The other day I played around with hunch.com, a new website that answers your questions. As I got more into it, I realized that it also allows you to add your own questions to their database, which immediately intrigued me.

First, I had to figure out what the answer would be... and of course, the answer is Styleapple... So what is the question? As I was thinking on what the question should be, I realized that that my mindset suddenly moved from the CEO of Styleapple to the Designer or Design Firms who would be looking to use our branding design services.

So the obvious question was "What Design Portfolio Website Should I Use?" To get to the answer, a user would then be asked a series of questions that would hopefully lead them to the most accurate answer. And it was at that moment, that I realized if Styleapple weren't significantly different from the other design portfolio websites, then this would be all for nothing.

The same is true for your design firm's brand. What questions can your clients ask you about your design firm that would eliminate your competition from the running?  What are you doing, or what services are you offering that your competition is not?  It's really important to know the answers to these questions if you're serious about becoming successful in the design industry.

Branding yourself, or your design business is just as important as starting the business. At the moment you conceive your business plan, you should immediately be thinking about your plans to becoming branded.

Just for fun I've embedded the question I created on Hunch. See if your result is Styleapple. If it is, I'd like to hear about it, If it isn't... well, keep it to yourself.....  ;)

Which design portfolio website should I use? - make thousands more decisions on Hunch.com

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Let's talk about social networking for brand development.  I'm a perfectionist. What that means is that I try to control all aspects of my company at all times, 24 hours a day. My web developer has threatened to fire me many times, but I refuse to let him because he's an asset to my business. But, If I could, I would do it all myself.

From web development, to marketing, branding, to doing my taxes, to taking out the trash ...ok maybe not taking out the trash, or for that matter, doing my taxes. Anyway, the truth of the matter is I can't do it all. And chances are... neither can you.

Designers are designers, we are not accountants, marketers or sales people. I know in the beginning, you may have to wear all the hats, especially if you're working on a limited budget. I understand that. But when you can network and meet people and share resources that will help grow your design company, you should not hesitate to take advantage of that opportunity.

Remember, the internet has made it almost impossible to do it all and still be successful. There are just way too many things to do in order to stay competitive. But at the same time, the internet has made it easier to do much more with a trusted network of people. With that said, your LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook networks has now grown to a gazillion friends and 10,000 followers.

It's time to search your network and find creative professionals that you can collaborate with on projects that will add value to your design firm. Resources that will support and grow your company's brand. It's time to stop "socializing" online and get personal.... Pick up the phone, send a personalized email instead of a direct message or an@reply.

Connect with people you can mutually benefit from. If you take the time to explore your network of friends online you'd be surprised to see the talent that you are already connected with. Chances are good that the next Steve Jobs is already in your network. Your social network can help you grow your design business to new levels, just by getting offline and getting on the phone.

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Ok, we've done it. We have now created the ultimate marketing tool on the web... It's free, easy to use and combines business and pleasure. It's called Social Media. Social Media has leveled the playing field for many new design businesses. You now have the opportunity to market your product or services for cheap, no TV required. So no longer can you brand yourself by simply having a bigger marketing and advertising budget than your competitor's... Now you need to do a little more, you need to think, be creative, be smart and be relevant.

Now you have to find a new way to be competitive, innovative and "special" to your demographics. What am I talking about? I'm talking about getting back to basics. That is, focusing on your core asset, your product or service. We are all guilty of seeing a great idea out there, and wanting to improve on it. But if you plan on improving it, improve it in a huge way, or if you plan on providing better service, go all the way - pick up your client's dry cleaning, if it's on the way...

Don't just add 2 more features to your competitor's product or keep your business open a few more hours than your competition and expect to make a splash. Really give your potential clients something they can sink their teeth in. Spend your time on building a valuable product and less time on figuring out who is following you back on Twitter. Lisa Barone at Outspoken Media wrote a great post on this very topic, A Great Product Needs No Advertising. The market is officially saturated with the basics. We've got all the basics we will ever need, seriously. It's time to go hard or go home.

So here you are, just coming out with a new product probably similar to your competitor's product - the only difference is that everyone knows your competitor, and no one knows you exist. What is the first thing you do?

Create a website? No!

Sign up on as many social media sites as possible? No!

See if you can get Oprah to interview you? No!

The first thing you do is take a breather. That's right, sit back, relax and clear your mind.... then make a decision. A decision to jump in without a life jacket. To go for it with everything you've got. Because at this point in the game, second guessing your motives is no longer an option. Get your mindset right first before wasting your time and money on something you'd like to "try".

Find your market and vow to give them exactly what they need and everything they want. Vow to become the go-to brand for your specific product or service. Put your bags down because you'll be here for a while. Once you've made the decision to succeed, everything else, including temporary setbacks and failure, becomes a part of the process, hence managing your expectations, while keeping you in the game until you've become branded.

