This document summarizes a presentation on branding essentials given by Jen Barth at Formic Media on June 13, 2012. The presentation covered key topics like defining branding, understanding your target audience, developing a brand identity through elements like name, logo, and color, telling compelling brand stories, creating connections through networking and social media, and creating a marketing plan with measurable goals. Attendees were encouraged to think about their own branding challenges and come up with one thing to continue doing, one thing to stop doing, and one thing to start doing to strengthen their brand. The presentation provided practical tips and frameworks to help growing businesses build strong, authentic brands.

1. Lunch & Learn: Branding Essentials
Presenter: Jen Barth
Date: June 13th, 2012
Location: Formic Media

2. About Formic Media
• Launched in 2008 to service small business &
partners
• Specializes in search, social and website
development
• 100% of Account Team Google AdWords &
Google Analytics Certified
• 7 employees & 45+ clients
• Strategic partnerships (SEMA, AlphaGraphics,
etc.)
• Focus on education via monthly Seminar Series

3. MARKETING THAT
MATTERS….
Branding Essentials for Growing Businesses
June 13, 2012
Formic Media

4. What We’ll Be Exploring Today…
• Knowing your audience, identity
and brand voice is key to
succeeding in today's
marketplace.
• Before you begin the marketing
process, do you know who you
are — and aren't?

5. Introductions
• Who are you, and what’s
your business/target
audience?
• Top branding
issue/question on your
mind today?
• Favorite PDX food
cart????

6. First Things First:
What Is “Branding”, Anyway?

7. A Bit About Branding….
• 31,500 results on Google: Yikes!
• One I like…
“Who you are, what you promise, and your ability and
willingness to deliver on that promise.”
– Joe Callaway, “Becoming a Category of One”
• Branding is the discipline that guides your thinking,
your actions, and your behavior.
• It is the personality that identifies your product or
service, and how you relate to your audiences

8. Your Brand Is A Filter: Get Clear
Before You Create
• Your brand is the
lens through which
all communications,
actions, and resource
decisions (time,
money, energy)
should be filtered

9. 6 Questions to Know…Before You Go
1. What Are Your Goals?
2. Who Are Your Targets?
3. Where/How Are You Engaging
Successfully Now? Where Else
Are They Listening?
4. Quick Reality Check: How Much
Time and Interest Do You Have to
Invest? (Be honest!)
5. What Can You Delegate or
Outsource?
6. How Will You Measure & Evolve
Your Efforts?

10. Where To Begin…6 Key Steps!

11. Tips For Brilliant Branders-To-Be
1. Sweat the Small Stuff
2. Listen & Look Before You Leap
3. Tell a Story
4. Create Connections
5. Make a (Marketing) Plan
6. Measure, Assess, Evolve. Repeat.

12. 1. Sweat The Small Stuff
(or…clean up your room before company comes!)

13. Your Brand: The Sum of Many Parts…
 Your name
 Your logo
 The colors you use in your visual system
 Your slogan/tagline
 Your words, tone, mood, and personality (―voice‖)
 The types, & frequency of your communications
 Your tactical touch points: your voicemail, email
signature, invoices, contracts, agreements, forms…
AND  How you address customer service issues (or
DON’T don’t)
FORGET:  Your partnerships and connections
 Unexpected interactions – every moment of
every day (because people ―stop by‖
unexpectedly…are you ready?)

14. Naming Approaches to Consider
• Acronym
• Descriptive
• Alliterative
• Evocative
• Founder / Heritage
• Geographical
• Personification
• Mythic
• Neologism (make it up!)

15. A Few Logos That Tell Stories

16. The Psychology of Color

17. The Role of Color in Branding

18. The Psychology of Color
As with other aspects
of branding, we differ
in our perceptions of
color based on
gender, geography,
and other factors…

19. Tips On Color Choices…
• Red: exciting, energizing, draws attention
• Orange: fun, warm – but strong love/hate reactions
• Yellow: optimistic, evokes creativity
• Greens: tranquil, refreshing, natural
• Blue: constant, dependable, often calming
• Indigo: mystical, spiritual, insightful
• Black: authoritative, powerful, sophisticated
• Gray: intellectual, refined, neutral
• White: clean, pure, safe
– sixrevisions.com, ―What Your Web Design Says About You‖

20. Time to Give Some Thought:
A Few Questions
• If you have a logo or
identity system in place, do
the current colors support
your message?
• Does your identity reflect
your values and vision?
• Is your identity clear and
easy to read?
• Collect imagery with the
look and feel you want to
create.

