Id Buy That: Getting A Brand Mindset

Feel that? The crisp tingle in the air? It's fall. Fall ushers in the promise of eating, seeing, and getting. It's my favorite time of year. By now, kids are settled into school, sweaters set free from mothballs, and it's an amazing time to... BUY.

I don't know about you; but for some reason this time of year lowers my normal customer resistance to retail and turns up my desire to buy, buy, buy. And not just anything. Products I've come to know have reliable value to me. You too?

Think about it. It starts with buying Halloween candy. Do you reach for the no-name orange cellophane wrappers of chocolate dots, or do you buy the mini packages of M&M's? I know! Me too! Why is that? It's the same thing! But, the brand of M&M's represents a certain quality that we have come to know as valuable. And left with candy at the end of the evening, that's what I want to be gobbling on. It doesn't matter how long the product has been on a shelf, an M&M is still an M&M.

A favorite thing I like to do in fall is cruise through the stores and see what "they" think "we'll" buy. This past weekend, I stepped into Crate & Barrel (a personal favorite) and went weak in the knees!

I walked from beautiful table setting to even more beautiful table setting and I thought about the perception that Crate & Barrel had created in me. As I drooled over the dishes, I imagined how the quality of my life would change if I brought them home. (A little bubble appeared to the side of my head. I saw an image of me overhearing holiday guests comment about how beautiful my table was, and subsequently how great I was.) The bubble faded as I dissected how Crate & Barrel created that impression in me. How did they get me to think that?

I passed through living room settings that I would give my left pinkie toe to own (it's okay, I'm right footed). I ran my hand over the fabrics and textures. Rich leathers. Deep colors. Luxuriant fabrics. All things I'd spend my money on to give my 10-year old living room a facelift. They established in me a certain quality! And somehow they knew what areas I needed to fix up... my boring dining room dishes, my tired living room. Hmmm... Hmmm... a specific quality and knowledge of my problem.

At each display was a sign that had a certain look. A color. A typeface. Even the way it was laid out on the page! It all matched the quality I got from the home décor items I so desperately wanted. (By the way, I never knew I wanted an orange pear- shaped leather vase before.) I picked up their holiday catalog. Lo and behold, not only did it show the picture of the coveted pear-shaped leather vase, but the typefaces and colors matched the signs in the store. Hmmm... consistent communication and imaging. I started to tingle.

As I passed the jewel-toned velvet pillows, I thought, "Crate & Barrel is no different from the companies and small business owners that we help." They are no different from YOU. Or are they? Let's see...

You have:

? A product or service that is every bit as good and valuable as Crate & Barrel.

? You fix a problem or change the quality of life for your clients as much if not more than Crate & Barrel.

After that, it can break down for small businesses and solo-preneurs.

You may not have:

? Consistent imaging (e.g., business card, website, brochures, leave-behind, product packaging, etc.)

? The deep understanding of how to communicate "the brand" of your business that can translate to your entire support team/staff. (This is easy and affordable to do with BrandU. That's why it was created.)

And most importantly, what most entrepreneurs tend to forget or, sadly, never deeply establish:

? A huge, non-wavering belief in what you are bringing to people.

You have just as much of this as the people who created Crate & Barrel. They just have more practice at it and had enough vision to bring in partners to help them grow and communicate it.

The last three points are crucial to your business success and easier to address than you think. Simply:

? keep up the value of your service and product AND,

? adopt a brand mindset!

It's where EVERY brand starts BEFORE they're a brand. In our upcoming book, Why BrandU, we go into the reasons why it's imperative for entrepreneurs to gain the power of branding. You CAN have large business success, no matter what size you are.

This holiday season, I share with you these TWO simple brand mindset tips:

? As you're out (or online) shopping, pause a moment and think about the reasons you buy the things you buy and,

? See how you can apply those reasons to your business.

After strolling around Crate & Barrel for over an hour (which flew by like 5 minutes), I joyfully left with the most amazing vase for my table AND I was filled with a great sense of delight and excitement; knowing YOU can be just as big!

Written by Kim Castle, the Co-founder of BrandU? - the home of only step-by- step process for developing your business as a brand from the inside out!

