Brooklyn's Progress
June/July 2006

BY PETER LEVINSON

The idea of branding floats upon a flood of jargon. In fact, sitting on my bookshelf is the American Institute of Graphic Arts’ “Dictionary of Brand” – 116 pages of brand terminology!  Despite all the jargon, effective branding can help your business grow.

Branding often starts with a logo design. But branding is not your logo – it's the idea behind it.  To paraphrase Marty Neumeier, author of “The Brand Gap,” branding is a person's gut feeling about your organization.  For example, the gut feeling for one of our clients is of a problem-solving technology company that thrives on change.  
 
Here are some questions to ask when thinking about your brand:
 
Who is your audience?  For a small business, your primary audience is typically your customers (the group you serve) and your stakeholders (such as your investors and partners).

What are you promising your audience?  This is the brand promise – your company’s mission condensed into one or two sentences.  For example, the brand promise for the American Institute of Graphic Arts is to advance excellence in graphic design as a discipline, profession and cultural force.
 
What makes you different?  These differences between you and other similar businesses are your brand attributes.  For example, the brand attributes for LevinsonBlock, my company, are: We are nonprofit specialists, we are easy to work with and we are the right size for your needs.

Now here's the catch – branding is building a perception of your business. Branding is thinking both from the inside out – and from the outside in.  So in the branding process, you look for the answers not only from within your company or organization, but from your audience as well.
 
LevinsonBlock helps small businesses and nonprofits grow through effective branding and marketing.  For more information or for a consultation call 718-438-2563, or visit http://www.levinsonblock.com/.