BroadVision Marketing Blog

You want to go into some business. So you do your homework and discover that there are millions of similar companies out there.

You could crawl back under the rock you’ve been working for or you can learn an important key to help your new business idea stand out.

Let me start by giving you a short television commercial quiz.



1.       What company says that all their products are whole grain?

2.       What car company says that other commercials compare their cars to this company’s cars?

3.       What digital cable company has a very rich man with an Eastern European dialect who has a mini-toy giraffe that he dearly loves?

Did you guess General Mills, Toyota and Direct TV? Way to go.

The key to the success of these and other successful businesses is branding. Nothing is more important than your brand. Once you decide on it and establish it you are going to want to do everything you can to make it the best. When we talk about brands here, we are talking about your brand whether it’s a company, product or personal brand. We are also talking about your brand whether you are a brick and mortar business, a computer business or an m-commerce (mobile marketing) business.

• So get out from under that rock and let’s talk timing. If you haven’t started your business yet, this is the best time to plan your brand. But if you have already started or been doing a business for years, don’t give up. If you need to change your brand and you risk losing customers remember that the reward will outweigh the expense and the risk.

• Where is your passion? This is the place for your niche. Do your homework and look at where you can compete and what makes you different from your potential competition. This becomes your specialty, which it probably has been for years anyway. This is what you need to base your brand on.

What are the components to building a brand?

• Your company name can be your legal name or you can do business under an assumed name. For example, if I run a charity called Family, Mother, Child Charity, I can do business as (d.b.a.) New2Need Charity.  When you select the name that will be your brand, remember that it should suggest what your company does, what it does better than the competition and what it will do for the clients or customers. If you want to have a business that will become international or multi-generational, avoid names that tie it to a time or place. If your name is easy to remember, pronounce or is catchy, you have a better chance at once.

• Using the right color can become a part of your brand. What cab company uses the color yellow? What parcel service uses brown.  Research colors and what they mean to see which one is best for you.

These are some of the beginning  components of branding. There are many more.

Related articles

• Choosing Good Messaging over Safe Messaging for Your Brand (bruceclay.com)

• Brand Evaluation: Would You Invest in You? [Mike "Winfreight" Shraga] (ecademy.com)