Ten Tips For Building Your Brand

Michael Oh didn't think deploying a wireless network around his company's offices was inherently a brand-building strategy. Oh, the president of TechSuperpowers, an Apple specialist in Boston, was just trying to spread Wi-Fi availability in the city. In January 2002, Oh began reaching out to neighboring restaurants and shops along Newbury Street, a popular Back Bay destination, in an effort to build Boston's biggest Wi-Fi hotspot. The project was called NewburyOpen.net, and what resulted from the endeavor was pleasantly surprising.

By reaching out to the private and public community, the company's brand awareness began to grow. "This is when we began to be known not just as TechSuperpowers in our client base, but TechSuperpowers in Boston," he says. "That was the turning point for us." Since that community endeavor, TechSuperpowers' brand grew to the point where they felt confident enough to open a second office this April—in London. "We felt we had enough recognition to try and push it than other VARs could," he says. "We decided to go whole-hog and open in London. So in a sense, we're now building a global brand."

While Oh's story is unique, solution providers can look to TechSuperpowers' success as an example of how valuable branding is. With that in mind, here are ten tips from the top branding experts in the industry on how to craft a unique identity.

1. The smaller you are, the more important branding becomes

"This is one thing everyone overlooks," says Rob Frankel, an independent brand "evangelist." Frankel says while the Microsofts of the world are so well known they don't need to concentrate on branding to the extent they used to, solution providers fighting for presence in the channel need to understand how brand strategy works. Phil Missimore, VP of Seattle-based marketing firm Waggener Edstrom, said he believes that particularly for smaller sized VARs, a "laser focus" on branding is essential. "What does the brand stand for, what is the identity? That's the question you have to ask," he says. "Particularly for VARs, they have to have a sense of what business problem they can solve. A brand has to have a set of attributes attached to it."

2. It's not (all) about the money

The top tier companies in the world pump revenue into advertising at a rate comparable to the speed of light. Is it all worth it? To those of us who have seen the Golden Arches towering over rickshaws in the far reaches of Asia, McDonalds might likely respond, "Well, yes." But for many, if not most, small solution providers, budgets are tight, so VARs who focus energy on creating innovative marketing opportunities can move closer toward building the brand without breaking the budget. "Focus on: How do I do business every day of the year?" Missimore says. "That applies whether it's a small VAR or a large VAR." He suggests addressing the budget question from a different angle. "It's more about establishing a time budget," he says. "At least 10-to-15 percent of your time should be spent thinking about what your message should be and how you're marketing yourself." Using the Internet to capitalize on this mentality is critical, he says. "The Web is a great tool—there are many ways to track ROI from a web site investment."

3. Cultivate an online community

By providing customers and potential clients a forum to interact, it keeps your company's name at the top of their minds. B.L. Ochman, a Web and blog marketing and branding consultant, suggests setting up a blog and offering fresh content in an interactive environment. "Allow people to participate," she says. "There's no such thing as a two-way message." It can't be about what you want potential clients to hear, she says. "You have to tell people what they want to know." Oh's story is another example, albeit a slightly accidental one, of how online community building can lead to increased brand awareness. Now he's taken the next step by redesigning the company Web site and in March starting a TechSuperpowers blog. However, Oh cautions there must be a reason for an online community to grow -- it's not something that can be forced. "People make the mistake of thinking, 'If you build it, they will come,'" he says.

4. Sell yourself, not your vendors

It's a strategy that hearkens back to projecting a unique identity. The client may not care what the brand is, as long as you're able to use a brand that best provides the solution. Brand strategy should not rely on IBM or Sun or any of the worldwide brands, says Frankel. "They're happy enough if you reference them in your branding -- that's like free publicity for them," he says. Implement a branding strategy that separates your company from the pack and enhances the individual solution services offered. It's something Oh would like to see more of, particularly in the managed services sector. "The problem with a lot of VARs is that there's no differentiation at all," he says. "The services offered are so similar from company to company, you can just swap out the logos and company names on the Web sites." If you're offering the same managed services as your competitors, your branding is a key way to stand out, he says. Missimore agrees with Oh's analysis. "Take the basic platform and really customize it," he suggests. "The more precise you are in that solution sell the better."

