Branding For a Small Business - June Roundup

Patrick McFadden

Let's kick off the month of June focused on branding your small business.


You know what I say, “branding for a small business is the art of becoming knowable, likable and trustable.”


Every small business has a brand – either accidentally or intentionally because it’s a lot like a personality – everyone has one, like it or not.


So, the question then becomes, what should you do to create a brand that enhances your marketing efforts and rings true for you?


With this definition in mind marketing then becomes the act of taking the elements of that personality and exposing them to the ideal customer at the ideal time in the ideal setting.


Elements like a company name, logo, images, metaphors, colors, words, look and feel, dress, attitude, networks, consistency and vision.


If marketing is doing, then branding is being.


These posts aim to help you, your team, and your marketing service providers better understand how to develop branding that serves a strategic and business objective in route to your ideal client.


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The Ultimate Guide to Small Business Branding


The New Rules of Starting, Building and Maintaining Your Brand

Any smart marketer or branding consultant will tell you – branding has changed. It’s no longer just about clever creative and timely ad placements. So how does a company go about turning its product, its service, or even itself into a brand? Advertising agencies would have their clients believe that any winning brand rests on a foundation of clever slogans, memorable logos, and maybe some well-placed media buys. Granted, these marketing tools play a role in reinforcing brand identity, but they can’t be expected to shoulder the entire load of becoming knowable, likable and trustable .


As a small business without a big budget how do I get my branding going, how do I build a reputation?

Someone asked me a question at a marketing seminar recently that I know many of you have… “Patrick, as a small business without a big budget how do I get my branding going, how do I build a reputation?” To me, the answer is through lots of strategic exposure.


Guide to Build Brand Authority for Small B2B Companies

These days, authority matters. For small B2B companies or professional service providers, your perceived authority is what allows you to up your game. Not only will building your brand’s authority help attract new business, and create more opportunities, but it’ll also drastically shorten sales cycles.


Know, Like and Trust Has Become a Strategic Element of Branding

“Branding for a small business is the art of becoming knowable, likable and trustable.” It includes your: ...


The Branding Mix Every Small Business Must Employ

Similar to its sister the marketing mix, the branding mix is a business tool as well. What this tool does is allow you to have guidelines in place for taking a logo and other elements to achieve company goals.


5 Proven Ways to Increase Brand Awareness

74% of buyers choose the company that they first hear about. Get in front of your prospects early. The early bird gets the worm. Or closes the deal, in this case. The ultimate goal of any business is to gain more trust with current clients and achieve better brand awareness among the target audience.


You Can’t Really Sell Anything To Anyone Until You’ve Built Trust

It doesn't matter who you are, you can’t really sell anything to anyone until you’ve built trust. And branding for a small business is the art of becoming knowable, likable and TRUSTable.


The Importance of Your Promise in Your Branding

Branding is not 🚫 your identity, mascot, company name, tag line, or logo. Branding is just another name 💬 for planting “seeds of expectation” in the minds of ideal customers. This is why a brand is a promise 💍. It’s an expectation of an experience.


The New Rules of Branding For a Service Business

For every service business this is your secret to branding. A brand is the sum total of the experiences your customers and potential customers have with your company. A strong brand communicates what your company does, how it does it, and at the same time, establishes trust and credibility.


Standing For Something Is What Branding Is All About

This mornings post is the result of conversations with business owners who often ask if I heard about a particular marketing firm or marketing expert that has reached out to them. What stumped 🤔 me though is hearing these business owners say they wouldn't 🚫 hire these firms or experts for one main reason: "they don't understand what they stand for."

Effective Marketing Is Just Like Effective Branding

There will always be confusion about that statement that's why #businessowners create a marketing department and sales department. Effective marketing just like effective branding is first and foremost all about lots of exposure to your market from many angles. You never rely on one form of communication to get the job done.


Changing Your Branding Is Really Bad News

It takes a while for prospects to become aware of you and then trust you enough to buy. So if you are constantly changing your branding (company name, logo, images, phone greetings, colors, words, appearance, dress, customer experience, attitude, buying process, mission and vision) you’re hard to TRUST.




Brand Reputation Is The Small Business Branding Success Weapon

Essentially, what are the preconceived expectations of an interaction, meeting, chat, service, consultation, sales call or conversation with you and your firm? These preconceived expectations (promises) are one element of what makes up your brand reputation.


Trying to Build Your Small Business Brand? Here's My Tactic

Like I tell every business owner and entrepreneur I meet 🤝 in Richmond VA. This is a Branding War.

One of the greatest challenges you face is getting a prospective client to pay attention to how you are different. In the mind 🤯 of the most clients, one #business is like another. Here's a simple branding tactic I like to employ with clients.


Branding The Results Client's Get Eliminates The Competition

One of the keys 🔑 to CRUSHING 🔨 the competition in the crowded world of consulting is to present 💡 and communicate 📢 a distinct point of view 🔎 or set of beliefs about how results are achieved.


Branding Examples

Brand Promise Example

Brand Reputation Example


Contact Your Marketing Consultant at Indispensable Marketing

If you’re a small service based business that needs help with strategic branding for your business or your business’s online presence on Google and other search engines, at Indispensable Marketing we can help. We offer marketing strategy consulting, marketing audits, monthly marketing packages, consultations, exploratory calls or monthly local SEO servicesContact us for more information.


