Episode 35: Develop Your "Me-Only" Brand, with Gerry Foster - a podcast by Colin Sprake

Gerry Foster, a highly accomplished brand strategist, is the President of Gerry Foster Branding, a Brand Development and Training Company based in Los Angeles, CA. He is the creator of the Big Brand Formula which shows small business owners how to create a big brand, and a strong message that sells, so you can excite, delight, and ignite your market and make it easier to get new customers.

Known affectionately as the Branding Evangelist, Gerry is a dynamic, high energy, charismatic international speaker. His presentations, training, and coaching are not about doing more of the same, maintaining status quo, or playing small. He wants to assist, guide, and support owners who are willing to flip the script, go to the deep end of the pool, and turn the tables in their favor. Gerry believes this can be attained by creating brands so unexpected, so profound, and so striking … success to owners can only multiply over time.

Since starting his company full-time in 1985, Gerry has helped over 100,000 small businesses from over 600 different industries. A former brander with Procter & Gamble (P&G), he shows owners how to brand as the big companies do – combining the best in entrepreneurial branding with the best thinking, methods, and approaches from the world of big branders. The recipient of many business awards, in 2008 Gerry was honored as the Father of Business in Los Angeles County by the City of Los Angeles for his tireless and faithful work with small businesses.

Actively involved in education, Gerry was also an adjunct professor of branding, marketing and advertising for ten straight years at California State University – Fullerton, California State University – Long Beach, Pepperdine University, and the University of California – Irvine (UCI). At UCI Gerry co-founded the Marketing Communications Certificate Program, a distinguished program that has become extremely popular and successful for the university.

Gerry is a graduate of the University of Southern California, renown Marshall School of Business, where he received both his BS and MBA degrees with honors (cum laude) in marketing (with deep study in branding). His company website is www.GerryFosterBranding.com.

What you’ll learn about in this episode:

• Why brands are built strategically and involve more than visual elements, such as a logo
• Why success in life is more than how good you are at what you do
• The keys to developing a stand-alone brand that is truly different
• How to build competitive advantage and persuade customers to believe you have what they want
• How to uncover your distinct voice
• How to Anchor your brand in its own brand DNA
• Do you want to be “me, too”–one of many in a pack–or “me-only”? The answer is obvious, and re-branding takes us in the right direction
• Know what differentiates you and your products in your market space. Stand out more and rebrand to increase sales
• Understand that all of us can learn by putting aside our pride and letting others coach us
• A successful enterprise strategically designs and re-designs its brand to obtain a maximum high-perceived value
• How to regularly assess where your brand is strong, weak, and missing opportunities
• Branding that gets you known and marketing that gets you found results in selling that gets you paid

Ways to contact Gerry:

• www.GerryFosterBranding.com

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