Introduction: Mission, Goals, and Objectives
Personal and professional evolution can be viewed as the ultimate goal of any person living in the global community. However, few people actually follow through with the idea of personal growth, stopping their development at some point and engaging in the activities related to business and other fields. The I-Brand mission, however, is to contribute to the progress of the global community by contributing my suggestions regarding speeding up the progress of some of its business projects. In other words, I strive for an unceasing evolution of the global community by offering my business services to the target denizens of the population and, therefore, enhancing the progress of the contemporary entrepreneurship.
The goals that the I-Brand pursues concern primarily the redesign of the current business environment toward the principle of sustainability as far as the use of the corporate resources is concerned. It should be noted that the idea of sustainability, which is the focus of the I-Brand, is not to be viewed solely through the prism of environmental awareness though the specified concept is also crucial to the existence of the project. Apart from the aforementioned issue, the I-Brand is aimed at improving the organizational efficacy of any company by helping its leader and managers redesign the current approach towards the use of resources. Particularly, the project is aimed at making entrepreneurship self-sustainable.
Target Audience Analysis
Personal Aspects
Although the professional analysis of the target audience and the following identification of the business counseling needs that they have are crucial to the success of the project and the development of the brand in question, locating the personal characteristics of these people is also essential to the outcomes of the project. The need to establish the personal specifics of the audience whom the message is supposed to address is predetermined by the fact that the brand must attract them on a personal level, therefore becoming more memorable and more desirable.
Seeing that the project is targeted primarily at the owners of private businesses, it will be reasonable to suggest that attention to detail is the primary personal characteristic of the target audience. In addition, the possibility of facing the clients who are rather suspicious and skeptical of the concept of business counseling is not to be underrated.
Professional Aspects
From a professional perspective, the target audience can be characterized as rather proficient in the areas that are to be addressed when carrying out the job-related assignments. Unlike the customers who are unaware of the way in which the current situation can be improved, companies typically know exactly what they want, and in many cases also how they would like to achieve their goals. Therefore, it is essential to remain updated on the latest trends in the business counseling area and make sure that the latest information regarding marketing and branding should be available.
Competitive Advantage
The ability to engage in the process of lifelong learning is the key competitive advantage that the I-Brand has to offer. While seemingly lacking in impressiveness, it is nonetheless an essential quality that an expert must possess in order to provide consistently good services to the target audience. Because of the increasingly fast pace that progress occurs in the environment of the global market at present, one must make sure that the services provided to the target audience comply with the new demands and quality standards. Consequently, there is an unceasing need to update the corresponding services in accordance with the new requirements on a regular basis.
My ability for self-directed learning, in its turn, can be viewed as a huge asset to the entrepreneurship and, therefore, the key competitive advantage. By stressing the fact that the information regarding the subject of business counseling is updated on a regular basis I will make it obvious to the target denizens of the population that the service received by them will meet the existing quality standards: “Self-directed learning is the ability to set objectives, acquire knowledge and skills, chart a course of action, maintain self-motivation and manage time in a project” (Taras 422).
Moreover, the constant focus on improving the services provided to the designated audience and, therefore, the acquisition of new information and skills will create the environment, in which the principles of sustainable use of resources can coexist with the use of tools aimed at improvement of the customer and employee satisfaction rates. Additionally, the specified approach based on the concept of sustainability will contribute to the development of the approach that will lead to a considerable improvement of the communication quality. Specifically, the problem of possible conflicts between the organization and the target audience can be voided easily. The tool for addressing the conflict issue will be based on the idea of sustainability mentioned above and will presuppose the identification of the negotiation strategy that will help all parties involved benefit from the decisions made (Rothwell 354).
Disadvantages
Much like any other projects, the Brand I is not perfect; it has certain issues that could need some improvement. Particularly, the problems concerning time management could be addressed in the future in a more efficient manner. Because of the necessity to coordinate the key processes related to the project on my own, I tend to overlook some of the essential issues. As a result, the need to revise the project and, therefore, the threat of defaulting on the schedule emerges.
The disadvantage in question, however, can be addressed with the help of a more efficient time management strategy and the introduction of the tools that will help plan the key steps of the project completion. Particularly, the use of e-tools should be viewed as an option, as the specified instruments are designed to help arrange the key events and serve as the reminders of the objectives to be accomplished.
Brand Uniqueness
Points of Difference
When it comes to defining the characteristics that make the brand in question unique, one must admit that the combination of personality traits such as imagination, resourcefulness, and persistence along with the qualities such as accuracy and the focus on consistent professional growth are the key selling points of the brand in question.
Points of Parity
Similarly to the other people that have chosen the field in question, I have the qualities such as the focus on the importance of specific tools for business analysis, such as SWOT, PESTEL, etc. (Gorgenlander 16). In addition, the e-tools adopted to evaluate the efficacy of the organization and locate the problems in its framework can be deemed as rather standard, the combination of the qualitative and the quantitative analyses being the key to identifying the problems in the firm’s design. In other words, the devices used for the analysis are very basic. The priorities of the company are also quite typical, the customers and staff satisfaction being the basis for defining the further course of actions for the entrepreneurship.
