{"id":1240,"date":"2017-11-28T13:28:05","date_gmt":"2017-11-28T18:28:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sharpinnovations.com\/blog\/?p=1240"},"modified":"2021-11-30T10:58:10","modified_gmt":"2021-11-30T15:58:10","slug":"whats-your-brand","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sharpinnovations.com\/blog\/2017\/11\/whats-your-brand\/","title":{"rendered":"What\u2019s Your Brand?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Wooo!<\/p>\n

With that expression and an outlandish personality, Ric Flair created a brand for himself that people around the world recognize and celebrate.\u00a0 Flair was a wrestler who branded himself The Nature Boy<\/a>, and he used his brand to become famous and to distinguish himself from hundreds of other, less memorable wrestlers.<\/p>\n

The main components of Flair\u2019s brand, in addition to Wooo!, were his flashy hair and clothing, his habit of surrounding himself with beautiful women, his ability to give a great interview, and, finally, his willingness to put on a great show inside the squared circle every night. \u00a0Put all of those factors together, and you have a memorable brand that put people in the seats and money in Flair\u2019s pocket.<\/p>\n

Ric Flair is unusual because he\u2019s a one-man brand. Most other successful brands belong to companies with more than one employee.\u00a0 However, whether your business has 1 employee or 1000, you can certainly benefit from developing your brand. Conversely, you\u2019ll suffer from not having a brand. <\/p>\n

So what is a brand? Basically, it\u2019s all the things that a customer thinks of when she hears the name of your business. Your brand can and should be positive. For example, Subaru has a highly positive brand. People see the company as being environmentally friendly and its vehicles as being safe. Conversely, because of Whole Foods\u2019 prices, some people refer to the company as Whole Paycheck, and that doesn\u2019t exactly create a positive image.<\/p>\n

According to Business Insider<\/a>, the world\u2019s most powerful brand is Disney, and that ranking is the result of many decades of creating wholesome movies and entertainment.<\/p>\n

And how do you build your company\u2019s brand? The first step is the same for every business. You have to deliver good services and products to your customers. That\u2019s a given, and you must do much more.<\/p>\n

First, it\u2019s important to be passionate about your company and what you do. If you run an auto repair shop, you should love cars and you should love fixing cars. You should also be able to explain to your customers how an internal combustion engine and a transmission work together to make a car go forward, and you should be happy to take a few minutes to let customers know that you can fix their problems.<\/p>\n

\"a <\/a>If you run a pizza shop, you better be passionate about tomato sauce, and you should be able to tell your customers why your thin crust is better than your competitors\u2019 thick crusts, or why your thick crust is better than your competitors\u2019 thin crusts.<\/p>\n

So think of any company whose products or services you use regularly, and ask yourself why you go back for more.\u00a0 Somewhere in your answer, you\u2019ll find the value of that company\u2019s brand, whether it\u2019s a national pizza chain or a local pizza shop with the world\u2019s greatest \u201chomemade\u201d sauce, and whether it\u2019s DisneyWorld or Dutch Wonderland.<\/p>\n

Part of branding is marketing. Think of Target\u2019s bullseye logo or the Nike swoosh. When you see them, you immediately know the company behind them. Your business probably doesn\u2019t have the size and clout of Nike or Target, but that doesn\u2019t matter.<\/p>\n

You can create a logo that people within your operating area will recognize, and that will help to build your brand. And you don\u2019t have to spend tens of thousands of dollars to develop such a logo. Many talented local artists can do just as good a job as those expensive, big city firms.<\/p>\n

Having a slogan is also important. A good slogan will describe your business in just a few words, and it will become an integral part of your brand. Think of Disney \u2013 The Happiest Place on Earth \u2013 and Hershey \u2013 The Sweetest Place on Earth. Those slogans are parts of brands that bring in lots of money for those companies.<\/p>\n

And, in addition to bringing in lots of money, a positive brand also has an internal value because it will inspire your employees. For many of us, it\u2019s important to think that we\u2019re doing more than just earning a paycheck. When your employees believe that their efforts are improving other people\u2019s lives and that your company is operating ethically, they\u2019re more likely to take pride in their work.<\/p>\n

Your ideal brand will have customers believing that there\u2019s your business and a lot of inferior competitors. So be conscious of your brand and work hard to develop it. Wooo!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Wooo! With that expression and an outlandish personality, Ric Flair created a brand for himself that people around the world recognize and celebrate.\u00a0 Flair was a wrestler who branded himself The Nature Boy, and he used his brand to become famous and to distinguish himself from hundreds of other, less memorable wrestlers. The main components…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":1247,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[31,261,262,260,259],"class_list":["post-1240","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-branding","tag-branding-2","tag-business-insider","tag-disney","tag-nature-boy","tag-ric-flair"],"yoast_head":"\nWhat\u2019s Your Brand? - Sharp Innovations Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Wooo! 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With that expression and an outlandish personality, Ric Flair created a brand for himself that people around the world recognize and celebrate.\u00a0 Flair was a wrestler who branded himself The Nature Boy, and he used his brand to become famous and to distinguish himself from hundreds of other, less memorable wrestlers. 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