You could go out and hire yourself an excellent branding agency or pay a branding consultant to help your business develop a brand strategy. But you’re likely here because you’re looking for affordable branding solutions.

Affordable branding starts with you, because frankly, no one knows your brand better than you.

The key to affordable branding can be likened to taking on a home improvement project. Some people are naturally more gifted than others when it comes to working with their hands and with tools.

And some projects should only be performed by professionals (or you’ll end up spending more money fixing your mistakes than you would have to pay a pro from the start).

But, if you surround yourself with the right tools, and you follow the right process, and you use best practices, you CAN complete just about any home improvement you put your mind to.

That’s how it is with do-it-yourself branding.

Many small businesses don’t need to hire a pro. With the right tools and the right process, you can develop a solid and focused brand strategy for your business.

 

The Affordable Branding Positioning Construct

When tackling your own brand strategy development, your first task is to zoom out. And then, when you can quickly (almost intuitively) and confidently fill in the following blanks, you’ll be well on your way to affordable branding success.

Who: ________________________________________________

What: ________________________________________________

For whom: ________________________________________________

What need: _______________________________________________

Against whom: ____________________________________________

What’s different: ___________________________________________

So: ________________________________________________

Vision: ________________________________________________

Mission: ________________________________________________

Below, I’ve filled in the positioning construct with information about this online business—How-to-Branding—as an example of how you can position your own business.

Who: How-to-Branding.com…

What: is the ONLY step-by-step, do-it-yourself affordable branding resource…

For whom: for small businesses, entrepreneurs, and marketing executives…

What need: that want to improve their marketing and communications results through a more clear and focused brand platform.

Against whom: Unlike traditional consultants or agencies who “do it all for you” and deliver a brand that may not convey the results you expected…

What’s different: How-to-Branding.com believes that no one knows your brand better than you. So we offer brand workshops and other tools, plus a website packed with tips, techniques, and ideas to grow your brand—and your business…

So: so your company can arrive at an actionable brand strategy more efficiently and effectively and so you can increase revenues for your business.

Vision: To be the leading provider of branding workshops and DIY tools and techniques to help grow small businesses.

Mission: To assist businesses in the development of an relevant, authentic, and differentiated brand through proven and highly effective workshops, tools, and techniques, so that they can experience better marketing results.


With this vital and strategic foundation, I can now go about building and branding my business to align with the principles set forth in this simple construct.

It serves as a branding roadmap of sorts; one that I will continue to refer to as I add content, develop new tools and offerings, and market and advertise my business.