“I need this to be simple”

The last time I checked on Amazon, over 20,000 books about branding, 70,000 about marketing, and 60,000 about strategy were available.

So many books. So little time. All are siloed into categories. ??

Many show how global corporations and well-known companies use strategic, branding, and marketing principles and practices to create direction, value, meaning, and revenue. Few help the small business owner.

For the small business owner, her concerns are more practical. I recently spoke with a business owner who wants her company to attract highly qualified candidates (to do the work) and people who want to hire the company (to do work for them).

She wants what represents her company to be meaningful so people find it appealing to work there and compelling to buy from her. She intuitively understands what branding is all about. It makes me wonder:

1. Is branding enough to help you align your company, customers, and culture around the core category and the problem you solve?
2. Is branding enough to help you figure out your brand at its core: to create meaningful value for the company and your customers? (Who you are, what you do, and why it matters)
3. Is branding enough to help you care for your people by shifting mindsets and strengthening culture so they love your customers?
4. Is branding enough to help you care for your customers by being the solution to their problems and making it easy to do business with you?

I think it’s more challenging (and fun) to work with niche businesses. Niche businesses are more human and, while professional, have a personality that makes them likable on a relational level.

Branding, marketing, and strategy aren’t enough. Successful businesses grow from vision sustained by character, culture, and voice.

Instead of branding — thinking about how to compete differently — big corporations succumb to blanding, which renders them indifferent and non-disruptive.

If there’s one thing you should focus on, it’s to find clarity. When you gain clarity, you have greater confidence in connecting with your customers because you approach them with empathy and authority, which creates credibility and trust.

Clarity is a compass to keep you on the path that sustains your business. Every step and decision in your business journey must align with a desired — and glorious — future.

There’s an over-inflated air of elitism in the marketplace among many purveyors of training courses, books, and programs. It’s not helping the small business community or owners looking for advisors and guides to help them achieve their goals.

As one of our clients said, “When it comes to my business, I need how you guide me to be simple.”

You don't need to look far if you want complicated, jargon-filled branding and marketing guidance (you‘ll probably get at least one inmail this week from somebody who promises the moon and 50 warm leads per month!).

Let's keep things simple. Stick around and invite your colleagues if you're looking for principles and practices you can put into action.

Our goal is to give you the confidence to design a business model that solves people’s problems, helps people achieve their goals, and creates profitable solutions for people and the planet.*

This article is an excerpt from Is Branding Enough? on The Society of Extraordinary Strategists, a movement dedicated to helping you break down silos in your business.

*“The purpose of business is not to create profit.?The purpose of business is to create profitable solutions to the problems of people and planet.?Not to profit by creating problems for people and planet.”

From Putting Purpose into Practice: The Economics of Mutuality, Colin Mayer CBE, Co-Editor, Emeritus Professor, Sa?d Business School, University of Oxford