23. A Few Website Pointers:
It’s An Onion…Not Grape!
 Don’t make users work top
hard to understand, and
engage with, your website,
which is often the first —
and most universal — brand
touchpoint.
 Different audience groups
have different needs. Do you
know what they are?

24. Learn from this (tough, & expensive!)
Lesson

25. Time to Give Some Thought:
A Few Questions
• What website(s) do you feel
most connected to and engaged
with?
• Can you identify what aspects of
the experience help you feel that
way?
• Do you know how your target
audience looks for and consumes
information? How could your
website reflect that experience?

26. 2. Listen & Look
Before You Leap

27. Do Your Homework…
Secondary Research
= What’s out there already?
• Website analytics
• 3rd party research studies
• Web/Social media sleuthing
Primary Research
= Connect directly with targets
• Qualitative methods
• Quantitative methods

28. Qualitative
Interviews, focus groups, panels, advisory
groups, ―ethnographies,‖ web usability testing
Use It To Understand:
• Reasons behind behaviors, attitudes, beliefs,
perceptions, motivations, etc.
• How these reactions play out in
individual behavior
Key Uses:
 Generate ideas & gauge reactions
 Understand behaviors, perceptions, and
motivations, attitudes, beliefs of individuals
 Understand language, nuances, & trends
 Prepare for quantitative research

29. Quantitative
Surveys, online survey tools, Omnibus research
(statistical significance is the key!)
Use It To Understand:
• How many people hold the same
behaviors, attitudes, beliefs,
perceptions, etc.
• Their common characteristics
Key Uses:
• Determining demographics/user segments
• Pricing Studies/Sales Projections
• Defining/predicting behavior

30. Many Ways To Cut The Cloth…

31. Some Research Tools to Consider
• Survey Tools:
– SurveyMonkey, Zoomerang, SurveyGizmo, PollDaddy
– LinkedIn & Facebook Surveys
• Panels
– AYTM.com, ZoomPanel
– Omnibus Studies
 Key Steps:
1. Create ―screener‖
2. Recruit participants
3. Develop discussion/activity guide
4. Conduct study
5. Analyze results
6. Take action (please!)

32. Time to Give Some Thought:
A Few Questions
• Who is your ideal client?
– Key facts/identity (demographics)
– Values/motivators (psychographics)
• Do you have primary and secondary
audience(s)?
If so how do their needs differ?
• If you were your audience, what would you
want to hear? (if you don’t know…do some
research!)
• Are your communications framed to address
these specific interests and desires?

33. 3. Tell A Story

34. Why Story… And Why Now?
“The balance of power has
shifted. It’s gone from advertisers
with deep pockets, throwing money
at one-way media, into the hands of
the audience members. The age of
interruptive media is over, and
that’s where brand storytelling
begins.”
— Jon Thomas, “The Power of Brand Storytelling”

35. Storytelling Tip #1: Share.
85% of people
will take a
chance on you
in business…
if they know
something
about you
personally.

36. The Power of Story
Stories help us:
• Establish our humanity:
strengths, values,
friendships, enemies
• Connect through common
experiences
• Give emotional context
through a tangible and
familiar framework

37. What Makes a Story?
4 Key Elements
Character Conflict Plot Message

38. Sound Familiar?

39. But Wait…There’s More.
Story Drives Retention
Storytelling
stands alone
Statistics with
some storytelling
65-70%
Solely statistics
25-30%
5-10%
— London School of Business

40. Elements To A Good Story
• Context – do audiences see their • Connectedness – Show
own story in yours? empathy and connect.
• Simplicity –make your point & • Magic –Violate listener’s
move on! expectations with a surprise.
• Interest – A boring story won’t • Relevance – Do listeners feel
promote understanding or inspire that this is their story, too?
action. Will your audience register
it, remember it, and tell it again? • Immediacy –A story helps
people take the leap of faith
• Trust – is your story true necessary to be inspired to
(factually, and to the audience’s take action‖
experience?)
• Meaning – Does your story -from Jon Winsor, “Developing
support a deeper message or a Story”
inspire your audience to rethink
something?