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1) You Provide A Great Product or Service That Cannot be Matched By Your Competition

Simply put, excel at what you do. Don't settle for being second. The only thing that stops you from being the best in your industry is that you stop trying to be the best.

2) Your Services Are Underpriced... Intentionally

In this competitive market, value is key. Providing a great product or service that's noticeably worth more than your offering is important. Be careful not to undervalue your product or service by trying to low ball the industry. The goal here is to excel in your service while maintaining a reasonable price. Note: Low balling your industry can backfire on you, where your customers think that your services may not be up to par with someone who is charging more. Find the sweet spot for your product or service.

I'm not telling you to undervalue your expertise, what I'm simply saying is to provide much more quality and service than the industry norm, or what your clients expect.

3) Your Projects Are Completed Earlier Than Projected

The truth is clients want their projects done yesterday. Once you've given the client a date of completion, that date is etched in their minds. Delivering the project on that completion date- in the client's mind, you've done your job. Anytime after that date you're late and have broken your ‘brand' promise - not so good for business. If you are early, by even a day or two, this gives the client another reason to toot your horn for you. They will tell their colleagues and friends that you are professional, efficient and the go-to guy for your type of design services. Even if ‘early' was only a day early. I think businesses still underestimate the power of word of mouth even with all of the social technology around us.

4) You Have Personalized and Knowledgeable Customer Service

Personally, customer service is on top of my list of keys to being successful in this industry. I am a HUGE fan of good customer service. Not only good but rather great customer service. No one remembers good- people tend to remember great and exceptional, and of course bad.

Case in point: I remember hiring a design company to do a project, and one day I phoned the account manager to get some information. That person was completely incapable of answering basic technical questions about my project. She had to refer me to the designer, who of course was not available to talk. Great customer service can make up for shortcomings in other areas in your design business process (hopefully there are none :) )

5) Your Design Business Uses Cutting Edge Technology - Utilizing The Most Current and Relevant Tools in Your Industry.

When a client asks for you to do a project for them, they have already assumed that you'll be using the most current technology or process, unless otherwise stated. Anything less is a strike against your company product or service, Period. You should keep up with your industry, getting left behind is not an option.

6) You Are an Expert/ Thought Leader in Your Industry

Clients hire you because you can do something they can't do themselves; otherwise, they would do it themselves. They also hire you because they perceive that you are an expert at what you do. And as an expert you should have the knowledge to communicate intelligently about topics pertaining to your industry, current and future technologies, illustration styles, trending logo designs, etc, etc. And please, be able to provide answers to questions on why you've decided to use the Anivers font instead of Helvetica .

7) You Are Actively Involved In Your Client's Success

There is nothing better than a designer who takes the time to learn about a client's business. Not simply what the company does, and who their clients are, but their brand promise, inspiration and maybe the direction a company is looking to go into 3 to 5 years from now. The more you learn about your clients, the more information you'll have to satisfy their needs. And oh yeah, you'll actually start building a relationship with them. Maybe a relationship that can grow into a "business-friendship" - ultimately giving you the upper hand on future projects.

What are some things you've done that have pushed your company ahead of the competition?

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Photo Credit

How do you feel when you go to a fast food restaurant and the line is out the door.   How about going to get your "Car Tire Flat Fixed in Less Than 10 Minutes" and it takes an hour for someone to look at your car. $%#&... Exactly. Chances are, you're going to change your own tires next time. The same is true when it comes to your design company's brand.

The branding process is a long one. You're building relationships with clients or customers that goes beyond simply getting the work or project done. It's about the promise you made or the promise your brand made to your clients (Brand Promise - What your company says it will do for your customers and what the customers perceives they can expect from your company).

The client chose you out of the thousands of potential design companies out there because you've exuded a quality of service or claimed to have a product that promises to deliver X, Y and Z. Maybe your brand focuses on high end fabrics for custom made clothing, or web hosting with no down time or quality logo design services. That being said, your customers expect that you will deliver on that "promise". If for some reason you do not perform as expected. That becomes a strike against your brand image.

If you're promising a certain type of product or service, you must deliver that product or service... no excuses. You have to do what you said you'll do. And now with the power of social media and the voice of the consumer having global reach, you have to make sure that that voice speaks favorably about your design company.

Wouldn't you rather your customers tweet and retweet this:

"Boy what an awesome job company XYZ did , Thank you so much @blahblahblah for making my website rock"  instead of this...

" Company XYZ is not be trusted and I will never ever eeeeeevvvvveeeerr go back there" 

How do you manage your customers expectation in order to protect your brand image?

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 "86% Of Consumers No Longer Believe What Brands Say About Themselves"

My past few posts have been trending in the direction of discussing the impact of personal branding on your corporate brand identity. So when I saw this statistic I needed to share it with you. I came across this Microsoft slide show presentation on Slideshare, a bit old but still very relevant. To me this should be a clear indication, if you had an ounce of doubt still left, that your brand identity is no longer controlled by you. The other part of the statistic indicated that " 78% of consumers believe what other consumers say about your brand" which is a HUGE number in my opinion. The slide show goes on to say that "The brands that will succeed going forward are the ones who's consumers tell the best stories." 

