Hi, and welcome back. If you're watching this video, that means you've likely gone through all the other videos for your strategic planning exercise, and hopefully the guy as well as all the supplementary documents. So congratulations, you're well on your way to working through a business that has a plan, and a map to get to where you intend to through your established mission and vision statements and strategies that you've identified through the exercise that you've just conducted. I'm really glad that you're joining me again though, and today in this video, we're going to talk about your branding image and exuding the perception that you want through your business activities. So before you go further though, you need to realize that within all of this all your strategic planning and everything, that this is a really important component, and all encompassing factor that drives your business and helps you move forward.

So you might also be wondering, well, how does this branding image? How does How is this linked to my strategic planning? Well, your branding actually is something that develops and evolves over time through consistent activities. And it's a result of how you carry out those plans and activities. But you've identified through your mission and vision statements, and the strategies that you've laid out, that you want to conduct for your business. And so it's important to to realize that every action that you take, every decision you make and activity that you carry out, are, are not performed in a vacuum each of these components combined To reflect your brand or your business image, or rather the image or perception that others see as a result of their of, you know, the image that you project or from the business that they've experienced through you, and you know, having, having done business with you having bought your product and or your services.

So, and it's also important to note that in this instance, in this context, we're not talking about your business name. We're not talking about your logo, or a tagline or an image by which you're recognized. For instance, when we think of Nike, we, automatically the swoosh comes to mind. When we think about McDonald's. We think about the big M. Those are branding, you know, branding tools, those are how we recognize these particular brands. But in this instance, and in this context, what we're talking about is the personality of your business.

It's Whether or not you are exuding positive qualities, traits or characteristics, or whether you're you're, you're emitting weakness or limitations to your business. And if that's the case, then you need to consider modifying behavior and your activities so that whatever it is that you are exuding in the public domain and in the public marketplace, is a better reflection of your image. Now, before I go throwing around the word branding and willy nilly, it's worth it providing a bit of an explanation and a bit of context here. Even though we you know, we might have been made to believe that this is a new concept. It's not you know, we've been seeing a lot of the the word branding, bandied about in social media posts, maybe some ad campaigns, you might have seen it mentioned, even in some email that you've received, this is this is definitely not a new idea.

In fact, it was it was a concept that was was being talked about for half a half a century ago. In fact, David Ogilvy, a madly successful advertising executive, was talking about branding back in the late 1960s. And if you're not familiar with who David Ogilvy is he was on. He's an iconic figure in the advertising agency industry. He founded a very successful his own successful ad agency with a partner that was named Ogilvy Ogilvy and Mather. May they're not sure the pronunciation and that was back in 1948.

So his influence was so important. It's still felt today. Many of the ideas and concepts and principles of advertising that he implemented then are still being applied today. And the business documents that he You know that he had during that time still remains alive through his company's namesake. It may have been you might have known it as Ogilvy one Ogilvy International. But actually, they've just recently rebranded again renamed, and it's known simply as Ogilvy.

This actually happened just recently on the sixth of sixth of June 2018. So you can see that his influence, as I mentioned, was solely so important, and his company that they're still around today. So all that to say, you know, his image is still being upheld. So to explain, give a little bit more of an explanation of what branding is David Ogilvy himself actually has a good explanation here. This is an excerpt from one of his many books. This one being from Ogilvy on advertising.

And it's a it provides a really good, really good insight into what branding is all about. So take a look here and by the way, there'll be several Slides presented through this video, don't worry about taking notes, just pick up the supplementary document on branding. And so you'll be able to follow along and you'll have reference for anything that you need for further later. So just take a look at this slide here. This is a really good explanation of what branding is. So as you can see here, David Ogilvy says that branding is establishing the personality of your product and to whom it will appeal.

He goes on further to say that this is this can make or break you in the marketplace. And he also suggests that you make every advertisement an opportunity to showcase the image of your product or service. Then he goes on to suggest that you do it consistently. Because what you want to do is project the same image over and over on a continuous basis so that people recognize you. Now ultimately, this is the definition of your business strategy. It's about your company's culture and accepted behaviors.

And most importantly, this is what is Going to drive your destinies where you're going to end up in years to come. So as you can see from this statement from this quote on that Mr. Albee gave us. It's a really accurate explanations and reflection. And it still holds true today. And while Mr. Ogilvy may be referring to advertising in particular, in this in this instance, we can actually relate this to every message and every project that you create, and the sharing or delivery of that message in the marketplace. Because it's important to realize that everything that you share in the public domain leads back to you, right, it's a direct reflection of your branding and your image.