41. Not Exactly A New Idea…
• ―Life it too short for a long story‖
— Lady Mary Wortly Montagu
―Your tale, sir, could cure deafness‖
— Sir William Shakespeare
• ―Tell me a fact and I’ll learn. Tell me a
truth and I’ll believe. But tell me a
story and it will live in my heart
forever.‖
- — Indian proverb

42. Story Telling Tip #2:
• Never underestimate
the power of a picture
and connecting content
through visual
elements:
• Colors / Bolding
• Images
• Infographics

43. Storytelling Through Imagery

44. Personal Storytelling: Infographics

45. Story Telling Tip #3:
• Don’t travel solo!
• What hero’s journey
have you taken?
• Who is/are your
trusty sidekicks?
• Are you even the hero
in the story, after all?

46. Consider Your Brand Voice…
Before…

47. After

48. Brand Voice: Authenticity Matters

49. Brand Voice
The right ―voice‖ can
help demystify, create
relevance, and forge
an emotional
connection (with even
the most
un-emotional of
topics!)

50. Storytelling Through Imagery

51. Personal Storytelling: Infographics

52. Time to Give Some Thought:
A Few Questions
Ask yourself…
• Are you currently speaking in an
authentic and credible voice?
• Are you making promises you
can keep?
• Is what you are saying relevant,
valuable, and motivating to your
audience?
• Take the ―Business Obituary‖
test: Pass or Fail?

53. 4. Create Connections

54. Growing Your Network
• Deepening Your Existing Connections
- Who do you know?
- How can you help them?
“Stories make our messages easier to
- rememberthey help you? used
How can and have been
- throughout history to explain concepts
Segmenting/Prioritizing Your Networking
more effectively.”- Daniel Pink, A Whole New Mind
• Making New Connections
- Networking Events
- Volunteer/Community Work
• Broaden the Dialogue & Deepen the
Engagement
- E-mail Newsletters
- Social Media

55. Small Biz Goes Social
US small businesses saw the following
benefits from social media in 2011:
• Staying engaged with current customers 69%
• Create more loyal customers through more direct
engagements 63%
• Increasing brand awareness 61%
• Identifying/attracting new customers 59%
• Collaborate more effectively with external partners,
suppliers, and colleagues 44% & internal teams
31%
• Correct problems before they escalate 30%
• Defend against negative publicity 18%
– 2011 State of Small Business Report

56. Many Channels, Many Options

57. But…Some Food For Thought
• 56% of small businesses in
2011 state that social
media used up more time
than they expected
• 40% experienced having
their business criticized
• 36% feel that social media
usage has fallen short of
expectations
• 5% felt it hurt their brand’s
image, versus helping it

58. What’s Your Social “Score?”
“Stories make our messages easier to
remember and have been used
throughout history to explain concepts
more effectively.”- Daniel Pink, A Whole New Mind

59. 5. Make A (Marketing) Plan

60. Elements of the Marketing Plan

61. Think About….
Who’s your Who are From here,
audience? you? create...
• Who do you serve? • How can you meet • Brand vision
these needs? • Brand values
• What needs do they
have? • Who are you • Brand ―voice‖
today? • Communication
• What unmet needs
tools:
exist? • What do you want
to stand for in the – Tagline
• Who are their key
future? – Elevator pitch
influencers (social,
professional, media, • What is your – Media kits
community, etc.) Unique Selling – Marketing
Proposition (USP)? content
• Where do they
work, live, eat, • What will your – etc.
shop, play? brand and/or
product
architecture be?

62. 6. Measure, Assess, Evolve.
Repeat.

63. Measure, Assess & Evolve
• Create track-able data
points
• Establish frequent
reviews
• Enlist a trusted, honest,
and unbiased resource to
help keep you honest in
evaluation and ongoing
optimization planning

64. Back to our Questions…
1. What Are Your Goals?
2. Who Are Your Targets?
3. Where/How Are You Engaging
Successfully Now? Where Else
Are They Listening?
4. Quick Reality Check: How Much
Time and Interest Do You Have to
Invest? (Be honest!)
5. What Can You Delegate or
Outsource?
6. How Will You Measure & Evolve
Your Efforts?

65. OK Now…Time to Think of 3 Things:
Based on your thoughts and notes,
Make the “Three Things” list:
• 1 thing keep doing
• 1 thing to stop doing
• 1 thing to start doing
next month, quarter, or year

66. Questions / Open Discussion
JEN BARTH
503.732.0203
jen@bigsmallbrands.com
@JenUnplugged