brand.

This led me to really think about which direction I wanted to take the business. I also had a hard decision to make in deciding just how willing I was to possibly lose current clients or turn future clients away. No one wants to think they may lose faithful clients, especially when acquiring a new business that has reached successful status. However, the more I thought about the direction I wanted to go and the types of clients I wanted to attract, the more I realized the following:

1. If the previous owner was the only reason they did business with the site chances are likely that they were eventually going to leave anyway, regardless of whether I took the site in a new direction or not.

2. Those clients who stayed on board did so because of the quality my team had given them since I took over. If they were happy with our services and we maintained those same services and quality, they would continue working with us no matter what I chose to do with the brand.

I planned to continue with the same services and have even added a few more. Therefore, the choice based on those two items was fairly easy. I now had one plus on my pros and cons of rebranding list.

My ultimate goal was to grow the business. I now had to think about the types of clients I hoped to attract in the future to make this possible. This is where rebranding gets a bit personal. Branding is more than just a logo and tagline. It also includes the ideals, direction and personality of the business. In the case of an online service based business, this means the owner, team members, and customers, given that they all make up the business.

This is another of the reasons I deliberated rebranding the business. When I took over, it had already changed hands once. The current brand reflected the original owner perfectly. However, the brand wasn’t really representative of my personality or the professionalism I wanted to portray.

I wanted a broader, more qualified image that reflected who I am as a person and more of the actual services offered. Yes, the previous site was good at letting people know that articles were their forte due to the fact the word article was in their name. However, I wanted to reach more than just business owners who needed ghostwritten articles. When someone simply sees the word “article” it doesn’t tell them right off the bat what it is the business is all about. If someone is searching for a service that creates special reports or sales pages for example, would the word article turn them away because they think at first glance that it’s only an article writing service?

What about the person who does needs articles ghostwritten? Due to the previous business name, it wasn’t really clear if it provided article writing services or something else. See where I’m going? I wanted to capture a broader range of customers that needed more than just articles written. By changing not only the brand, but the name of the business as well, I would be opening the playing field to a bigger range of possible customers.

Of course, these are not the ONLY things I had to consider before deciding whether or not to go forward with the rebranding of the business, but they were a big part of the thinking and planning process. I knew the business was doing well when I purchased it and absolutely respected the decisions of those who told me I shouldn’t rebrand it (after all they are business coaches for a reason and very good at what they do). Even after all these things, I still felt in my gut rebranding was necessary to get where I wanted to be with this business. Therefore, I went ahead with my original plans and gave the site a completely new look and feel.

I’m happy to say the results have been phenomenal! In the less than two months since the rebranding process was complete and Get Content Results (formerly Article Mojo) was opened to the public, I have more than doubled my client base!

Well I have to say I’ve been chatting a ton about blogging and why it’s so important for me to hone my skill with it all. Lynette Chandler has now brought us Blog Energizer, she’s simply amazing with her knowledge about blogging. The cool thing is that you can grab a free account and get some pretty neat things for your blogging efforts, I’m looking forward to also using some of her resources.

One challenge we all face is adding fresh content to our sites and having our visitors happy to check us out on a regular basis, Lynette takes all the roadblocks away for us.

Here’s what she gives us:

- places where we can be guest bloggers

- free goodies you can give to your readers to keep them coming back

- people who want to promote your products

- activities you can give out to have people happy with your blog

You can sign up for your Free Account Here.

One question I have postulating for some time has just resurfaced by prominent blogger John Jantsch over at ducttapemarketing.com.  He says there is.  And I agree.  The basic theory is similar to Maslow’s theory that self-actualization cannot be achieved until the most basic human psychological needs such as breathing, eating, and sleeping are first met.

The same holds true in the small business realm. The ultimate potential of your marketing cannot be actualized until the basic or preliminary marketing requirements are filled.

For example, as I have mentioned man times before, the number one mistake I see business owners make is they implement tactics before strategy.  They will go out and buy radio advertising before they have thoroughly researched their target market, determined their competitive advantage or their marketing message.

In regards to social marketing there is a logical progression that should be followed.  You should learn to walk before you run.  John has listed a really hierarchy for this progression.

He recommends small business owners look at the following progression or hierarchy as they move deeper into social marketing tactics. So, jump in, but do it in this order and don’t move on until you have the basics of each stage down and working for you.

1)  Blogging – the foundation of the pyramid – read blogs, comment on blogs, and then
blog. This is the doorway to all other social marketing.

2)  RSS – Aggregate and filter content around subjects, and use RSS technology as a tool to help you repurpose, republish, and create content.

