Each has it’s place in a well-established and successful business venture, yet they’re not synonymous.

One of the biggest mistakes I see small businesses make is charging forward with marketing efforts and advertising budgets without a true sense of who they are, what they really have to offer to consumers, and how to tell their story effectively.

Simply put, marketing without branding is likely going to leave you feeling frustrated, defeated, and down in the dumps.

Branding is the tough stuff, the hard work. Branding creates a guide, much like a graphic designer uses a style guide when creating images for a brand, a branding guide helps you measure each and every decision in your business to determine if it’s in line with who you say you are. Website copy, product packaging, billboard and TV advertisement creative, project proposal templates, employee onboarding and so much more can all be affected by a detailed and well thought out branding guide.

Big, enterprise-level companies with large revenues have room to fail. They use what I like to call the trial-and-error approach to brand identity and consumer alignment. Honestly, I don’t find that fun at all. Hopefully you’ve read a few things on the site before landing on this page and understand by now that I have a huge heart for small business folks. No one has a more intimate relationship with grit, determination, failure and triumph like a small business owner and operator does.

So look, I’m not going to tell you I have the silver bullet or magic wand to your business success. I will promise that by the time we’ve gone through your discovery process, marketing therapy, business dreaming and crafted your brand’s guide, you’ll have clarity about your next steps like you’ve never had before.

Instead, you’re fighting for someone’s attention in competition with EVERY other company, product, kids, friends, pets, family members, and any other hobbies or interests a person might have.

Meet & Greet

Once you shoot me a note indicating you’d like to start working together, I will review the information you provided. I might take a peek at your business’s current presence and reach as well. So if it takes a day or two for us to get connected, don’t stress! I’ll circle back with you to setup a time for us to chat. If you’re local to Sioux Falls, SD I’ll suggest a few local favorites for coffee or lunch. Otherwise, we’ll hop on a video call.

Just like I work with my clients to identify who their ideal customers are and how to measure opportunities up to their brand guide and vision, it’s important I do the same. This introductory conversation is designed for us to get to know each other a little bit more on a personal level to determine if we’re aligned to be working together. I’m not willing to take a project that I can’t truly offer value to, and I’m not willing to take someone’s hard earned money for something they don’t actually want.

Discovery

Once we’re a match, we’ll first establish mutually agreed upon deliverables and a project scope. And then, we’re jumping right into the deep stuff. Be for-warned, we’re doing to spend a lot of time in this phase! In fact, consider this one and the next one cyclical and fluid. The more we uncover, the more we’ll dig into. We’ll turn over every stone surrounding who you are, who your brand is, what problem you’re solving or gap your business fills. We’ll talk competitors, dreams, successes and struggles. Depending on the deliverables and the breadth of your business, this process could include (but isn’t limited to!) questionnaires, activities/exercises, and of course meetings/calls.

Research & Ideation

For every piece of information, thought, and vision you share, there’s a lot of behind-the-scenes work to unpack, reposition, and orient that information into your industry’s landscape and your business’s future. This is where your brand, your story, and your purpose come to life. The more open, responsive, and honest you are during our discovery sessions, the higher likelihood you’re going to fall head over heels in love with the end product. Your participation during this phase is significantly less. Remember that just because you’re not meeting with me as frequently doesn’t mean work has stopped! Rest assured that I will pull you back into more Discovery activities as more nuggets are uncovered.

Delivery & Action

Remember those deliverables we agreed upon at the beginning of this process? Well… YOU’VE ARRIVED! The wait is over, and in your hands is a brand guide, audience profile(s), story narrative, dream-board, web copy, or any other tangible outcome we included in the project scope. We’ll review, discuss feedback, any potential adjustments, and recommendations for how you can start applying this to your business right away. In addition to the tangibles, my hope is you’ll also learn some lessons or truths about yourself as a business owner and leader along the way…after all YOU are not your business.