The Garden Writers conference in Portland was superb!  As described in an earlier post, before I even got to the venue, a fellow attendee placed me as somebody at the conference because I was wearing my logo fleece with my personal, garden-related logo on it.  She thought I was a vendor.  I was THE only writer at the conference with my own logo.  At first, I thought I seemed a little bit dorky wearing my own logo because nobody else had one.  However, after people started coming up to me asking me what I did, where I got my spiffy logo wear, and referring to me as “The writer who works at that shirt company and posts on gardening blogs,” I started to understand the power of my own logo and my own brand.  Here I was, arriving an unknown newbie and departing with brand recognition firmly starting to take root. I felt pretty good.

Speakers in several of the breakout sessions I attended hammered home the importance of creating and developing your own brand and maintaining a professional image.  Each of the speakers talked about the importance of voice, style, and a personal brand to differentiate ourselves from the overwhelming number of online writers, spammers and content warriors looking to post quantity, and not quality .  The concept was new to writers who had previously made most of their income by writing for print.  When print was the main medium, there was more editing and less competition than there is now, in the age of instant internet publishing.

Brand U(niversity)

Tom Peters wrote an article called “The Brand Called You” for the magazine Fast Company back in August 1997.  At the time Peters wrote the article, the concept of self branding was a novelty.  Today, it is a necessity—for everyone.  Garr Reynolds, the highly successful design and branding Guru with a fabulous blog, website and, well, brand, makes a living working with clients to develop their personal and corporate brands.  He takes Tom Peters’ idea a bit further, expanding it into a method and giving three steps for creating and disseminating your brand.

1)      Develop your brand

2)      Package your brand

3)      Communicate your brand

To create your “Brand Identity Package,” Reynolds recommends designing and refining several areas, including:

• Your office space (does it reflect who you are?)
• Your business card
• Your personal style

Personal style is where Queensboro can help.  Our low minimum order requirements and fantastic logo artists will help you bring your logo to life, helping you promote your brand.

Isn’t Branding Yourself Ego-Maniacal?

In a word, no.  The only way to differentiate your business is by establishing your brand.  Your brand is not just your logo.  It is not just your letterhead.  Your brand is almost like an “aura” or a “gestalt.”  Customers must identify with your brand on a gut level in order to keep coming back time and time again.  As customers begin to understand what your brand stands for and begin to associate your logo with your brand, each time you step out in public wearing your logo apparel you are reinforcing the connection between you, your logo, your services and, ultimately, your brand.  Your ability to brand yourself successfully is the difference between shutting down, survival or success.  Whether you have hundreds of employees or you are a “One Man Brand” (gotta love the puns!), branding is an essential part of your business strategy.