To get information on upcoming BrandU one-day workshops: http:// www.whybrandu.com/Public/events/workshop/index.cfm?semID=13

Get your Why You?!(sm) monthly ezine for easy-to-read tips and informative insights on branding. To subscribe: http://www.whybrandu.com/

"BrandU? - Big Business Success No Matter Your Size"

MORE RESOURCES:

RELATED ARTICLES

Picking The Design Company Which Is Right For You
So you've decided to go for it-you're ready to choose a design company to create your logo and other marketing materials. It seems easy enough.

What Make Us Unique and Different
Starting a business can take a lot of time, money, and energy. And because we don't want to completely re-invent the wheel, we often want to copy (legally) other techniques, strategies or processes used by others.

Effective Public Relations Essential for Personal Branding
Move over pop star "Posh Spice" Adams and English soccer hero David Beckham, the personal branding power of newly engaged Australian celebrity sports couple Lleyton Hewitt and Rebecca Cartwright could be worth up to $100 million dollars.In terms of public relations and effective public relations, their media performance this week in both print and television proves they have the potential to become a truly global brand and rival Posh and Becks on the world stage.

What About Me? What You Need To Know About Me-Marketing
What about me? Are you asking yourself this question? If not you should be. Don't wait until you are in crisis mode when you are losing your job or your business before you think "what about me?"Here are a few points to consider.

Good Logos Make Great Sales Tools
Every day, the average person is exposed to millions of visual stimuli including hundreds of company logos.A logo is a unique visual image that represents a company or its products.

How Brand as an Intellectual Property has Led to Corporate Globalisation?
IntroductionGlobalisation is referred to as a set of profound material changes that have an impact on relations between societies in the past few decades. The identifiable features of these material changes are witnessed in the development and growth of web, satellite transmission, fibre-optic technology, broadband operations, transnational corporations and the emergence of World Trade Organisation.

Hiring the Right Graphic Designer for Your Small Business
Every small business needs it, but not many have it. I am not talking about cash flow, clients or even your product or services to sell.

Is Your Logo Helping or Hurting Your Business?
The quality of your logo can mean the difference between success or failure. It can be that simple!Trademarks and Logos make up the most international language in the world.

Brilliant Branding Builds Business
Branding is more than product recognition or a simple logo. It is the overall intellectual and emotional impression people have when they think of your company and its product.

Branding Your Business To Make More Money
Branding your comapny should be the first thing a company does. You have to convince potential customers to buy from you.

You Bored Me at Hello - Top Three Strategies for Networking Your Brand
"You had me at hello," those famous words from the movie Jerry McGuire let Tom Cruise know that Rene Zellweger's character was hooked from that point and the rest of his talking was unnecessary. When in networking situations, many small business owners leave people with a slightly different feeling.

A good logo vs. a FABULOUS logo
If you had a choice, which one would you choose, a good logo or a fabulous logo? Think about it for a second here, although I know the answer is crystal clear. Because many of us settle for a good logo created by a credible logo designer just because he or she is a credible logo designer who charges low prices.

Brand Love, Part 2
Last issue, I talked about increasing your Brand Love-- meaning to increase the affection that prospects and customers feel toward your business.Why?Because increasing "affection" will build relationships.

How to Work with Your Graphic Designer
As a graphic designer, I can tell you something right here, right now, right off the bat without blinking?.the graphic design process is a pain in the butt.

Strategy and Tips for a Successful Logo Design
Visual processing is the most important way for gathering information for all human beings. A good design or graphics work is remembered for ages and that is what drives the multinational companies to spend millions of dollars on developing their logo and other branding material.

What is Private Franchising? It is Nothing Someone Made It Up
The Federal Trade Commission has an obligation to the general public, their stated consumer education mission and to the over regulated franchising industry and the small business operators running Biz Ops to separate the two business models by way of legal definition. Any failure to completely separate them will trigger additional problems down the road and cause the current on-going process of rule review to continue, without any formalization for decades.

A Successful Failure
A successfully positioned business sometimes doesn't win a new client. And that, my friend, is the point.

Brand Name Identity in the Oil Business
I submit to you that Brand Name Identity in the Oil Business is just a important today as it was when Mobil Oil and McDonalds were building their brands. Perhaps in the future it may even be more so.

Importance of Business Branding
Branding is very important to a business, whether it is an online or offline business. Your brand will be the first impression the public has of your business and could very well be the most important one.

The Aim of the Name
Large corporations spend lavish amounts seeking names for their products that grab a consumer, or convey positive feelings. Book authors do the same.