By Patrick McFadden May 2, 2025
Ask anyone in tech where AI is headed, and they’ll tell you: “The next leap is reasoning.” “AI needs judgment.” “We need assistants that think, not just answer.” They’re right. But while everyone’s talking about it, almost no one is actually shipping it. So we did. We built Thinking OS™ —a system that doesn’t just help AI answer questions… It helps AI think like a strategist. It helps AI decide like an operator. It helps teams and platforms scale judgment, n ot just generate output. The Theory Isn’t New. The Implementation Is. The idea of layering strategic thinking and judgment into AI isn’t new in theory. The problem is, no one’s been able to implement it effectively at scale. Let’s look at the current landscape. 1. Big Tech Has the Muscle—But Not the Mind OpenAI / ChatGPT ✅ Strength: Best-in-class language generation ❌ Limitation: No built-in judgment or reasoning. You must provide the structure. Otherwise, it follows instructions, not strategy. Google DeepMind / Gemini ✅ Known for advanced decision-making (e.g., AlphaGo) ❌ But only in structured environments like games—not messy, real-world business scenarios. Anthropic (Claude), Meta (LLaMA), Microsoft Copilot ✅ Great at answering questions and following commands ❌ But they’re assistants, not advisors. They won’t reprioritize. They won’t challenge your assumptions. They don’t ask: “Is this the right move?” These tools are powerful—but they don’t think for outcomes the way a strategist or operator would. 2. Who’s Actually Building the Thinking Layer? This is where it gets interesting—and thin. Startups and Indie Builders Some small teams are quietly: Creating custom GPTs that mimic how experts reason Layering in business context, priorities, and tradeoffs Embedding decision logic so AI can guide, not just execute But these efforts are: Highly manual Difficult to scale Fragmented and experimental Enterprise Experiments A few companies (Salesforce, HubSpot, and others) are exploring more “judgment-aware” AI copilots. These systems can: Flag inconsistencies Recommend next actions Occasionally surface priorities based on internal logic But most of it is still: In early R&D Custom-coded Unproven beyond narrow use cases That’s Why Thinking OS™ Is Different Instead of waiting for a lab to crack it, we built a modular thinking system that installs like infrastructure. Thinking OS™: Captures how real experts reason Embeds judgment into layers AI can use Deploys into tools like ChatGPT or enterprise systems Helps teams think together, consistently, at scale It’s not another assistant. It’s the missing layer that turns outputs into outcomes. So… Is This a New Innovation? Yes—in practice. Everyone says AI needs judgment. But judgment isn’t an idea. It’s a system. It requires: Persistent memory Contextual awareness Tradeoff evaluation Value-based decisions Strategy that evolves with goals Thinking OS™ delivers that. And unlike the R&D experiments in Big Tech, it’s built for: Operators Consultants Platform founders Growth-stage teams that need to scale decision quality, not just content creation If Someone Told You They’ve Built a Thinking + Judgment Layer… They’ve built something only a handful of people in the world are even attempting. Because this isn’t just AI that speaks fluently. It’s AI that reasons, reflects , and chooses. And in a world that’s drowning in tools, judgment becomes the differentiator. That’s the OS We Built Thinking OS™ is not a prompt pack. It’s not a dashboard. It’s not a glorified chatbot. It’s a decision architecture you can license, embed, or deploy— To help your team, your platform, or your clients think better at scale. We’ve moved past content. We’re building cognition. Let’s talk.
By Patrick McFadden May 2, 2025
In every era of innovation, there’s a silent bottleneck—something obvious in hindsight, but elusive until the moment it clicks. In today’s AI-driven world, that bottleneck is clear: AI has speed. It has scale. But it doesn’t have judgment . It doesn’t really think . What’s Actually Missing From AI? When experts talk about the “thinking and judgment layer” as the next leap for AI, they’re calling out a hard truth: Modern AI systems are powerful pattern machines. But they’re missing the human layer—the one that reasons, weighs tradeoffs, and makes strategic decisions in context. Let’s break that down: 1. The Thinking Layer = Reasoning with Purpose This layer doesn’t just process inputs— it structures logic. It’s the ability to: Ask the right questions before acting Break down complexity into solvable parts Adjust direction mid-course when reality changes Think beyond “what was asked” to uncover “what really matters” Today’s AI responds. But it rarely reflects. Unless told exactly what to do, it won’t work through problems the way a strategist or operator would. 2. The Judgment Layer = Decision-Making in the Gray Judgment is the ability to: Prioritize what matters most Choose between imperfect options Make decisions when there’s no clear answer Apply values, experience, and vision—not just data It’s why a founder might not pursue a lucrative deal. Why a marketer might ignore the click-through rate. Why a strategist knows when the timing isn’t right. AI doesn’t do this well. Not yet. Because judgment requires more than data—it requires discernment . Why This Is the Bottleneck Holding Back AI AI can write. It can summarize. It can automate. But it still can’t: Diagnose the real problem behind the question Evaluate tradeoffs like a founder or operator would Recommend a path based on context, constraints, and conviction AI today is still reactive. It follows instructions. But it doesn’t lead. It doesn’t guide. It doesn’t own the outcome. And for those building serious systems—whether you’re running a company, launching a platform, or leading a team—this is the wall you eventually hit. That’s Why We Built Thinking OS™ We stopped waiting for AI to learn judgment on its own. Instead, we created a system that embeds it—by design. Thinking OS™ is an installable decision layer that captures how top founders, strategists, and operators think… …and makes that thinking repeatable , scalable , and usable inside teams, tools, and platforms. It’s not a framework. It’s not a chatbot. It’s not another playbook. It’s the layer that knows how to: Think through complex decisions Apply judgment when rules don’t help Guide others —human or AI—toward strategic outcomes This Is the Missing Infrastructure Thinking OS™ isn’t just about better answers. It’s about better thinking—made operational. And that’s what’s been missing in AI, consulting, leadership development, and platform design. If you’re trying to scale expertise, install judgment, or move from tactical to strategic… You don’t need a faster AI. You need a thinking layer that knows what to do—and why. We built it. Let’s talk.
By Patrick McFadden April 27, 2025
“Most companies can scale process. Very few can scale how they think.”
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