5. Harvest feedback from your clients. Directly.

The Internet has made expression of opinion easier than ever. Many company Web sites now come equipped with blogs (TechSuperpowers is just one example) where visitors can leave comments and other forms of feedback. However, there's a big difference between allowing a customer to punch in an opinion and taking some time to speak -- yes, speak -- to the client directly. "The beauty of the VAR world is that you're in contact with the customer all the time," says Missimore. "Taking five to ten minutes just to have a different conversation is really vital." While he admits the Web essentially comes with an integrated feedback loop, a phone call or an office meeting is your personal extension of the brand. "In the world of VARs, it is still at the end of the day comes down to the person they see across the desk from them," he says. "That's the power of a brand."

Next: Brand to Lead

6. Brand to lead

The ability to project confidence and professionalism is intrinsic concept when understanding the importance of potent branding. The less money you can budget toward brand-building, for example, the more you need to consider how your brand can help position the company as the current (or a future) market leader. "Having a consistent, well-done professional brand is more than enough to put you in the top three in your market area," says Oh. "At the very least, it's about making sure what you can do is well received by customers and puts you in the context of a leadership position." Oh cautions a good brand isn't built in a day, but the combination of confidence and consistency lead to a powerful brand presence. "Confidence is one of those things that's hard to build into the brand," Oh admits. "Having a consistent strategy is a helpful way to do that." Missimore says offering a unique perspective to your client's problem and how the strength of communication with the customer also builds that brand awareness through leadership. "As a VAR you're not going to do a national ad campaign, but everything you do say should speak to leadership," he says. "Think about every potential sale as a customer success story. They become the best proof of why you're leading."

7. Live your brand

Over the daily course of doing business, a solution provider is probably not thinking they're actively building their brand. This would be a mistake, Missimore says. "Every sales call, every support call, how the client experiences the Website -- that all builds the brand," he says. "The best approach for an SP or a VAR is to make everyone in the company understand how to add value for their customers and how to make that experience the best." This means ensuring every employee, from the CEO down to the interns, understand the brand identity of the company. "Ask yourself one question," Frankel says. "Are we doing it the [your-name-here] way? If you can't say, 'Yes, we have this way of doing it,' you're not branded." If the people running the company don't understand [the brand strategy], you can't expect the guys going out there to sell it correctly."

8. Bring it all back home

From the name of the company down to the corners of its logo, every element of marketing and promotion needs to tie directly into the core branding strategy. "You need to be articulate," says Frankel. "If you name something it should go back to your brand strategy." Frankel says the movement to come up with arbitrary names—anything that uses an X or a Z, he jokes—doesn't necessarily translate into brand identity. "Logos, names—this is just a small part of it. A logo is simply a visual conveyor of that brand strategy," he says. "You need to at least hint at as to why you're the only solution." A complete brand strategy also contributes to a more immersive client experience that Ochman says, "creates a client relationship and builds word-of-mouth."

9. Prove you're the only real solution

"You've got to convey there is nowhere else to go," says Frankel. It isn't about being the cheapest or even being the best, he says, but about projecting a sense of unique deployment capability that lets potential clients recognize instantly your VAR is the only one that can provide their solution. "It's pretty hard to say that you're the best," says Missimore. "But if you couple that with an emphasis on what makes you unique, that is better than saying you're the best." For an industry that thrives on cutting-edge technology, he says, to your clients that mentality translates into the magic phrase: "We're innovating."

10. Bolder is better, if you can back it

There's a time and a place for everything, as the saying goes, and as VARs grow, so will the effort behind building out the brand. In an age where an outrageous YouTube video or a positive mention on a trendy tech Website can catapult companies into the stratosphere, it might be tempting to embark on a risky but potentially rewarding marketing push. Or it may simply be buying a booth in a trade show. While fortune favors the bold, be sure you scale your efforts in accordance with growth. That's Missimore's advice, who says the beauty of the channel is that there's a daily evaluation of how things are going. "Success begets success, if you're customer base is expanding and you're entering new markets, that's where outside brand building activities make sense." The entrepreneurial spirit is a huge engine for innovation, he says. "Bold claims, backed up, are an excellent marketing strategy," he says. "If you can deliver it, bolder is better, but it absolutely comes down to the proof."