1. There Is More To Life Than Links & Sex
2. CMO Survey: Traditional Branding is 'Broken'
   

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Being that my primary job responsibility involves working with designers and design firm brands. I get a chance to see many design firms websites, portfolios, taglines, logos, advertising, social media avatars, etc, etc.

There are literally hundreds of thousands of design firms and designers going after the same market, especially now in a recession. What is it that sets you apart from your competition? Are you giving enough thought to what your design firm brand promise is? Is your company's brand promise different enough be remembered and relevant enough to your clients and customers. Allen Adamson, author of the book BrandSimple suggest that finding an obvious area that is not being addressed in your industry is a good place to start.

On our social media site, Styleapple.com - the branded designers social network. We give designers and design companies the opportunity to promote themselves primarily through there brand idea or tagline. By doing this we force designers who haven't thought about their brand promise to do just that; think about what they would like their demographics to know about them in 45 characters or less. It is important, especially now that your potential customers or clients know what you stand for in a simple easy to understand statement or promise.

What is your design company's tagline or brand promise? What is that product or service or guarantee that will get your clients emotionally attached to your brand?

Here is my brand challenge to you. Find 10 companies in your industry that you respect and consider your direct competition, figure out what their brand ideas are; whether it's their tagline or type of clients they market to (should be simple to find if they are effectively branding themselves). Then look at your brand idea or tagline or client roster and ask yourself. Am I offering something different and relevant enough to compete or am I just 1 in the 10,000 plus design companies hoping that my clients will choose me from a coin toss...

What is your design company's brand promise?

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UPDATE 3/2/2009:

 Found an interesting article on Advertising Age from a tweet by Dan Schawbel @danschawbel detailing a Personal Brand/Corporate Brand conflict with Ford Motors.   Interesting read. 

You can read part 1  of this series here:  Is Your Company’s Logo Design F*#$%ing Up Your Brand Image?

 Branding by definition implies a level of trust in your product or service, something that your clients and customers can depend on.  Apple for their innovation and service, Google for their quick and relevant searches.  A part of building a true brand aside from having a great product or service is the consistency of the brand’s image and actual brand message across multiple media platforms. 

But who is responsible for  your company’s brand message?

A few years ago a company’s  advertising and PR departments  were the gate keepers of their information and decided what and how the information was disseminated.  Now with the introduction of Social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Styleapple,  your company’s blogs, etc,  you find that people are no longer interested  in what the company has to say directly, rather they seem to be gravitating to information being shared through employees and company executives themselves. 

I would personally rather follow Steve Jobs updates rather than  Apple, Inc. updates on Twitter (if I had to choose)  Given the gloomy recollection of corporate information and how difficult it was to understand exactly what their press releases were about, I think that  bad taste in our months  still lingers…  even if it’s now disguised as a Twitter bird dressed up in Facebook clothing.  Taking a phase from our most recent American political election  “You can put lipstick on a pig but it’s still a pig” 

Frankly, Social Networking has drastically changed the way companies will build their brand images going forward, where your most valuable assets  become even more valuable  (Employees  and corporate execs now takes center stage in how well a company’s brand is communicated to the masses)  The important thing is to make sure the message is consistent and clear when your company’s brand becomes a sum of its parts or rather, a sum of your employees personal brands. Take a look at  How to Lay The Brand Foundation For A Consulting Business  Blogger, Dan Schawbel  for a bit more insight of how to start a cohesive branding strategy when your business has to manage your employee’s personal brand.

How do you manage your company’s brand when your employees are actively involved in Social Media Networking?

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We've been working hard, very hard these past few months on some major projects I believe will assist my designer colleagues who are looking to create some success in 2009 and beyond.

We are now in beta for our new website: www.styleapple.com which has been going very well, Thanks to all our beta testers for taking part in our bug hunting process. BTW, We are still accepting beta testers as we continue to develop the site. [Become A Beta Tester]

Branded Designers - The Agency,  Camille Wilkinson - Fashion Designer From New York City

We have also started Branded Designers - The Agency. I've always had a desire to help young designers grow their businesses. The Agency will do just that. Branded Designers - The Agency is a talent agency focused in the creative industry. We will represent a selected group of designers, providing the personalized service designers need when starting a new venture or simply finding new freelance projects.

We are currently accepting applications until we have reached our capacity. The Agency will only represent a few selected designers in order for us to effectively serve the designers we represent. All remaining applications will be placed on our waiting list.

To apply simply submit your profile on www.styleapple.com and send us an email title: Branded Designers Application, please include your name, title and location in the email.
I looking forward to working with you.

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And the winner is.... Barack Obama.  Congratulations Senator Barack Obama for becoming the first African American President of the United States of America.   I am in awe of your achievement.

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