3)  Social Search – Often ignored in this discussion but I think it’s become very important for small business owners. By participating, you can stimulate and manage your reputation here.

4)  Social Bookmarking – Tagging content and participating in social bookmarking
communities can be a great way to open up more channels to your business. It can also
generate extra search traffic, but it takes work.

5)  Social Networks – Branching out to take advantage of the potential prospects you
might find on sites like Facebook or MySpace will frustrate—at least as a business tool—
if you don’t have many of the above needs met. These networks take time to understand
and thrive on ideas and content. You’ve got to have much to share if you wish to build
a business case.

6) Micro – He lumped some of the more experimental social tools into the edgy trend of
micro: social, real-time communication that will likely only confuse most small business
owners. The confusion is not because they can’t figure out how to make them work, it’s just not obvious why they should spend the time. John believes Maslow suggested that self- actualization is a place most might never reach. In social marketing terms, Twitter,
Plurk, and FriendFeed might be some sort of sick transcendence.

Ok so I’m following along the Blog Mastermind Program and Yaro suggests that we add more personality to our blogs to develop a closer relationship with our reader. One way he says is to add your picture to your blog to show your personality and build your brand.

Yaro says…

I want you to be very open, honest and real with your readers. You can do this by using your real personality and photos of yourself….

Well, I’m not one for pictures but I snapped this one with my laptop webcam of me with NO make-up I might add… (by the way gentlemen, that’s a huge deal for us women).

Anyhow, I have to say that I really love this Lesson, it’s the first one that I’m really enjoying. There’s alot more that will come out of this lesson that I’ll be adding to the site here, and I’ll be off this week to get some professional photos done for the site here.

In the meantime, here’s a true view of what I look like as I’m working on the site.

Do you have a business blog? Bravo! Blogs are a fantastic way to connect with your target audience and existing clients alike. Our fellow Small Business Branding blogger Nick Rice mentions that in a recent post too. Yet, there is one problem I see consistently among small business blogs and that is their URL.

I Cringe

Every single time I see a small business blog that has blogspot.com, wordpress.com or even typepad.com in the URL, I wince.  Why?

But It’s Stunningly Simple Or Is It…

On second thought. I know why. I know it is super easy. What can be simpler than signing up for an account and launching your blog in a mere 5 minutes. No crazy HTML, no web hosting to deal with, no funny domains and DNS issues… you don’t even know what DNS is.

Something’s Gotta Give

But with simplicity something’s gotta give - that is, you aren’t building traffic to your site because you don’t own the blogspot.com domain. You aren’t even building your own brand because the URLs can get difficult to remember.

It’s also unprofessional. You would not dream of putting your business web site on a free host Angelfire so why do that for your blog? Yes, I am kicking butts here but I wouldn’t be if it weren’t that important. So please, before your blog traffic grows any larger, before you build up a huge amount of content on your blog, transfer it to your own domain and make it a part of your web site. This is the most desirable option.

If that is not possible, at the very least, get a domain exclusively for your blog. Blogger, WordPress.com and TypePad are all able to do this. While this second option is not the best, it’s still better than status quo.

What if you don’t have a clue how?

If you are the DIYer type or you would rather have a designated staff learn how to do this in-house, then I suggest Blogging Starter Pack. If you’d just like to completely outsource this, your first action step should be to approach your web master. Any web master worth their salt these days should be able to set up a blog. Don’t know anyone? Vera is getting ready to offer this right here at Small Business Branding Services. You might want to contact her.

You know lately I’ve really been into fixing up my blog and following some great advice. At the same time, My ear is always to the ground keeping an eye out for other things and I wanted to share with you a few things.

Today I need to share with you some TREATS for your blogging efforts.

The first time I ever heard about blogging and RSS it was presented to me by Lynette Chandler. Lynette is a Guest Blogger here and has been very instrumental in my online success. She is a complete tech whiz and I can’t even count how many times I had to get her to explain the whole RSS stuff to me until I finally “got it.” That was back a few years already, boy how time flies.

Lynette is always whipping out some sort of solution to help make us non-techies… although I must admit I’ve discovered alot hanging around Lynette and have become more techie myself… thanks Lynette!

These are things that she’s rolling out and the best part is they are all free. I’m pretty excited myself about the Monthly & Weekly Blog Planner, and the traffic ideas.

