Leveraging Your Way to Big Brand Status

Kim Castle successfully helps hundreds of clients and companies grow their business. While she has worked on large name brands including; IBM, DirecTV, General Motors, and Disney Interactive; worked at large advertising agencies including; Grey Advertising, DMB&B, DB Needham, her true passion lies with empowering entrepreneurs and small business owners. http://www.intentionproducts.com/Public/home/index.cfm

View all articles by Kim Castle

When it comes to creating a business brand, small business owners often feel they can’t do it alone. No surprise. You can’t! Yet throughout school we’re taught that we have to “do it” on our own otherwise we’re “cheating.” This lone ranger approach is the demise of millions of businesses.

I learned the power of leverage early on. My younger sister and I were given the chore of washing and drying the dishes after dinner. Unskilled in enterprise, she and I decided that one night she would do it, the next night I would, and then alternate each night. This arrangement was great…on the night that SHE did the dishes. It was excruciating on the night that I did them. It was long, tedious, and no fun…alone.

After a three long weeks, I proposed to my sister (granted I was 10 and I wasn’t in the habit of making “proposals”) that we should do the dishes together—taking turns who washed and who dried. Despite the customary sibling rivalry that sparks between sisters at age 10 and 7, she too felt the torture of doing the job alone and agreed to try it. You know what? Not only did the job get done faster, and more effectively, those nights of washing, drying, and laughing with my sister are some my fondest memories.

The dictionary defines applying leverage as it applies to people as:

the power over other people, especially something that gives an advantage but is not referred to openly.

Doesn’t sound like a nice thing to do, does it? It’s easy to see why “nice business owners” don’t think of leveraging someone else as a strategy. It sounds win/lose bad.

BUT if you look up leverage as it applies to a task it means:

the mechanical advantage gained by using a lever.

Demonstrations of successful leveraging in business are everywhere—yet they are often hard for entrepreneurs to apply them. Here are four examples of business issues solved by leveraging. See if you can find your situation and benefit from one of them.

• New brand needs fast-tracked reliable expansion OR yoga instructor meets 23-year old aerobic clothing manufacturer—Los Angeles-based yoga instructor Shiva Rae had built a solid fan-base of students throughout her many years of establishing her dedicated approach to yoga. As she became known, it became harder to get into her classes. This demand caused her to create a yoga video so that she could assist more and more people. She furthered her following by writing articles for a top yoga magazine. A logical brand expansion for her would be to go into yoga clothing BUT she was an expert at yoga NOT manufacturing active wear. Enter the Marika Group, a 23-year old company who was on the forefront of aerobic clothing in the early 80’s and…the Shiva Shakti Collection was born.

While aerobics is not “in” anymore, Marika had a successful track record for creating and distributing active wear and could benefit by supplying clothes for the current fitness trend—yoga. Regardless of whether Shiva Rae intentionally went to Marika or the other way around, this is marriage made in commerce heaven.

Learn from this example if you’re figuring out how to expand your business beyond your immediate expertise. Just remember, you have to establish a following FIRST in order for this partnership to work. It has to be a win-win for both companies.

• Successful brand needs a positive way to get back into people’s lives OR domestic diva turns to real estate turned entertainment mogul—Lifestyle queen Martha Stewart lost her crown by her personal dealings in the stock market and went to jail—a public fiasco that would normally break the most successful of the successful. Enter billionaire Donald Trump and his smash hit reality show The Apprentice. In a brilliant use of reality television turned positive PR, each week on national television Martha gets to parade her many brands and make the public fall even harder in love with her as a resilient benevolent. Trump and The Apprentice brand benefit as well because the brand of the show is expanded beyond “the Donald.”

This pairing proves that the strength of a brand can withstand even a jail sentence. Again, it doesn’t matter who came to whom first, what is important that both brands had establish themselves before and gained greater status together.

Learn from this example if you are coming out of a bad decision or back from a many year hiatus. For this leveraged partnership to work, you convert a current weakness while expanding on another’s strength— the power of a win-win in full glory.

• National chain store needs new breath of life OR dinosaur needs a shot in the arm to stay alive—First opened in 1902 as The Golden Rule, 100 years later JCPenney had lost its appeal and was known for cheap clothes and for serving low-income needs. It’s no wonder that towards the end of the decade, it closed many of its national stores and struggled to stay afloat. JCPenney didn’t take the route of developing their own line of products…like Sears’ Kenmore or Costco’s Kirkland; they in relied on lesser known independent labels like St. John’s Bay.

After reaching their 100th year mark the company reorganized, got hip and…got SMART. They entered into partnerships with brand name home designer Chris Madden, and hip fashion design labels Bisou Bisou, and Nicole Miller all of whom developed their own following but had nowhere near the distribution reach that a 100 year-old chain had developed. PLUS, this paring gave these typically pricey high-end brands an entry into a world of volume with low and mid-income households.

Learn from this example if your business has been around for a long time and it needs an infusion of FRESH life. For this leveraged partnership to work, infuse your established history with innovation that has limited access to the marketplace. Another kind of win-win in action And finally, • Fast growing new company known for empowering entrepreneurs with business branding needs a fast way to complete the tool set for the “whole” of business success OR two dynamic businesses complete the picture for each other—BrandU® was created in 2003 after its parent company successfully served the design and marketing needs of business owners, large and small, since 1991. It was built upon a powerful theory of practical manifestation—Unified Conscious Development (UCD)—and provided easy to implement processes that were changing people’s business lives through brand communication BUT clarity is just a portal to a business’ success.

Successful business also need: business systems, marketing and business plans, target market knowledge, positioning, product development, a deep understanding of all kinds of relationships, the process of making choices, establishing sales, management and money practices, and much more. A practical MBA! Enter the author of The Accidental Millionaire, Stephanie Frank, with a track record of building two multi-million businesses and a full arsenal of practical business strategies and tactics shared through a variety of brands. This powerhouse of information needed a context to build a full range curriculum, which could be fueled by UCD.

Both firms had a long term vision of helping independent business owners worldwide make an impact in their lives and in the lives of their customers. This powerful combination created the Whole Wealth™ Institute and the four-pillar approach to business acceleration. The first non-MBA—MBA made available to anyone in business. This dynamic paring makes for a much bigger business years faster than either business attain could separately.

Learn from this example if you realize your business is only part of the picture and can benefit from adding someone else’s expertise. For this leveraged partnership to work, find a common goal or bond to solve that meets a need in the marketplace.

You see…it doesn’t matter what size business your business is, how long you’ve been in business, or even what your specialty is, you don’t have to build your brand alone. You can:

• Establish a following and look for a win-win • Convert a current weakness looking to expand another’s strength • Infuse your established history with innovation helping both partners • Find a common goal or bond and join together With a solid commitment to building your business piece and inspired leveraged partnerships, you too can create a big brand and experience all the success you can imagine.

© Castle Montone, Limited WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR E-ZINE OR WEB SITE? You can. Simply include this blurb with it: “Brand Visioneer and BrandU Co-founder, Kim Castle teaches entrepreneurs and small business owners how to turn their business ideas into a money-making marketable brand. If you want to experience clarity all the way to the bank™, get started now at www.brandu.com