Solo business brand positioning - it's "I" not "we"

Solo business owners have an opportunity to build real relationships with customers. This gives us a genuine competitive advantage. So it's time to say goodbye to the idea of projecting the brand positioning and attitude of a big business.

Business school gave me a very “corporatised” view of how business works. Most of the textbooks were written with big business as case studies and examples to demonstrate the theories.

I believed that in order to run a business, even a small business, you should project the attitude of a big business. If you are planning on being big one day, a faceless corporation with hundreds of employees and a bland business brand as a personality, then you should be poistioning your brand like that from day one.

When I started my first business a switch in my head was flicked to “corporate” whenever I interacted with customers, suppliers and other people. I felt I needed to project a brand positioning that indicated that I was the face of something made up of lots of people, with hierarchies, departments and slow bureaucracies. I was of course quite aware that the reality was far from it, it was just me behind a computer doing all the tasks, but I needed to express “bigness” in order to convince people that my business was the real deal. I was quite misguided.

Attitude adjustment

I partially blame university for my poor attitude. Business school, at least what I went through, teaches students to be corporate drones in a company made up of lots of people. You learn how everything works - the big picture of how all the bits come together to operate a large corporate business - but you don’t really get taught how to be an individual. Of course this wouldn’t have been a problem for most graduates since they went on to take positions at large companies where it would be appropriate for them to use words like “we” and “us” and “you need to speak to someone in HR“, but as a solopreneur these are not good words.

Whenever I received a business related email I’d respond with phrases like “We’d be happy to help” or “Our business operates on weekends“. My responses weren’t bad, they answered the questions and sold the service, but they also projected the corporate “We don’t really care about you, you’re insignificant” and worse, didn’t help to develop a human relationship with my clients.

As I matured I realised the importance of relationship building, especially with customers and how powerful it can be as a competitive advantage. Customers that form relationships with your business, or in truth, you as a soloist, will remain loyal even when offered a cheaper alternative. Familiarity, reliability and comfort all come from a good customer relationship and the more you can do to foster this attitude with each and every interaction in your business, the better.

Hi, I’m Yaro Starak

Sometime in 2005 the corporate switch in my head flicked off. I finally realised that my greatest asset is me. Even if my goal is to build a massive corporation it serves me better if each and every customer and person that comes into contact with my business feels like they know me personally.

All my email correspondence is signed off from Yaro Starak or Yaro. My autoresponders introduce me as the business owner and state my willingness and availability to be contacted by each and every customer and potential customer that comes into contact with my businesses. I talk in “me” and “I” and only use “we” when I actually mean another person is involved.

Small Business Branding

I am now totally convinced, with thanks to blogging, that for solo businesses there is no more powerful brand message to project than yourself. Even for big business, a personality brand can be a powerful message. “Richard Branson” is almost as meaningful as the Virgin brand itself. I think they are synonymous in a lot of ways.

Small business branding is not a good logo, a rhyming name, or special font. It is the owner. It’s what the owner does, says and how the owner’s traits come through in every aspect of the business. It’s the way relationships are built and maintained, the way a person does business and treats other people. It’s how rapport is established at an individual level, where trust and comfort exist as human characteristics, not from theme music, models or slogans.

There Can Only Be One

Remember you have one competitive advantage that can not be replicated - You. No one can ever duplicate your personality, the way you do business and your attitude towards other people. Projecting your personality is a powerful competitive advantage, branding message and business tool that you should be using every day. Don’t hide it behind a corporate facade, express it in everything you do.

Your business doesn’t have to become dependent on you personally, but your image, attitudes and values should form it’s pillars. This especially holds true for independent professionals.

If you are going it alone, be proud of it and use it as an advantage.

Don’t be corporate, be human. Your human customers will love you for it.

Yaro Starak is an online marketing and Internet business specialist. He enjoys working with and teaching other soloists how to use the Internet as a business tool.

8 comments | Add your own 1 2 | Next» View all»

Great stuff Yaro, your article projects something that all soloists can't be without.....passion! Gregg Uttin from Whyalla, South Aust
Phew, what a paradigm shift...! I am guilty of the royal "we" to try to portray I am one of many, with an IT department, accounts etc..when in reality it is all very much "me", from the corner of the lounge. Yet I totally agree with very personalised service, perhaps my language should reflect that more often. Food for thought..! Kim from Auckland
Thanks for something to think about, Yaro. However, couldn't one use 'we' - to project a more stable and established firm - while still being personal and customer focussed? Dillon from Adelaide
Dillon - Yes certainly, if we talk semantics I'm sure "we" can be used still within a very personal context. The trick of course is for your customers to feel they are creating a unique and interpersonal relationship with you, which hopefully they are.
As a company grows of course it's not possible for the boss to always be communicating directly with customers, however that doesn't mean that each employee working in the customer service department can't be fostering interpersonal relationships with each individual customer. It's all about real relationships. Yaro from Brisbane
I agree that modern business misses that. To the big guys (phone providers, ISPs [bigger ones]) we're just another account. Who likes to feel like that? No one!
On the flip side I've been a victim to the "I" principal. I've got a team of 5 working for me... but when customers only want to deal with "me" it means that these staff turn into glorified receptionists, and I end up working 100 hours plus.
So my role is turning into presenting the "I" to the business owners we deal with, and then leave the other staff (and our fantastic systems) to deal with the day to day stuff. Nothing impresses a customer more than seeing your enthusiasm for what you do. Andrew Way from Adelaide, SA
Great article Yaro! So so well put. Your passion clearly shines through. Thanks for sharing your journey. I see this is all part of the movement towards greater transparency and truth. Say "I" when it is indeed "I" - how refreshing, how real, how honest. This is the same rationale why I don't put "managing director" or "vice president" on my business cards or emails. Zern from eicolab

8 comments | Add your own 1 2 | Next» View all»

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