Making the Brand: The New Way to Start a Business!

by Jocelyn M. Goode
photo: www.talltim.com.au/tim4.htm

Traditionally, completing a business plan would represent the first cornerstone in establishing a new venture. However, in this day and technologically-mediated age, the framework of a business must expand beyond the standard categories and incorporate new, significant factors from the start. The main one is the creation of the brand. This article will explore the methodology of making a business plan and making a brand, and provide readers with some preliminary steps to be successful in both.

The Old Way: Business Plan First
There is a wealth of resources and guidance about business plans available to the curious entrepreneur. Upon a basic search, most would find the following components as the most basic:

1. Business Description: defining what the product or service, the structure and how it will make money.

2. Marketing Strategies: identifying who to sell to, pricing, distribution and promotional tactics.

3. Competitive Analysis: identifying competitors, analyzing their strategies, weaknesses and strengths.

4. Design & Development: product development, marketing development, organizational development, costs of material, labor, overhead and equipment.

5. Operations & Management: organizational structure of company and expense requirements associated with operations.

6. Financial Statements: cash flow statement, income statement and a balance sheet.

Technology and Social Media
Those seeking the financial backing of investors and banks, would definitely follow the steps in the above approach seeing that it provides the numerical data conventionally used to measure a company's potential and viability, and a rational way to determine pricing and costs. Yet, it doesn't account for how the latest technology and social media have impacted the way businesses develop and grow. Particularly, how brand image impacts the value of a product or service, and subsequently alters the potential worth of a company.

Today, gaining a new customer requires more than possessing a good product or service and paying for targeted ads during prime time. These days, consumers are more brand-driven than ever, selecting products on the perceived values and promises projected through a company's image. Blogs and social forums allow the everyday person to voice their opinions and influence the perception of a brand, from consumer endorsements to exposes about unethical practices. There are entire websites dedicated to reviewing products by brand, where individuals rant and rate, ultimately affecting a business' success.

Technology and social media have turned traditional business planning on its head. Now an empowered consumer driven by high brand awareness competes with old-school thinking on a building a business.

An increasing amount of the consumer population constantly utilizes the internet, computers and personal electronic devices to make purchases, access information, manage appointments, communicate with others and maintain major aspects of their lives. As a result, businesses have had to respond by modifying their structures and plans to reach potential purchasers through technology and social media.

Brand Beginnings
If a business plan is starting at A and working to Z, making a brand is starting at Z and working backwards to A. Firstly, entrepreneurs decides how they to be viewed by consumers, what perception they want to give to their target market and the instant associations that should come to mind at the sight or mention of their brand's name. From this point the brand identity goes from concept to visual representation. A logo, the mark, graphic or symbol that embodies all the elements the brand must communicate, draws on the psychological power of color, shape, font and design to create an impression that delivers the desired message.

How many of these brands do you recognize? What words pop into your head as you look at them?

Controlling perception is key in branding. Whatever the product or service is, regardless of the actual productions and marketing costs, the brand perception ultimately dictates what consumers will pay. Brand value is the reason a plain shirt may only charge $5 and the same shirt with the addition of a small embroidery of a man on a horse, just a few extra stitches of thread, can demand $98. The brand, not the shirt, brings the $93 difference. So for Ralph Lauren (a brand built solely on individual's image), projecting classic, American elite has proven extremely profitable because it allows people to buy a product that may not be the best quality, but best communicates an image that is widely desirable. When people pay exorbitant prices for a Polo shirt, they are paying for the perception of being "classic, American elite". The major shift in business development is from actual product to brand experience.

This plain polo sells for $4.88 at www.cheapestees.com

This Ralph Lauren polo shirt sells for $98

Indeed, evaluation of competitors, operational and management structuring and financial reports are integral in creating a businesses. However, starting with a defined brand that speaks to the target market's values, desires and fantasies highlights a new company's destination. All planning must center around creating a plan that tracks back from there.

For those now embracing entrepreneurship, beginning with brand development as the foundation and integrating the brand identity throughout the other components of the business, enables emerging companies to compete side by side with established ones. A brand manager is someone who has training to help a business develop its image and destination. A graphic designer is a person who executes the actual production of the logo and integrated collateral to support the brand. Enlisting the help of professionals to assist with brand development is important because they have the knowledge and expertise to recommend the methods to best communicate the brand's message.

Making the Brand in Review
1. Hire a competent brand manager and graphic designer with proven experience in brand creation.

2. Determine your desired perception, market position and target audience.

3. Evaluate the brand image of your competitors, how they achieved it and what makes your brand distinct.

4. Identify the opportunities for your brand including promotional, media, merchandising, partnerships, sponsorships and events.

5. Develop a marketing strategy to increase brand recognition.

6. Create a logo and supporting collateral.

From this point, completing a traditional business plan is helpful, particularly to figure out the financial aspects like cash flow, overhead expenses and projected profits. Still, with the brand, the heart and soul of the business established, the path to a success is clear from the start.

Jocelyn M. Goode, FAIM Internet Magazine's founding publisher, recently launched J. Goode Creative. Her company specializes in integrated branding and graphic design where she helps new and established business sharpen the definition of their brand and then creates the graphics to support the plan. She holds an A.A. Professional Designation degree in Graphic Design with an emphasis on Branding from the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising (FIDM) in San Francisco.

References:
http://www.entrepreneur.com/businessplan/index.html