Being Yourself - The Best Branding of All

As a small start up company I spent the first several years in business training myself to answer questions by saying "we ____" instead of "I _____"  I thought that this would make me seem like a larger company then I really was, and that it would seem more "professional"

At the same time I was trying to look big, large multinational corporations that have employees sitting in cubical farms like zombies and outsource out all of their calls to India  were spending millions of dollars to try and look small, local, and have a personality.

It got me thinking, Why are they trying to look small.  And it clicked, where do I like to shop? who do I do business with? I love little mom and pop shops because of the personality, I love meeting the owners of service based businesses and feeling like I am a part of a community. The wonderful truth I discovered is that I don't have to spend a ton of money pretending to be something I'm not. I am local, I do have a personality, I am part of a community, I have the advantage, I have what the big guys are spending the big bucks to pretend to be.

So when it comes to branding, a catchy logo and a catch phrase is nice, but hopefully people remember me, for who I am, and the work I do. I think that will get more people to use me again and again more then anything else in the world.