And it's important to remember that anytime that you share something in the public domain, that you're either upholding your image or potentially damaging it every time you say something publicly. So it's worth you know, take take Some time to consider what it is that you are putting out there in the public domain. So if you've already established a good image and reputation within the marketplace, and it fulfills your mission and vision statement that you've developed for your business, and you want to maintain that image, then it's essential that all the material that you share, be verbal or written, that they'd be consistent and that your your messages, convey, convey, reflect, uphold and represent that image that you've established, or that perhaps you're seeking to reestablish or work on. So do you actually know what your brand is? Have you figured out what your branding image is?

And do you want to know how you can find out if you don't, there's a little there's a little exercise you can conduct okay? But you need to be aware first that how others view your brand and your image may not Nestle Fairly be in line with how you perceive your your personal perception of the character and business attributes that you're you're putting out there. Because it's the perception of others that you know, that established your branding image, right? It's it's how your customers, your colleagues, acquaintances, family members, longtime friends, it's how they see is what they see as a result of how you conduct yourself in the business and in the marketplace. So consider what people are are saying in testimonials and feedback. Is it what you thought?

Or do you have some work to do? Are you getting good testimonials? How are you handling criticisms and complaints? How are you dealing with difficult customers, all those are going to be a really direct reflection of your personality, right and in the image that you hold in the marketplace. Let me give you an example. Right?

So I worked with somebody in the past who, anytime that there was there was a mistake made, or there was a delay or an error or an oversight of some kind. Well, first of all, he would often blame me for it. I was made the scapegoat didn't appreciate that too much. But anyways, if you happen to, you know, have to communicate with the customer, either by phone or by email. The majority of the communications were, he made an excuse for the, for the error or the oversight instead of just accepting responsibility for it. Or, you know, explaining, you know what the issue is, but he always looked to give an excuse and you know what, customers and clients they don't, they don't want excuses.

They just want to know that you understand them. But the problem is, Do you recognize that there's a problem, and you, you're gonna fix it and you give them an option and a solution towards fixing it, they don't want excuses. So behaving in that way, you know, is a reflection of, you know, how he does business. And it really, you know, affects the image that he's trying to project, I'm pretty sure that those customers didn't think much of them after and that really damages your reputation. So you need to really think about how you're handling these things. If these are weaknesses or limitations, then you know, it's worth considering modifying the behavior and trying to find ways of, you know, getting across better, more positive image so that people you know, can talk talk good about you instead of potentially saying bad things about you.

Because it all it takes is, you know, one, one bad comment in the public domain to like, break your reputation and then you know, that that really goes a long way. It's, it's awfully, it's more damaging than, you know, long term and it's more far reaching than somebody giving you a good, a good, a good reference or a good testimonial. So you need to think about those things. So to get started on a better path to understanding your branding, okay, here's an exercise that you might consider doing. It's not it's not really complicated or lengthy. And to begin, understand that your business activities would would usually be an extension of your vision and your mission statements, and how you're going to fulfill the strategies right, the strategies that you've identified through through the exercise that you that you've just done.

In turn, those activities should be or will be come the representation of your brand. Okay. And you also should consider that the image that you that you emit should be a reflection of the real you This is not something that you can force or fake, you cannot fake people out. Because customers and colleagues are not stupid. If If you come across as insincere and not genuine, you're going to be found out pretty quickly you just you just cannot fool people. And then what happens is that you lose the trust factor.

And we all know that people do business with people that they know like and trust if you've lost the trust factor, you're you're dead in the water, you the likelihood of getting this customer back or you know, doing business with them again, our having them speak, you know positively about you going to be pretty pretty low. So, this you know, this is you have to be, you have to be genuine in the activities that you carry out, and how you you know, exude your personality and yourself through the public in the public. So the following are a few insights into where your branding is. image comes from and how it's reflected where it's reflected from. These are really important things for you to consider in your business. So the branding image that you project actually comes from how you run your business, and most importantly, how you relate to prospects and clients.

Are you coming across as being forthcoming with information? Are you helping and guiding your prospects or clients to make the right decision about doing business with you and making the you know, the most? choosing the right service for them? How are you treating them? Are you being respectful, and it also comes from what you write and share in the public domain and social media in particular is very strong here. So all of this helps solidify how others see you in the marketplace and what they're going to think about you and your business going forward.

