Building a Credible Brand for Your Small Business

Kim Wimpseff reports in All Business that three-time startup veteran and software developer Thomas E. Burns could spend his days writing code. Or he could write a book on branding. Burns founded his first company when he was just 22 years old. He then joined another company as its first employee. Then the entrepreneurial spirit came calling again. This next move came about the same time that Sun Microsystems introduced Java, the programming language. As a software developer at the time, Burns knew that Java was the technology for which he had been waiting. So in 1995, Burns, together with Mel Berman and Terence Parr, founded the MageLang Institute to provide customized training courses on Java. The company did well but wasn't the $3 million company that it is today. “The first year we only made about $600,000 in revenues,” Burns says. “But what we were really successful at was building a strong brand.” Burns discovered that, when building a brand, credibility counts. And when establishing credibility, there’s nothing like being a part of your own core audience to understand what is important. Quickly the MageLang Institute discontinued its training business and morphed into jGuru, a Web portal for Java software developers. Now as a media company, the business relies more than ever on its brand to drive traffic to the Web site. Building a credible brand required knowing thoroughly jGuru's audience "The best thing we did is that we know what our audience values and what they care about. And so we associate ourselves with those things," Burns says. "In essence, it's more about emotional values than practicality.” Software developers -- jGuru's audience -- care about technology first and foremost. "It's almost like a religion for many," Burns says, "in the sense that technological advancement is a good thing. They get very annoyed with those who want to hold back technology." Developers are also very individualistic and tend to have a "libertarian streak," he adds. The purpose of jGuru, as stated on its site, is to "advance and improve software technology and development." But Burns takes his company’s philosophy much deeper. JGuru’s mission statement is only the first step in aligning itself with its audience. "At first we associated with other people who could lend us credibility," Burns says. JGuru partnered with well-respected companies like Sun, IBM, and Hewlett-Packard in order to raise its profile and reputation. The next step was to employ credible software developers. Burns refers to these credibility-boosting characters as "celebrity developers" -- in other words, the gurus that make up jGuru. To attract top developers, jGuru encourages its employees to maintain their individuality. The company gives them free reign over their opinions posted on the site and in the software community. In fact, the company has no official opinion on anything -- only that the gurus who work there can express their own opinions freely. "The highest collection of famous developers work for us,” says Burns. “And this lack of control over them -- developers hate control -- and their knowledge came across from the beginning."

7 Ways to Leverage Your Advertising

If advertising is currently your main driver of sales, you can make surprisingly minor and easy changes in your existing advertising that will produce major results – and you won’t have to spend a dime, according to Jay Abraham, author of The Sticking Point Solution. There are several leverage factors at your immediate disposal, each of which can increase sales 20 to 500 percent: 1. Write great headlines: No matter how good the rest of your ad is, your audience won’t ever see it if they don’t get past the headline. Your headline must telegraph to your prospects the biggest, most appealing specific benefit or payoff they can expect to receive. It must be catchy and contain key words that will pop up from the page. 2. Set yourself apart: Distinguish your business from every other competitor by addressing an obvious void in the marketplace that you alone can honestly fill. Set your prospects’ buying criteria for them, so that only you, your business, or your product can clear the bar. Focus on one specific, relevant niche that is most sorely lacking in the marketplace and make it your own. 3. Offer proof to build your credibility: Provide substantiation for your claims, including client testimonials, quotes from experts, and excerpts of media articles about your product. Contrast your performance, construction, or support with the competitions’. 4. Reverse your customers’ risk: Put the onus on yourself. Tell your clients that you’ll offer a full refund, or at least some element of the transaction. Taking the burden of risk off a client will result in higher (and quicker) sales. 5. Include a call to action: Now that your audience has read your ad, don’t make their next step ambiguous. Tell them exactly what to do, why to do it, what benefits they can expect – and what penalties or dangers will result from delay. “Call now!” “Visit our store!” Such phrases may sound old school, but they’re still in use for a reason. 6. Offer a bonus: Whether it’s a coupon, a discount, an extended warranty, or the promise of preferential treatment, a bonus on top of your already fabulous product or service proposition can only further entice and multiply sales. “Be one of the first to join and receive a free companion book!” 7. Summarize your offer: By summarizing your offer at the end of your ad, you are seizing the moment to “Bring it home”: Reiterate the problem you are able to solve, the benefits your buyers will gain, and the upside with no downside. Then tell them again how to act now.