Imaginary Audience
Cultural Differences
There is no need to stress that reaching people belonging to different cultural backgrounds will require different approaches. Therefore, the I-Brand has incorporated the tools that will help address any possible issues that may emerge in the course of communicating with the representatives of different cultures or ethnicities.
In addition, the tools for catering to the needs of the target audiences are quite different. Therefore, in order to operate in the environment of the global economy successfully, I will have to develop a general strategy that can be shaped when approaching a particular type of clients. The specified strategy will help maintain a uniform approach, which will contribute to the sustainability of the project, and at the same time meet the requirements of a rather diverse audience (Siegert, Förster, and Chan-Olmsted 93).
The Hofstede Theory
The above-mentioned concept aligns with the key premises of the Hofstede theory, which defines the mode of operation for an organization striving in the environment of the global market. According to the key tenets of the theory in question, the approaches used to communicate a particular message should align with the basic cultural concepts accepted in the specified society: “From his study, Hofstede identified four dimensions along which cultural values could be studied (he later added a fifth). Each of these four dimensions can be usefully applied to understanding consumer behavior” (Bryan 71).
In light of the fact that the project is going to be pitched to a rather diverse audience, it will be reasonable to use what Hofstede defined as the small power distance approach. In other words, I will have to give my target clientele enough credit for their ability to make their own conclusions regarding the existing services and, therefore, permit them to make a conscious choice instead of foisting it onto them. As a result, trustworthy relationships between me and the target audience can be created. Thus, the basis for developing high customer loyalty rates can be created.
The “Brand I” Mantra: Chanting to Success
According to the existing definition, a business mantra is the catchphrase that is used by a company to help attract the customers. Traditionally, the brand mantra is referred to as the brand identity (Heding, Knudtzen, and Bjerre 12). Apart from designing the tools that will allow for a consistent communication with customers, I will have to create the slogan that will help people remember my services better and, therefore, make the latter more marketable. By choosing the mantra that will be catchy enough to be repeated by the target audience over and over again, I will be able to make the I-brand not only solid but also memorable. As a result, an increasingly large number of people will learn about it through constant repetitions.
When designing the mantra, however, one must make sure that it should not sound obnoxious. When repeated several times. Specifically, the phrase used for the mantra must not be a pointless pun. Instead of a play on words that every company does when it runs out of ideas, I will have to be more elaborate on the way to make my brand memorable. Particularly, the following phrase can be viewed as a legitimately good mantra: “Time to get professional!”
Conclusion: Brand I as the Tool for Attaining Success
While it would be wrong to assume that the I-Brand is the ultimate method for promoting my services to the target audience, since the importance of other methods such as direct advertising is not to be underrated, either, it is still bound to attract a large number of clients. Since I-Brand outlines the key characteristics of the services, thus, making them easily distinguishable in the sea of similar products offered by other companies and entrepreneurs, it can be viewed as a very powerful tool for succeeding in the business world. Particularly, I-Brand will help me establish myself as a hard-working and successful expert in the realm of the global economy, therefore, helping me reach a huge market.
Surviving in the competitive environment of the global economy means getting adapted to the quick pace at which the changes occur; therefore, it is essential that the services provided to the target audience should be updated regularly and that the quality standards should coincide with the ones that are currently viewed as appropriate on a global level.
Herein the significance of self-directed learning and the consistent professional growth lies; it is imperative that the services provided by a business consultant should be not only applicable to but also efficient in the contemporary environment. Therefore, with the concept of self-directed lifelong learning as the foundation for assessing the quality of the services provided to the target audience, the i-Brand product is bound to gain popularity among the leaders of SMEs and even global organizations within a comparatively short time period.
Works Cited
Bryan, Christiansen. Transcultural Marketing for Incremental and Radical Innovation. New York, NY: IGI Global. 2013. Print.
Gorgenlander, Victor. A Strategic Analysis of the Construction Industry in the United Arab Emirates: Opportunities and Threats in the Construction Business. Berlin: Diplomica Verlag, 2011. Print.
Heding, Tilde, Charlotte F. Knudtzen, and Mogens Bjerre. Brand Management: Research, Theory and Practice. New York, NY: Routledge, 2008. Print.
Rothwell, John. In Mixed Company: Communicating in Small Groups. Boston, MA: Cengage Learning, 2012. Print.
Siegert, Gabriele, Kati Förster, and Sylvia M. Chan-Olmsted. Handbook of Media Branding. Berlin: Springer, 2015. Print.
Taras, Vas. The Palgrave Handbook of Experiential Learning in International Business. London, UK: Palgrave Macmillan, 2014. Print.