What's in a Brand
Making the Brand™ is more than just a contest. It’s a way to build community among Denver’s small business owners, to demonstrate to those business owners the
power of effective branding, and to walk them through the process of building and deploying a strong brand.
All three of the Contest Presenters (Phases Design Studio, CreativeXchange Marketing, and The
Write Stuff) have come across businesses that had a lot going for them—a great idea, a dynamic
owner or staff, beautiful products—but which still weren’t seeing the success they wanted. There was a common element in all of these cases: weak or nonexistent branding.
A great brand can mean the difference between ultimate success and constant struggle for small and independent businesses. The big guys understand this; the little guys often don’t, and the
ones who don’t learn it will continue to be the little guys. The Contest Presenters felt that the best way to demonstrate this concept would be to pick one local business—a business
that was doing OK, that had promise, but hadn’t managed to reach its full potential for success—and help them rebuild their brand from the ground up.
Faced with the challenge of proving the value of successful branding to a company struggling for public recognition, the Contest Presenters proposed a contest to allow one business to be singled
out and taken through the branding process in a very public way. This would provide an opportunity to educate a lot of small, independent companies about the importance of a strong brand.
Strategy
A brand? That's a logo right? Wrong.
A logo is only one of many components of your brand. When your logo is developed as part of a strategic branding process it becomes the focal point of your successful brand.
The backbone of a successful brand is strategy. Your brand strategy is the big picture. It encompasses how you communicate your company's philosophy and values; who your ideal market is, the value
you provide and how you'll meet their needs; who your competition is and the factors that make your company stand out. Your brand motivates your ideal customers to work with you rather than your
competition.
The name of your business, your logo, your tagline, the price of your products and services, what you say about your business and even the color of the carpet in your office are all parts of a
comprehensive branding strategy.
Even if you have a great logo, your brand isn't complete until you deploy it across all your marketing and advertising materials as part of a comprehensive and consistent branding strategy.
You or your company may have a great business concept, even a great branding concept; but turning that idea into a profitable reality is going to be an uphill battle. And making it happen without
the help of experienced branding professionals will be an even steeper climb.
Creativity
Creatives? They're the crazy, whacked out beatniks, starving artists and lonely writers right? Wrong.
Brand creativity is first of all collaborative - an intelligent, and well developed process.
An effective brand is born and functions throughout its life as a conversation, first within your company, then between your company and the marketing team, and ultimately, between your company
and the larger community.
The concept of your brand is born from the exploration of your company's values, vision and mission, its target markets and its competition. Graphic designers, photographers, copy writers, and
artists develop the creative visuals and content that express your brand as powerfully as possible.
Finally, a successful brand is a conversation between your company and the community. If you reach out to the public with a strategic and consistent brand message, they will respond with enthusiasm.
Community
In business, everyone's just looking out for number 1, right? Wrong.
The value of community in brand building can't be overstated, but is often overlooked.
The small business owner typically doesn't have all the necessary skills to provide the primary elements of a successful brand (strategy, visual identity, content), but must rely on a variety
of service providers. In the case of a small business brand, these support services are often provided by other small, independent companies. And those companies form an extended community providing
ongoing services and professional support.
But beyond the nuts and bolts of branding and identity, every successful company, small or large, owes its success to the community they're a member of. You're not really selling your products
or services to strangers, you're participating in a mutually beneficial relationship with your community.
Opportunity
My business competes against cutthroat local businesses and gargantuan multinational corporations.
I don't have a chance do I? Wrong.
When you combine an effective brand strategy with creative graphics and content, and you have the support of a strong small business community, the opportunities are nearly endless.
Making the Brand™ gives small business owners the opportunity to realize the importance of an effective brand, and to learn about the process of building and deploying one, from name,
to logo, to messaging.
One Metro Denver-based small business will have the opportunity to experience all the benefits of a professionally developed brand.
In the grand scheme of things, our intent is to improve the ability of smaller companies to seize the opportunities for success that exist in our community, and to create some opportunities
that did not exist before.