Battle of the brand: is image really everything when it comes to your business? Listen as entrepreneurs and experts sound off about whether branding is crucial for success, then decide for yourself

Entrepreneur, March, 2004 by Chris Penttila

Entrepreneur Chrissy Azzaro has business down to a "T." Well, down to a T-shirt, actually. Azzaro, 28, is founder of My-Tee, a 4-year-old Los Angeles fashion company. Besides its signature product--the My-Tee T-shirt--the six-employee company makes its own line of skirts, shoes, tank tops and accessories that retail from $32 to $78. Publicists and buyers browse My-Tee's trendy showroom in Los Angeles for the latest trends and clothing lines. The company has built considerable buzz: Celebrities from Hilary Duff to Courteney Cox have been photographed in My-Tee clothing. This exposure helped the company rack up $1 million in sales in 2003.

Azzaro defines her brand as sassy clothing that's casual yet sexy. Branding she says, has built her business. "It pushed us out of the pile of other people," Azzaro contends. "Instead of being underneath 100 T-shirt companies, it pushes you to the top. Branding is very important for any small business."

Or is it? Ask a group of entrepreneurs how much branding really matters, and you'll get different answers. Some think it's really important, while others don't. Each entrepreneur could have a slightly different definition of branding, and a few might not even know, or really care, what branding is. To brand or not to brand--that's the question. And everyone has an opinion.

"Of course people are going to say 'Well, branding doesn't really matter.' It's the most misunderstood concept in all of marketing," says Rob Frankel, a Los Angeles branding expert and author of The Revenge of Brand X: How to Build a Big Time Brand on the Web or Anywhere Else (Frankel & Anderson). "Too many [businesses] dismiss branding as just identity. But it's so much more than that."

Branding, say experts, is your raison d'etre, the well-planned coordination of every single touch point with the customer to create consistency of service within your company. In the end, branding isn't about getting prospects to choose you over someone else, Frankel says; it's about getting them to see you as the only solution to their problem amid today's media clutter and price wars. Without it, you're dead in the water from Day One. The way to get new business today is by turning your rent customers into evangelists. If you don't give them something to evangelize--like your brand message--they'll have no way to communicate it to the next guy, Frankel says. "Your brand strategy should be in your business plan."

Many companies are branding--whether or not they know it, says Bob Phibbs, a Long Beach, California, retail marketing and sales expert, and author of You Can Compete: Double Sales without Discounting (Greenleaf Book Group). Are you going to be the Tiffany & Co. of small gift shops or the 99-cent bargain store? If you don't know, your customers will decide for you--and that's a risky move for a growing company. "Think about the kids you knew in high school, the dorks and the [popular kids]. We always categorize and want to get a bead on things," Phibbs says. "The most successful businesses are doing well because they have a consistent image of what their brand means. Branding always matters."

BRANDING, SCHMANDING

On the other side are those who say focusing on brand is a waste of time and money for a growing company trying to create repeat business in a crowded marketplace. "People spend far too much time early on saying 'I want to build a brand.' Forget about building a brand. Build customers first," says Barry J. Moltz, a serial entrepreneur and author of You Need to Be a Little Crazy: The Truth About Starting and Growing Your Business (Dearborn Trade Publishing).

Moltz says he's seen too many entrepreneurs end up with "analysis paralysis": pondering for months on end what their brands will mean to consumers before they open for business, only to enter the marketplace and find they need a new strategy. Entrepreneurship requires flexibility, say the anti-branders, because your original brand strategy could be completely wrong. Listen closely to your customers, because they will help you figure out your brand. "There are a lot of businesses that start out being one thing and end up being something else," Moltz says. "If you listen to the market, it will tell you what your branding should be."

Azzaro has learned to be flexible with her strategy. Initially, she thought My-Tee's customers were women ages 24 to 38. She's since learned they range in age from 14 to 56. She's also veering toward product lines, such as accessories, that she never imagined the company doing. "You have to go where [the business] takes you," Azzaro says. "Sometimes it wasn't in the plan."

The decision to brand as a growing business also depends on your industry and the size of your immediate market. Branding is less important if you're the only game in town, says Sean O'Connor, vice president of Magnet ID, a brand consulting and identity agency in New York City. But if you own a coffee shop in a small town, and Starbucks moves onto your turf, then differentiating your business suddenly becomes extremely important. Branding can also distinguish small retail companies selling products or services similar in features, benefits and price vis-a-vis the competition. But in other industries, such as technology, customers may not need brand differentiation as much as they just need a specific solution. "If your product doesn't meet the parameters, [technology customers] aren't going to buy from you," says Jim Schakenbach, managing partner of SCT Group Inc., a technology marketing communications firm in Northborough, Massachusetts.