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In today's newsletter:
- Branding your business for impact: WBENC sisters weigh in
- Mark your calendar for these January and February events
- National business-building opportunities you don't want to miss
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Branding for Impact: What Your Customers Really Experience
Advice from WBENC members
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Does Your Brand Stand Out ...
Or Is It Just Like All the Others?
While you sort through all the messaging for Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, and Cyber Monday, it might be time to consider what your customers are seeing.
What do people experience when they interact with your company? Are you positioning your brand for maximum effectiveness?
Understanding this matters because your brand isn’t your logo, website, or color palette. Your brand is the feeling someone walks away with after experiencing you, your team, your service, or your product.
During the recent Unity Week virtual conference, a panel of WBENC Women's Enterprise Forum members took on these questions in a session titled “Branding for Impact: Purpose, Position, and Promise.” The panelists offered practical insights you can put to work right away:
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Position yourself clearly. You can’t assume people will automatically understand what makes you different. You need to tell them. One powerful exercise is to complete this sentence: “We are the X in the Y category.” For more, here's an article by Brooke Foley from Jayne Agency.
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Make sure your offerings align with your brand. Your brand is the promise you make. Your products and services are how you deliver on that promise. If the two don’t align, your message becomes muddled and you lose momentum.
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Remember: Your people are your brand. Every touchpoint matters: the person who answers your phone, the tech who shows up to solve a problem, the sales rep, the project manager, the executive.
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Tell your founder story. Why you started your business, what you faced, and what shaped your approach are cues customers use to understand how you’re different. Don’t hide your origin story.
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Know when it’s time to refresh your brand. You’ll feel it before you fully realize it. Maybe people keep confusing what you do. Maybe you’re being pigeonholed into the wrong category. Maybe prospective clients don’t see the value in your pricing. Or maybe you’ve simply outgrown a brand you created years ago.
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Track your brand health. You don’t have to guess whether your brand is working. Study the quality of the referrals and RFPs you receive. Pay attention to unsolicited LinkedIn or Google shout-outs. Send simple surveys. Ask whether people would recommend you. These small signals add up to a clear picture of how your brand is landing.
If you position your brand with intention and live that promise consistently, you'll stand out from the competition and you’ll attract the clients, partners, and opportunities that are right for you.
The panel also included these other marketing gurus: Gia Machlin of EcoPlum, Julie Lilliston of Julie Lilliston Communications, and Barb Bosha of Bosha Design + Communications. Check them out on LinkedIn and their websites. Want to know more about the Women's Enterprise Forum? Click here.
Have a great week!
Your WBEC Florida team
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Register Today! Here's What's Coming
in January and February 2026
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Starting Strong: Courage. Clarity. Consistency.
12:30 p.m. Wednesday, January 7, 2026
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Manifest Your Mantra for 2026
11 a.m. Wednesday, January 14, 2026
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Coffee with a Corporate
10 a.m. Wednesday, February 11, 2026
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NATIONAL OPPORTUNITY
Announcing the Inaugural Supplier Readiness Accelerator | Building the Construction Supply Chain
WBENC and Amazon are introducing targeted programming designed to equip business owners in construction with the tools, knowledge, and resources needed to meet the requirements of a robust corporate supply chain.
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Date: Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025
Time: Noon to 1:30 p.m. ET
Location: Virtual
Cost: Complimentary
Who: Suppliers in construction
What: A cohort-style program
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NATIONAL OPPORTUNITY
From Visionary to Victory:
Women of Color CEOs Share
Their Financial Playbook
When: 3 to 4 p.m. ET Tuesday, Dec. 2
Where: Online
Cost: Complimentary
This panel of successful CEOs will share the strategies, tools, and tactics they used to build financial strength, access capital, and scale their businesses to new heights.
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NATIONAL OPPORTUNITY
Powering Growth: Advancing Small Businesses
and Unlocking Opportunities with Goldman Sachs
When: 2 to 3 p.m. ET Wednesday, Dec. 10
Where: Online
Cost: Complimentary
Join Selina McCole, Managing Director at Goldman Sachs and Global Head of Sustainable Operations, in collaboration with WBENC LIFT, for a dynamic session designed to help you understand what it takes to become a competitive supplier to large corporations.
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NATIONAL OPPORTUNITY
What's Your Company's Economic Impact Story?
WBENC is featuring powerful Economic Impact Stories in its newsletter, social media, programs and more!
EVERY business owner has a valuable impact story to tell, whether it's about new products or services, market expansion, community giving, job development or other factors.
Submit your story today!
| | | Thank You to Our Sponsors | | |
WBEC Florida and WBENC Anti-Discrimination Policy
As a community of entrepreneurs, corporate executives, and economic development thought leaders, WBENC and the WBEC Florida Regional Partner Organization are committed to the elimination of discrimination in all areas of business and the provision of equal opportunity when accessing capital, contracts, and contacts. In compliance with state and federal laws and regulations, we do not discriminate on the basis of age, color, disability, gender identity or expression, marital status, national origin, race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, or veteran status in any of our policies, procedures, or practices. This anti-discrimination policy covers admission and access to, and treatment, in all programs and activities.
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