The MacSpecialist brand development strategy featured a combination of conventional and unconventional sales and marketing campaigns.
This post is a continuation of a series of posts outlining my time with MacSpecialist in Chicago. Links to all posts in the series are located at the bottom of the page.
What Is Brand Development?
After we crossed the t’s and dotted the i’s on all the legal and accounting agreements, TKC Innovative Solutions, inc. d/b/a MacSpecialist took possession of the GEC d/b/a MacSpecialist assets and we shifted our focus to running the company.
We all agreed that Partner 1 and Partner 2 were responsible for our service, training and technical operations and I would oversee sales (retail and b2b), marketing, PR, and the associated operations.
Next, the brand needed an overhaul. What did that mean?
What’s Included
Many small business owners think branding refers to their logo, printed marketing materials, and promotional merchandise. And while those things are equally important; they’re only a small part of the brand development process. Here’s what it involves:
- Determining your target market(s)
- Determining your target demographics
- Performing SWOT analysis to identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats
- Defining your core competencies
- Defining your core values
- Performing SWOT analysis to identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats
- Determining your market position vs. your competition and finding your competitive advantage
- Solidifying your company’s story and clearly articulating it
- Writing your company elevator pitch and making sure everyone in the company can repeat it on demand
- Defining your brand identity (this is the logo stuff that I mentioned above)
- Setting budgets and allocating resources to make the best impact on your ideal customers and / or clients
- Defining and implementing processes to incorporate your brand into all operational aspects (This is how you get employees to buy in. If you don’t have employee buy-in, developing your brand will be incredibly difficult)
What Is a Brand, Anyway?
In essence, brand is the internal story the public tells themselves when they think about a person or company.
Consequently, Brand development is a series of actions the person or company takes to positively influence that story before it’s ever told.
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