Most really small business owners regard branding as something that doesn’t apply to them. They couldn’t be more wrong. Even a one woman, or man, show is infused with branding, it’s called the personality of the owner. Years ago out at a tiny pub in the village of Worth Matravers, in Dorset, U.K. the customers replaced the pub’s sign with one they had prepared themselves. It featured a likeness of the landlord at the time, and his dog. The name of the pub on the new sign was dubbed ‘The Jolly Landlord and the Mad Dog’.

The landlord at the time was never Jolly and his likeness on the sign made him appear even more grumpy than usual.

Word of the ‘outrage’ spread and people came from far and wide to see the sign, which remained in place for most of the summer, the landlord duly playing his part by being miserable and his dog occasionally foaming at the mouth, or attempting to mount a visitor’s poodle.

You see, it’s not what you tell people about yourself that really matters, it’s what people say when they talk about you.

You may think that my example denotes a complaint about the publican and his canine friend but the opposite is the case. It was a mark of affection by loyal customers who travelled many miles, often by motorcycle, to listen to folk songs, and drink real ale in small smoke darkened rooms.

In this sense branding is closely related to leadership, another concept that few have mastered. Whilst most think that a leader is someone blessed with some kind of divine grace, perhaps bestowed by heredity such as in the case of a royal family, this has always been false. One only has to make a cursory study of British history, although any other country’s history could be substituted, to find that those born to be Kings and Queens are readily deposed when they become too inept, or unpopular, frequently at the cost of their lives.

Leaders are leaders because we, the people, let them. They hope that once we have let them then we will make their leadership a habit. Branding is all about this too. Whilst some brands may constantly have to project a recognisable but ever changing image these are those related to fashion, rather than utility.

Marmite, Coleman’s Mustard, H.P. Sauce, Heinz Beanz are all instantly recognisable.

There are some who think that Branding is more complicated than I suggest. They’re right, of course, branding differs in its methods and effect according to the size of the business in question. Large branding agencies such as Wolff Olins have long entered thriving enterprises and changed everything from the logotype to the furniture in attempts to make the businesses thrive. It works, mostly, too because they and a few other prime agencies are expert at what they do.

And then there are the rest of us. Are we all expert? It depends? It’s estimated that there are 50,000 marketing agencies in the U.S. alone and they all want a piece of the pie. Even on my doorstep there are those producing photographs, logos, and marketing materials but who wouldn’t know what company culture meant if it approached them in the street and slapped them around the face. They simply produce what people want, which is to say bland materials similar to those they produced the previous week for a rival company.

The problem is that these companies go simply for graphic solutions without taking the time to examine what their customer is about, and how best to market their unique assets. Small business owners are notorious for writing their own sales copy, or interfering with a marketer’s ideas. They fail to appreciate what Robert Townsend discovered in 1962 when the President of Avis, the car rental company. Avis was struggling because Hertz the No. 1. company in the field had not just the lions’ share of the market, they had most of it. Townsend put out a tender for an aggressive advertising campaign to win more customers. Doyle, Dane Bernbach, (DDB), responded with a campaign that was to make Hertz famous by repositioning Hertz as the Number 2 company for service. Today ‘because we’re no 2 we try harder’ stands as a landmark in the branding hall of fame.

When it was suggested, however, Townsend hated it but was wise enough to follow through on DDB’s recommendation because he knew that they were more expert in marketing than he.

Of course, marketing, slogans, graphics, photography, story-telling, none of these ultimately matter unless you’re telling the truth. When Walter Landor created a new logo for ‘The Bank of America, (BoE), back in 1969 he created something that looked like a personal monogram. This was because one of the perceptions people had of BoE was that it was large and therefore unfriendly. He wouldn’t be able to get away with that today unless BoE had, also reorganised its culture to be one that is decentralised and user friendly. Why? Today people know how to talk to their worlds using YouTube and other media.

In this sense branding can work against a company. When they fly a flag they had better darn well live up to what it stands for or else the likes of thee and me will fire up Twitter, Facebook and whatever other social media available and have a blast. United Airlines have discovered this to their discomfort.

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