Here’s what Lynette has for us:

• “12 Buzz Topics You Should Blog About Now” guide
• “14 Month Blogging Calendar”, packed with topics to fill your blog to the end of 2009.
• Monthly & Weekly Blog Planner, to help you manage and create a systematic posting schedule of the great topics you have chosen to write.
• “18 Traffic Generating Activities You Can Do Right Away”, shows you how to make your blog a fun place to hang out and rake in the traffic too.

You can access all goodies right here.

Thanks Lynette!

Your corporate brand essentially involves two parties - you and them. It is the key in marketing yourself to be sure that you are resonating with your target audience. It’s time that you did some key research from three strategic perspectives:

ONE: Tell us - who are you?

It’s important to know who you are. In the past companies developed mission statements to define who they are. Many times it was wishful thinking. I’ve helped companies determine their brand values and personalities to help them understand who they are. One good way is to ask employees and principals for their understanding of who they think you are. Be honest with this evaluation because you want a clear statement.

TWO: What are you saying you are?

Do a communications audit of your company? In your marketing materials, what is the message you are sending? Does it differ from the “who you are statement” in step ONE? Is your corporate brand image in line with who you say you are? Is your materials consistent in their delivery of the “who you are statement”? Consistency of message is paramount.

THREE: What are they saying about you?

What your marketplace thinks of you is your brand. What they understand about your products and services may be completely out of your hands. If you’ve neglected your brand, chances are your competition have defined you, and this is what your marketplace believes to be the truth. Doing a competitive analysis will also assist you in discovering your short comings and establish a position of message.

Taking these three perspectives together using triangulation, you can now determine where you are RIGHT NOW. Digging deeper, you can also discover situations, language and expectations your target audience desire from you. The answers to each of the three perspectives will clearly show if your brand is in trouble and they also provide a strong direction for marketing effectively.

Submitting articles to relevant websites, online magazines and article directories is a fantastic way to drive traffic to your website.  It’s a low cost method with a fairly high return on investment.

For example, if you pay $20 to $50 to have a writer create an article, you publish the article on a relevant website you will increase your exposure automatically.  Additionally, readers will click through to your website and buy your products or services.

Depending on the price of your product or service all it takes is one purchase to make the article investment worth the cost and effort.
Where To Submit Your Articles

There are three basic locations to submit your articles.

They include:

• Article directory
• Magazine (online or print)
• Relevant website

The benefits for each are the same however the process varies depending on the medium.  For example, if you’re submitting to an online or print magazine you’ll need to query the editor before you write the article.

If you’re submitting to an article directory, they usually have their specifications published on their website and the process of approving your article is typically swift and painless.  Let’s take a look at each of the article mediums you may want to submit to and discuss the benefits and the process.
How To Submit An Article to An Article Directory

Article directories are the easiest tools to drive traffic to your website.  The good news is that there are literally thousands of article directories to choose from.  That’s also the bad news.  Deciding which article directory is right for you and your article marketing purposes can be a bit of a headache.

There are two basic types of article directories:  Niche directories which only publish articles on a specific subject and broad article directories which offer hundreds of article categories to choose from.  These typically range from business to pet care, gardening to investment banking.
You may decide to publish in one niche directory and one broad scope directory to see which produces the best results.  Niche directories may have a smaller more targeted audience however the broad directories will most often have a larger audience.
When submitting your article look for the following things:

• Word count
• Signature box – you must be able to place a link to your website here.
• Are text links allowed?
• Categories – do they provide categories which will accurately represent and describe your content?  It’s important to make sure your article will be easily found
• Do they provide tracking statistics?  You want to know how many reads, publications, and click throughs your article is receiving.

Magazines -  Submitting to a magazine is a bit more labor intensive however publication in this format will provide you with more credibility than publication in an article directory.

Step one is to explore your online and offline magazine possibilities.  If you’re in the pet care industry you obviously don’t want to be submitting article proposals to a magazine devoted to investing for retirement.

Step two is to choose one or two publications and find out what their submission or querying procedures are.  Some magazines welcome article submissions while others prefer that you query them to see if they’re interested in your article topic.  If it’s a publication that allows submissions find out what their submission procedures are.  Can you email your submission?  Does it need to be formatted a specific way?  Do you send the entire article or only a portion of it?  Whom do you send your submission to? What subject line do you put in your email?

If they do not accept submissions but would rather see a proposal or query first then it’s time to create your one page proposal.  Identify what your article would be about, why their readers would find it beneficial and why you’re the one to write it.  Again, read their procedures to make sure you’re querying the correct person and following their specified protocol.

This may sound like a bit of work however imagine the credibility you’ll have when you can say, “Published in Money Magazine.”  It opens up a whole new world of clients and audience awareness.

