Author Archive for Silvia Pencak

Silvia Pencak is Business Branding Expert, Brand Strategist, CEO of Magnetic Look and founder of Small Biz Association and nonprofit organization JONA. Since 2002 she’s been working with different types of businesses, solopreneurs and nonprofit organizations helping them develop their brand strategy for success. Her passion, knowledge and strategic thinking provide great input to those who are looking to stand out and thrive in today’s tough business world. Whether you’re just starting your business or you already have a business, but need support, change or complete re-branding for your business and lifestyle, you can find it all with Magnetic Look.

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Personal or Business Branding?

Big branding question of nowadays seems to be whether to use personal or business branding when building your small business brand. My favorite solution is personal business branding, the combination of both. So let's take a closer look at what I mean by that. Authenticity remains one of the strongest competitive advantages of personal branding.  Authenticity of personal branding is referring to its level of genuineness.  When a small business finds the development of authenticity in their branding strategies difficult, larger businesses find it impossible. Some small businesses are implementing innovative strategies that make them appear more sincere to potential buyers than larger firms appear to be.  Great example of personal branding strategies used by small businesses is the use of personal stories in ezines, newsletters or blogs to connect with readers and subscribers. Large businesses can use this tool too, great example might be Mary Kay Cosmetics, the company that ...

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Most Common Brand Strategy Myths

Way too many business owners are ill-informed about brand strategy and still believe that many common brand strategy myths are truths.  Today I will address some of these misconceptions and try to reveal the truth once for all. I'll be curious to learn which one of these you believed is truth or what other myths you'll discover while reading this post. It's still common that many business owners place too much value in the power of a logo, with regard to their brand strategy.  A brand strategy is very dynamic and not one dimensional at all.  In some industries, a logo does not appear to be a dominant factor of the brand strategy.  As business owners, it is very important to consider what competitive forces are in play within the industry and how strong and effective they are.  Your brand is so much more than a logo.  It includes message, reputation, ...

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What is a Brand Audit?

A brand audit is a thorough examination of a brand’s current position in an industry compared to its competitors and the examination of its effectiveness.  When it comes to brand auditing, five questions should be carefully examined and assessed.  These five questions are how well the business’ current brand strategy is working, what are the company’s established resource strengths and weaknesses, what are its external opportunities and threats, how competitive are the business’ prices and costs, how strong is the business’ competitive position in comparison to its competitors, and what strategic issues are facing the business. Generally, when a business is conducting a brand audit, the main goal is to uncover business’ resource strengths, deficiencies, best market opportunities, outside threats, future profitability, and its competitive standing in comparison to existing competitors.  A brand audit establishes the strategic elements needed to improve brand position and competitive capabilities within the industry.  Once a ...

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Benefits of Consistent Visual Branding

We try hard not to judge other people by their outlook, but it seems to be a mission impossible. The same is true about the business as well. We tend to look at what we see and by the cover we judge the content. This is why visual branding has its place in brand strategy (even though not as big as some web/graphic designers want you to believe). The objective of visual branding for small businesses is to connect with a predefined target audience and convince them of a product’s competitive advantages.  This process of communication with potential buyers usually focuses on benefits, rewards, initiatives, and motivation.  This strategy is used to influence future purchasing decisions of buyers and to establish general brand awareness, along with the brand image. Visual branding dictates that potential buyers are attracted and also retained.  Keeping an existing buyer can be a challenge.  An optimum mix ...

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Does Your Communication Help or Hurt Your Brand?

When it comes to small business branding, the process of communicating your brand is a vital element for a successful existence.  Unless your potential clients hear from you or about you, they are most likely not going to buy from you. So how exactly do you build your communication channels to deliver your message? First things first, make sure that your brand message is the actual message that will be interpreted by the potential buyer in each relevant industry.  Having clearly established the business’ branding message, it is important to consider and establish which media will be the most efficient and practical. You should choose your media outlet carefully after considering which of the available venues of communication would be most effective in terms of cost and the actual level of communication. Remember, what works for one type of business, doesn't necessarily have to work for another. Just the way a ...

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Can Social Media Damage Your Brand?

Due to the evolution in today’s business world, social media has been initiated as one of the many necessary musts for successful business banding.  As a result, web-based communities are being assessed and utilized as an effective venue for delivering a business’ branding message.  These social media have proven themselves quite effective at generating and adding a personal touch to a business’ brand.  However, there are serious potential threats that could develop within social media branding.  Consequently, any business considering integrating this strategy into their branding approach should have a strategic crisis management strategy ready. Web-based communities are emerging as a great place for a business to promote and establish its brand.  These types of social media are quite efficient at generating a feeling of family and community.  Now, any business that is considering introducing social media into their branding strategy should be aware that there may be some level of ...

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Product Branding for Your Small Business

Product branding serves to build awareness, brand equity, competitive positioning, and sales.  Effective product branding generates leads and business.  When it comes to a product’s brand, a business should focus its attention on the product’s reliability, transaction security, responsiveness and accessibility, customer communication, convenient product or service purchases, cost competitiveness, competence, and customer commitment.  Before a business can reap the benefits of product branding, it must understand, thoroughly, what the customer wants.  Internal and external strategic changes must focus on the customer. There are several basic product branding strategies.  One of them is a low-cost leadership strategic approach is one in which a business offers just a good basic product or service, with few frills, in an acceptable quality and with limited selection options.  A business can also use a brad differentiation approach, by ensuring a variety of products that focus on emphasizing the differentiating features from those offered by competitors.  ...

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Building an Authentic Business Brand

We keep hearing a lot about authenticity these days. Many entrepreneurs understand that they need to make their business authentic and relevant, but they get lost in application. When it comes to authenticating a business’ brand, there are several key marketing success factors.  A key success factor is what is required of every business to ensure competence, competition, and success.  Determining key success factors should be a priority for any size business interested in authenticating its brand. Essentially, every business keen on succeeding in a particular market or industry should understand the environment of the industry well enough to know what is and what isn’t necessary to successfully exist and thrive in any given market.  Effective authentication is only possible when a business makes a conscious effort to keep its finger on the pulse of its relative industry. Another very relevant marketing related key success factor includes the establishment and successful maintenance ...

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Is Strategy Important for Your Business Success?

Strategy is a game plan for your business.  Te strategy of any business should include a well thought out approach for positioning the business, the competitiveness of the business, customer satisfaction and the process of achieving great business.  A strategy remains an important factor because it includes management choices and alternatives, competitive approaches, and daily operational practices. One fundamental importance of devising a strategy is to proactively shape how a business should be conducted. Another fundamental reason for a good strategy is that it enables your business to perform successfully and efficiently navigate unforeseeable events, competition, or even obstacles. Business strategy basically helps you define what you want your business to look like, how you want to get there and what specific steps you need to make it a reality. Well thought-out strategy should evolve from the integration of evaluated performances, corrective adjustments, changing conditions, new ideas, and new opportunities. "Strategy ...

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Strategy and Brand Development

"Any damn fool can put on a deal, but it takes genius, faith and perseverance to create a brand." said David Oquilvy and man, was he right... Having a strong brand is a great advantage these days. Yet, many small business owners out there still struggle with defining and positioning their brands. Some of them even think that branding is just a fashionable term. My today's article is not to prove these people wrong, but to inspire and empower those of you who understand the value of having a well designed and strategic brand. When developing a business’ brand strategy you need to  answer couple questions first. How well is your current strategy working? What are the strengths, weaknesses, external opportunities and threats of your business? Are the prices and costs competitive? How strong is the company’s competitive position compared to established rivals? What strategic issues does the established business face? The difficult truth about brand development ...

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