After looking at these, these little points, and you might also want to consider what is it that you are trying to get across? Do you want to be perceived as an authority in your industry Do you want to come across as very professional looking and distinguished? Do you want to be known as an expert, very knowledgeable and experienced in your field. If, if these are all things that you want to work toward, exuding, then you need to be consistent in your efforts through through these points that we just you know, we're just mentioned above. Because all of this all the results are come from, you know, a process that happens over time with consistency as we said, and ultimately your goal is to you know, gain recognition and a loyal following or more customers, in essence, right, we all want to have more customers, more clients, you know, better results in our sales.

So all this is done in an effort to attract your ideal audience and customers. And of course, how all this comes back to you is in people's faces. perception of you. It's, it's in how they perceive you to be, you know, their image of you, and what you project. So now we're going to look at the exercise below to get an idea of whether or not you're exuding the image that you thought you were. So all I need to do is ask five people to follow me questions about you.

Okay? Be sure to include current and former business acquaintances or people that you've done, done business with or have done business with you rather. And more importantly, be sure to include longtime friends and and current ones. So it's why it's really important to have longtime friends answered. One of the questions here you'll see it below is that you're more likely to get a really honest answer from somebody that you've been friends with for a long time. They're going to tell you well, you're an idiot or like whether I know that's that's cool, you keep you keep you just keep chugging along.

That's going good there are they're going to tell you well, you know, you might want to think about doing this, that or the other thing, you know, modifying your behavior, perhaps some of the activities that you're doing, because it's not really a good reflection, or it's not really where you want to be going, ultimately. Anyways, let's take a look at the questions below here. And before you get get to worry here, I would suggest that you just simply send an email to these contacts to ask them these questions. And don't forget to specify a deadline for a return response because you want to get going on this you know, as quickly as possible. So to your business contacts, you might ask them, How does my personal brand or the image that I exude to you currently make someone else's life or business better, easier and more profitable?

And then you can ask them what do you see from my business that I can consistently deliver on? And for the friends that you've known for a long time you might ask them, How do I behave consistently? What word phrase quality or characteristics and trades come to mind when you think back about our relationship over the years. And don't forget, these are the people that are going to give you the real honest answers. So good luck with your questions. So I think this is a really important exercise to conduct I did it myself, it was very helpful.

Because once you get the answers back, then you'll have a clearer idea of how your current image is viewed, will you stay the course? Or do you have to adjust to put out the vibes and impressions that you that you want to. So you also want to remember to keep all this in mind when you're thinking about executing a new plan, or maybe launching a new product or services or service. Something that you know, something that stems from your strategic plan or your mission and vision statement that you worked on. Or, you know, how you do this is going to should be a direct reflection of where you're going. And the the results that you hope to accomplish in terms of long term, you know, long term success and long term goals and things like that, you know, it's it's all It's all tied in together.

So you want to make sure that everything all this meshes, right. So it's important to remember that everything you do in the public domain affects your image. and maintaining a branding consistency is is essential, so that customers and and prospects, understand who you are, what you do, and how you doing better than your competitors. You want to give them a reason to do business with you. And why consistency is so important is that if you're flip flopping from one image to another, or you know how people perceive you, then people don't know how to take you. They don't know what it is that you do, what service that you offer, and where you stand and kind of thing.

So there. It's it's hard for them to build a relationship and build that trust with you, which I mentioned is essential, right. So consistency is key in what you're projecting how you're projecting it, and how it's stemming from your mission, your vision statement, and the strategic plan that you've laid out in front of you. That's all it It All in all meshes together. So with all that said, going forward, you would want to conduct your business in a way that accurately communicates your mission and your vision statement by putting forth the best possible attributes and characteristics of you, yourself and your business, because it's all part of your image. So and again, going forward.

Here's your branding image. And best of luck with that. Now, don't tune out right away. There's another video coming up. And it's a subject that I only kind of mentioned in very briefly, I think it was in the introduction, actually of the Strategic Planning Guide. It bears mentioning and talking about in a little more detail because it's something that for especially for small businesses and small solo entrepreneurs, it's something that is really, really helpful and provides a lot of support in keeping you moving forward and helping you stay the course.

So stay tuned and I look forward to seeing you in the next video. Bye for now