Relevant Websites - The third and final place to submit articles to are relevant websites.  For example, let’s say you have a consulting business where you help small retailers choose the right point of sale software for their store.  You could publish articles on your own site about the selection process.

You could publish articles in magazines and article directories.  However think for a minute about your client’s selection process.  Many retailers visit the websites of point of sale software manufacturers as they’re doing their research.  This research process can take days, weeks, and even years.

The decision process is difficult because it is often an expensive and sometimes very technical product.
Now if you place your article about how to choose software on the websites of selected software developers now you’re capturing the attention of people who are knee deep in this process and probably need your help.

Great idea, right?

The trick, however, is to convince these software developers to publish your articles.  In order to stay unbiased this may involve some careful tap dancing.  In the case of the POS software you could swap and give them the opportunity to publish an article on your website.  You can make sure you list them in your choice of software options you provide your clients and so on.

The benefits of article publication are enormous.  When creating your strategy, decide what your goals are, determine a budget, and then start writing.

Get ready for a rant, and let me ask you this question…

“Are YOU a twitter snob??”

This post has been in my mind for a long time. What is the point of Twitter?

- is it to showcase your work?

- connect with others?

- secure business deals?

- build a relationship with your readers?

- all of the above?

I truly use Twitter mostly for the joy in connecting with my online business friends. Aside from that, it really annoys me when I respond to others and they either don’t check their replies, or don’t care to reply. I often check my replies so that I can reply back with a thank you, or to chat more on the topic at hand.

If you’re not on Twitter for relationship building, then I urge you to LEAVE TWITTER TODAY! Truly, nothing annoys me more when people SPAM their twitter followers with nothing but product stuff, etc. I haven’t seen too many people who SPAM but there are tons that DO NOT REPLY.

Come on people! If you’re wanting to build your business and relationships with the people you find on Twitter, tell me why don’t you interact with them?

- Are they not BIG enough in your books?

- are they not worth the effort to reply to?

- are you too busy for them?

Please do us all a favor, start building on your relationships….

Don’t be a TWITTER SNOB!

business deals, business friends, relationships, twitter

I’ll be soon offering coaching services here at Small Business Branding. Among a complete re-branding of an existing business that I took over, I’ll be posting on that very soon!

It’s super exciting!

In the meantime, as a little addition I started a monthly coaching program here and for the first 75 members at Get Brand Results.

When you have a business that is thriving, it is always important to look for ways to diversify and expand your business.

Expanding your business through online coaching is a great way to increase your profit and client base.

Becoming an online coach in the niche that you already have a business in is a natural extension in the minds of many business entrepreneurs.

With a little work you can have a successful online coaching business that works hand in hand with your already existing business.

The business that you already have is hopefully already profitable.  Therefore, adding coaching to your business should simply be a matter of extending your services.  Say you sell workout equipment, for example.  Adding fitness or diet coaching to your services will mean an added income stream that you can promote to your current client base.

Most businesses can easily add coaching as an added product to their current services and products.  If you’re not sure whether your current customers will be interested or not, simply ask them.  Send them an email saying that you’re considering a future coaching program and give them a few details.  Then ask them to sign up to the notification list to receive a discount once you launch the program.  This will help give you an idea for demand.

You will also market your online coaching business to people who have never heard of your business. These clients are a great and integral part of your business success. Once they have started using your online coaching services, you can market the products that your business sells to them. You can easily increase the profits that your business makes with referral sales from your online coaching.

Your online coaching and business will naturally build off each other as the connection between them in your niche becomes stronger. It is natural for people to want to purchase the products from your business that they need to be successful in your online coaching.

It is just as natural that people who purchase your products would enjoy the coaching that is available to them. You can run the business that you already have and your online coaching business as the same business, just with different departments.

Becoming an online coach in the niche where you already have a business is a great way to increase your profits and your client lists. It is a natural extension of the business that you have already built. By using the niche that you are in and the client base that you already have, you will be successful in your online coaching endeavor.

With most of the hard work already done through your business, it is easy to take the next step with an online coaching business.

Let’s face it.  Everyone is envious of Apple right now.  They were the king of cool with the iPod.  But then they got out cooled.  By the iPhone.

Who doesn’t want to be the iPod or iPhone of their industry?

But that’s the rub.  The more you chase cool, the less likely you are to catch it.  That’s the premise of the book Chasing Cool: Standing Out in Today’s Cluttered Marketplace by Noah Kerner and Gene Pressman.  The book interviews brand visionaries about how they discovered, invented or in some cases, tripped over cool.

