Are you finally ready to stop struggling in your small business - and start leading the bigger, successful company you know it can become?

I bet you didn't start your business planning to work this hard, for all these years, just to make a nice little income. And have a nice little success. (Or worse, just barely break even.)

When you meet people, does it seem they really should have heard of you by now? After all, you've been around for years. And you've been doing all the right things to market your business.

If you're like most entrepreneurs I know, you've been pouring heart and soul into your business - and plenty of cash - working harder than ever to bring new business in the door. And you've been doing your utmost to serve your current clients better than anyone else possibly could.

And did you eer think you'd have this much trouble charging a fair price? Other players in your field charge a lot more than you do. Ever wonder why they seem to have no trouble getting clients to sign the contracts? Even though your work is twice as good, and you actually live up to the terms of your proposals (a rarity in your field)?

Why does growing your business seem like such a struggle?

So many entrepreneurs I've known spend their days living a constant struggle for every dollar.
Was it really supposed to be like this?

• Maybe you're not winning all the business you know you should be.
  True, people have told you that even when you're competing with companies five times your size, you beat them hands down on innovation, price, service, everything. And you know in your heart how good you are. How much you could help the people in your target market. Yet in hard times, bigger clients sometimes hesitate to take a chance on a small firm.
• Worse, when you do get a contract with a big company, they're in control - not you.
  So you wait 45, 60, even 120 days to get paid, falling further and further behind on your expenses. While they keep your money in their bank to earn compound interest.
• You still don't have much to show for all the time and shoe leather you've put into networking, trade shows, industry events and creme de la conferences.
  Because you're still not hearing about the big opportunities that would be perfect for you. (Until after your best friend calls to tell you about the competitor in Louisville who just landed the business.)
• Or your product/concept is new and different. It's revolutionized the lives and businesses of your best customers.
  But how do you explain it to someone who's never thought about their problem the way you have? Until you do, prospects don't know why they need it. And the bigmoney stays in their hands - not yours.

What if you could add one element that would change everything? If it could make everything you're already doing work that much better?

What if . . . on the strength of that one element . . . you could start living the success NOW?

I bet business would be a lot more fun again, if . . .

• You never had to network for business again. Because a steady stream of highly qualified prospects had already filled your calendar for the year. And more were on a waiting list. What if you could charge people for the privilege of keeping their place on that waiting list?
• You could not only charge top dollar - but actually name your price. Because if anyone balks at your fees, you've got ten more on the waiting list who will happily pay double or triple your current fee structure.
• And forget those long waits to get paid. Your clients pay at least half up front - and would happily pay in full - in advance - if you asked.
• Clients were begging you to squeeze in a meeting with their best friends, or their sister-in-law. What it they just couldn't stand the thought of waiting their turn to see you?
• Your success generated so much buzz that you became a minor celebrity in your industry. So when you checked the internet discussions in your industry, the hot topic was how your company seemingly came out of nowhere to become a player almost overnight.

I'm betting that's more what you had in mind when you went into business.

I know I did. And so did everyone I know who took the plunge.

Over the 30 years I've been working with entrepreneurs, I've found one key difference between the ones who were living the struggle and the ones who are living the success.

The ones who are living the success have developed
a powerful, meaningful BRAND.

Of course, that doesn't just mean design a logo and you're done. If you've got a pretty good logo now, you already know that all too well.

It does mean taking a good look at whether that logo is helping you match your message to your market. Even more important: Making sure the pieces that carry that logo - all your materials - look like they belong together.

But it's also about more than just what your sales materials and your ads look like. It's also about the experience people have whenever they come in contact with anything or anyone that represents your business:

• The words you use to talk about your product or service. Are they simple and clear? Do they talk about customer benefits instead of product features?
• Have you identified some key terms you can claim as your own, define to your benefit and repeat, repeat, repeat? (There's tremendous power in that alone.)
• How you treat prospects and suppliers, as well as customers. Are you and your people friendly and enthusiastic, even with folks who aren't spending big bucks? Do you get back to them in a hurry with the answers they need?
• Is it fun to be in your place of business, whether that's a store, your office or even the restaurants you choose for lunch meetings?
• How do you handle problems? Do you cheerfully do whatever it takes to make sure everybody's happy in the end, even if it costs you money?
• And does everything on this list reinforce the impression you're creating with your marketing materials?

When all the elements are working together - and pulling in the right direction - your brand will seem almost magically to call out to the folks who are ready to buy now. You'll start showing up on the radar screens of people who are just starting to think about your product or service - and you'll have a level of credibility that will open doors like never before:

• Folks who never noticed you before will wonder where you came from. Why didn't they ever notice such a great company before now?
• The ones who knew you before: They'll see a whole new you. They'll think you got smarter. Or bigger. Or better capitalized: Don't be surprised if people wonder where you got your latest round of venture-capital financing!
• Making sales will seem almost magically easier, thanks to the new levels of credibility you'll have.
• Bigger companies will find it easier to do business with you. And now that you're in their league, they might even pay you faster.
• Everyone who sees your materials, or goes to your meetings and presentations, will start talking about your offerings in your language.
• And as your prospects turn into customers, they'll rally around your brand as raving fans.

