"Does Brand Even Matter for Small Business?"

0:00At what point should you even start thinking about brand? >> Brand? >> Or or revenue level. >> So, brand happens uh is always happening at all times. It's just that it's really just on what scale. And so, I just think about it like this. >> [sighs]

0:28>> So, these are kind of like the three kind of levels brand, if you think about it from a customer perspective. So, in the beginning, you say stuff about your business. And this is the weakest stuff. So, you see a trailer about Godzilla, you're like, "Oh, maybe this is interesting." And then, you talk to your friend who's like, "Oh, I saw it. It was really good." You're like, "All right. Well, maybe I'll go see it." And then, you see it. And then, you're like, "Okay, I will now make a decision about this thing." And so, the idea is that if you branding on a small level is just pairing, it's associations between things. And so, every one of your customers who has bought something from you, you have a brand with them. It's just a question of how big is your reach on top of that.

1:04So, you many people here have brands. They're just small. And so, branding is just a deliberate pairing of things that your customers know and like with your business, which they at the beginning won't know and will be neutral towards. And so, if you pair the things that they know and like with who they don't know, your business, and then eventually like, then over time you can eliminate the thing they like, and what will stay it will rub off on your brand. And then, they will fundamentally associate that likingness with you.

1:32Does that make sense? Okay. So, at what point should you focus on branding? At all points. It's just your reputation in the short term. Um and really content and stuff allows you to brand at scale because distribution is free. Big brands just run ads that aren't direct response, and they just make associations because they have enough brand presence that they just continue to blast them out.

2:00And that's it. And so, if you think about the vectors of brand, there are three. You have direction. You have influence. And you have reach. So, >> [sighs and gasps] >> with direction, it's towards or away.

2:25With influence, it's effect size. It's how powerful is that. And then reach is how many people are affected by it in general. And so, your parents, for example, prob- I mean, depending on your relationship, let's assume you have a good relationship with your parents, they have towards directionally, like you'll listen to what they say, you'll be more likely to. It's strong influence, but the reach is very low. It's just you. They're your parents.

2:49Your parents don't have a very big effect on me. Trump, for example, has very strong towards and away for different submarkets. Sorry, has towards and away for different markets. The strength of that influence is very high for everyone who knows who he is. Meaning, he will influence, he will change your behavior in one way or another, either to either towards or away based on your based on your directionality, your affinity to- for for him.

3:17And then reach is very high. Many people know who he is. And so, fundamentally, if these are the three components of brand, this is really the multiplier, but it's really just do they like you and do they believe you when you make claims. And so, over time, what happens is, when you're a small business, you have to provide proof that you're good because everyone lies and exaggerates.

3:45So, you have to provide overwhelming proof over and over and over and over again. As time goes on, and you keep more and more promises to more and more people, your word becomes good enough. And so, you can have a brand that converts at a higher percentage without showing proof when they come out with a new product because they have a track record of having kept their promises in the past. So, if Spielberg comes out with a movie, Spielberg fans will go see it without anybody else having given them proof.

4:11They say, you say nothing because they know they have a history of positive reinforcement with the brand. That makes sense? And so, as a small business, you just have to do a really good job, do it over and over again, and give away stuff that's valuable for your core audience. That's it. >> Okay. >> [laughter] >> That's your mini master class on branding. Uh yeah. If you are a business owner and you are not growing as fast as you like, I'd like to give you a free gift. So, my team and I put together the $100 million scaling road map, which is basically 200 hours of us looking over all the portfolio companies we've had and what stages of growth they went through, and more importantly, where they got stuck and how they got past it.

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