Here are a few cool deal breakers:

• Decisions by committee
• Trying to be like someone else
• Not having a central vision/brand understanding

• Being slow on the trigger
• Being afraid to offend

How many of those are you guilt of?

The book is an interesting read.  While it gets you fired up, wanting to be cool — my beef with the authors would be that 90% of their examples are retail, consumer products.  It’s a lot easier to be cool selling an iPod than it is being an accountant.

That doesn’t  make it a bad read.  Just fair warning. There’s still plenty of inspirational stories and solid reminders of how we can better invite cool into our companies.  But I would have liked it if they went one step further and helped more with the “how to” section.

Good branding practices are not always the big stuff.

There is also the small things that makes a big impression on your audience and goes a long way in moving your brand forward.

Heres are 10 moves that will paint your brand golden:

• Pay your bills in reasonable time-frame.
Cash flow is the heart of all businesses, paying your bills is honoring your word.

• When you get paid on an invoice, thank your customer. Humility is a great brand value and it shows your respect for your customer.

• Ask suppliers how they are doing from time to time.
It shows you care about their success.

• When booking an appointment with a new customer (or even an existing one)
offer to pick them up a coffee on your way in.

• If you get free offers from time to time, share them among your customers. Ie: I get offers for free printing on specific items - I offer them to my customers. Big smile stuff.

• Always be on the look out for business for your customers. Perhaps a few of your customers might be a great fit for cross-promotional opportunities.

• Pass along publicity opportunities you feel might be beneficial to customers. Reinforces the fact that you are on their team.

• Pay attention to customers’ hobbies or favorite charities.

• Encourage your staff’s input in promoting the company. Corporate fashion is usually worn with pride.

• Contact a long past customer (one with whom you have no contact) and compliment them on something that they are doing that you honestly admire, especially if it is being done by a competitor.

This is only a short bit of wisdom, I’ve picked up over time that helps me keep The Branding Experts’ brand in good stead. You no doubt do things that keep your brand in the “I love ‘em category,” - share them with us here.

What can you add that you found is a small effort with BIG impact? Brag about how your brand shines because of them!

I haven’t been on twitter all that much lately due to being sick this last week (which is why this post will be a short one) but today I’m at least up to the computer and went inside my email management Aweber to send a broadcast out to my email list.

While I was in there I noticed that you can now twitter your broadcasts at the same time over to twitter, cool.

(you can read the story at Aweber here)

A couple things of notice:

1) You can only do this for broadcasts only, not follow-ups

2) You can only send with one Twitter Account, this may just change in the future.

There’s some other fun things I’ve also added to enhance my twitter business building experience that I’ll soon share. If you want to follow me on Twitter you can here: www.twitter.com/veraraposo

I’ve secured interviews, events, and build relationships with Twitter. Fun!

Small business owners wear many hats: manager, buyer, accountant, you name it. It is impossible for one person to take care of everything, and the most commonly outsourced tasks revolve around marketing, branding and design. When first deciding to work with a professional, you are going to be looking at the price tag attached to the promised services. It may be shocking to some small business owners how much certain freelance or consulting services can cost, but there are ways to save.

Next time a consultant charges you $1000 a day, don’t fall over backwards. First consider the following: if you would hire a professional on a one year contract, the salary, taxes and benefits packages would amount to about $200.000 on average. Take into account the consultant only has a certain number of billable days a week, you are paying a premium for the flexibility of not hiring him on a full time basis. You end up saving on benefits, and you probably don’t have enough work to keep someone busy all year so hiring simply doesn’t make sense for your business.

Pricing is, or should be, based on what your best alternative is. In this case, your alternative is to hire someone for a longer term. Considering there are maybe about 236 billable days a year, you need to look at how much an employee costs you a day if you would hire him or her. Don’t just think salary; consider all other costs and expenses associated with an additional hire. You’ll see you still end up saving by hiring a professional for a short term.

There are many freelancers who have ‘virtual networks.’ If you need copy writing services, design services, and printing, you could get all your services from the ‘same’ provider. Basically, a virtual network entails a connection between different freelancers who work together on multi-disciplinary projects. This way, they resemble a fully staffed advertising agency, but at a more attractive total price.

Like with anything, you could shop around for the best possible deal. What is important is to look beyond the price tag and see what a freelancer is made of: not everyone will be right for your project, and although price does play a role it isn’t everything.

What has your experience been with outsourcing? Have you looked for a freelancer only based on cost, or based on expertise?