A word of caution: The brand-building process is not for the faint of heart, or the slow of service.

Now, I do have to warn you. When you start building your brand properly, you make a promise to your clients and prospects. Part of the language you develop, over time, includes the full record of your customers' experiences with your company - positive AND negative.

Here's why: A happy customer will, on average, tell 3-5 friends or colleagues about his/her great experience. An unhappy customer (whose complaint goes unresolved) will tellHUNDREDS.

So before you go any farther, be sure you're committed to delivering on the promise of the brand you're going to be building.

But as hard as you've likely been working, it's just as likely that the profit margins you can maintain with decent pricing will let you finally hire some much-needed help. So you can actually deliver more and better than before, with less of your own back-breaking labor. And that's a promise you'll be happy to live up to.

How do you start building a strong brand?

With a lot of good advice from a strong branding consultant.

For almost 30 years, I've been working with companies of every size - from the Big Three automakers in Detroit to one-person startups - to communicate with all kinds of audiences in all kinds of media - in print, online, in audio and video and in live presentations.

That work has always focused on accomplishing key business goals:

• Launching a business, a product or an initiative.
• Spiking sales with promotional campaigns.
• Driving up margins with cost-cutting initiatives.
• And boosting quality with training and employee-engagement activities.

In every case, the biggest wins have come where the products already had a strong brand - or where we started by developing a brand for an initiative that needed one.

We kept proving the pricniple over and over again: a strong brand actually builids its own little culture around the product and the message. It builds its own language of terms that you define and control. So you can drive home your message to the audience and even rally the team in the back office in one fell swoop. And deliver outstanding results.

For example:

In just a few years, the sophisticated investment approach of R. T. Jones Capital Equities, Inc., a boutique money-management firm, has become Artesys, the slickly packaged product of R. T. Jones Capital Equities Management, a national player in the 401(k) market. It couldn't have happened without a lot of dedication from the Artesys team - and three steps toward building a very strong brand.

 

Natural-foods manufacturer Sunfield Foods had a winning formula with its innovative dinner mixes for tufu or chicken. But it wasn't until we rebranded and relaunched the assortment that it could reach its potential with the affluent consumers that would become its target audience.

 

How do you get food-industry workers, a.k.a. fashion-conscious teens and young adults, to wear the right shoes for the job? One way: Brand their work shoes with graphics that can go toe-to-toe with any fashion label in the store. And pack that brand with the safety message too: These are the shoes with the non-slip grip, whether those work floors are just plain wet or an oily mess.

 

 

When new management took over at Frontenac Racquet Club, they found a devoted membership base - and a few too many empty courts at prime playing times.

To get everyone's eyes back on the ball, the club revamped a few programs, took a special interest in beginning players - and, in new branding, put the ball front and center. Now, three seasons in, the courts are solidly booked, and lots of the pros have a weeks-long waiting list for private lessons.

And those are just a few examples. You can see more of my past work here.

So. Are you ready to stop living the struggle . . . and start living the success . . . that can happen when your brand works at least as hard as you do?

Do you have the vision to see the potential of where you can be - once you get the right branding to pull everything together?

Take a few minutes and make sure you're really ready to get started. Are you ready to live these signs of success - not just once in a while, but almost all the time:

• When you walk into a room, people say, "I've heard of you!" And a small group gathers round, to hear more about what you do?
• Prospective clients seek you out - so you never actually need to sell your value again?
• When you make a recommendation, people take your advice on faith - and can't wait to get started?
• Opportunities and joint ventures come to you almost daily - without any extra effort on your part?
• You choose your clients and projects, instead of hoping they choose you?
• Your business grows automatically, from the systems and sources where your brand makes the biggest impression?

And above all: Are you truly comfortable with the idea that you can succeed beyond any measure you've dared to hope for?

Then it's time to get to work.

Your first step is my FREE 6-part e-course: Pro Secrets for Stronger Brands. Click here to subscribe!

In Pro Secrets, you'll discover time-tested strategies - and a few new ideas - for putting your brand to work for you:

• Building blocks 1: Brand emotions. What are the emotions you want your brand to inspire in your audience? How do they need to feel before they buy - and after?
• Building blocks 2: Brand Tangibles. Key elements you may already have working for you (and what to do if they're not).
• The language of your brand: Claiming a set of terms as your own, with special meanings in your business. Then, as prospects become customers, they join a special community of insiders with a common bond.
• Your brand persona. Some of today's biggest brands are about a person: Trump. Oprah. Martha Stewart. Warren Buffett. Even Apple and Steve Jobs. Should your brand be about you?
• Your brand online: Leverage the internet to help your brand connect with your audience in new and powerful ways.
• And Seven deadly branding sins: Seven mistakes it's all too easy to make that will undermine your brand's growth and promise.

Ready to get going? Click here and start discovering the Pros' Secrets to a stronger
brand and easier path to your greatest success ever!