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This inspirational guide is for anyone who wants to learn how to grow a B2B service company and build its value by engaging their clients and their people.
Available from Amazon in kindle, ebook, audiobook and paperback from £7.99. Free sample chapter to download and read or listen to first.
A simple brand management tool
“‘Continuous Branding’ is a simple and practical brand management tool developed and brought to life in my book. All company owners and directors with ambitions to grow will find it useful.
for service-based companies who struggle with branding intangible services
With more than thirty years experience, I understand the challenges faced by companies that sell services as opposed to products. Because of the intangibility of their services, it makes it difficult to differentiate themselves in their markets. Whilst at the same time they struggle to motivate their employees to deliver their proposition. The result is they can often feel like they’re sailing into a head wind.
I help owners and directors understand and then to harness the power of branding, I developed this tool with five simple principles, for them to adopt and to adapt - to help them to grow more easily.”
Adding, “because if you build a strong brand, you don't have to sell so hard”. It’s like having his own tail wind.”
Does Continuous Branding actually work?
Rapport Guest Services used ‘Continuous Branding’ to grow by more than 20% per annum for nearly a decade, and created a market leading, award winning business in the highly competitive world of corporate front of house services.
“Craig has managed to distil a compelling blend of experience and insight into a short and very manageable read.
Shining through on every page are his passion for the importance of branding and his drive to help people get a lot better at it.
As a fellow writer I enjoyed the personal, lively and challenging style. No marketing gobbledegook.”
Roger Tidball - Ginger Communications
Who is this book for and why did I write it?
“I’ve always been fascinated by the challenges that company owners and directors that sell services as opposed to products face, when trying to grow. Especially in terms of standing out in crowded markets, building their businesses and engaging their people to build their brands.
I don’t want them to waste time and resources on inappropriate design and communications programmes that don’t generate the best results. Many of them are ambitious for growth, yet aren’t achieving it.
As first world economies develop in uncertain times, service-based companies create an increasing proportion of the wealth compared to traditional manufacturers, so I want to help them perform even better.”
What's different about this book?
“There are plenty of books for manufacturers and sellers of products. There are also lots on personal branding and a fair number for professional services firms like accountants, as well as academic text books for marketing practitioners or students.
Service-based companies are under-served and yet do need to understand how to harness and use the power of branding. If they did, they could grow their businesses and build their brands more consistently and sustainably. So I’ve written it in an easy-to-read style with no jargon”.
SHOULD companies that make or sell products read it?
“Yes, is the short answer. Because an increasing number of manufacturers are developing services to add new revenue streams. Or to exploit an existing market better by improving their service offering. Or even to enter new, emerging ones by re-packaging and presenting what they do. But they often struggle with the concept of applying branding to these services and fail to differentiate them adequately in their markets. Making it difficult for their clients to chose them over a competitor. This book helps them to understand and then to apply the power of branding.”
Five principles of Continuous Branding
“It is a simple tool that I’ve developed and is made up of five principles. When put at the heart of your company, it'll help you to achieve a greater performance, more easily, consistently and sustainably. The principles are for you to adopt and adapt to your own circumstances:
Think like a Brand Owner
Lead from a Powerful Market Position
Have a Point of View
Personalise your Brand Experience
Invest Continuously to Grow Consistently
It also provides the framework for managing innovation and service excellence as well as a way of driving your business forward, on a continuous basis. Helping you achieve market leadership, if you have the ambition.”
How did I come up with this tool?
“I challenged myself to create an easy way of explaining why some businesses grow more consistently and perform better than other similar ones. That’s when I identified a common pattern with my best performing clients and other successful companies. I had to look deep because the differences between the best performing companies and the rest are small. As in sports where margins between winners and losers are slim.
With this tool, you can neatly communicate or link you business strategy directly to colleagues in your company and to your clients, customers or partners. All on a continuous basis and in a simple and straightforward way, so everyone understands and supports it.
It is especially important that your senior managers ‘get it and use it’ because they set the whole tone and culture for your company. So this is why the tool is simple and practical with no ‘marketing gobbledegook.”
Why did I call it Continuous Branding?
“Because I wanted to find a description for the tool. So I selected the word ‘Continuous’ because it has to be used company-wide, all of the time. Not some of the time, in fits-and-starts or isolated in one or two parts of the organisation. The word ‘Branding’ was included because this helps businesses perform better by positively influencing how people associate with them. When used properly, the tool also strengthens employees’ understanding of the business’ strategy as well as informing the design of all communications, making everything simpler and clearer.”
Why isn’t everyone usinG Continuous Branding?
“Unfortunately many people still don’t recognise the power of branding and so fail to use it properly. This is despite seeing it work for other businesses or in their personal lives. A shame, because it can be a real motor for growth and innovation for any size of company. Others like the sound of it, lack enough ambition and happy to be followers in their markets - so carry on doing what they’ve always done.”
Inspiring the next generation
“I’d like this book and tool to inspire the next generation of leaders to grow their businesses and build their brands. Because flourishing companies provides more opportunities for everyone; for customers, employees, for suppliers and for shareholders. To help as many people as possible, I’m also sharing my experience through speaking engagements, workshops and one-to-ones."
uniquely qualified to create this tool
"I have more than thirty years’ experience of helping ambitious owners and directors of companies to use branding better. Clients include entrepreneurs, owner-managed businesses, AIM listed and FTSE 250 companies.”
short, easy-to-read book helps you thrive
By overcoming the three biggest challenges to growth that all companies selling services as opposed to those that make or sell products, have to address. Read all 10 chapters in about four hours or dip in and out of each.
key things you'll learn
To benefit from the performance-boosting power of branding, I’ll guide you through what it is and inspire you to use it better. To achieve your commercial or strategic objectives, I’ll introduce you to the brand management tool I’ve developed for people like you. If you’re an owner or director of a service company with an ambition to grow then you’ll find this book very useful.
Key things you'll learn from Continuous Branding:
Change the way you think about your company and uncover its true potential.
Add enormous value to your business by harnessing the power of branding.
Design your customers’ experience in advance, making it distinctive and memorable.
Grow your company by motivating your people to deliver your proposition.
Embark confidently on your way to greater success.
By reading this book and using this tool, you’ll be able to clearly communicate your business strategy or purpose to your people, your customers and partners with the support of practical and effective ways to build your business and your brand.
Available from Amazon in kindle, ebook, audiobook and paperback from £7.99. Free sample chapter to download and read or listen to first.
Your next steps
Discover how to build the value of your company over the next three to five years and you'll find it easier with our brand tool.
Are you going for market or brand leadership?
Perhaps thinking of repositioning your company?
Do you need to clearly communicate your new value proposition?
Pivoting out of the pandemic?
Discover what’s the best rebranding strategy is for your company.
Need any help rebranding your company?
Are you changing your relationship with clients to strategic ones rather than tactical?
Service branding will make your intangible services tangible with our tool for service-based organisations.
Connect, contact or call
Connect with me on LinkedIn and Twitter, contact me with a question, or call Craig Thatcher on the studio number below.