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Axle Davids, founder of Distility Branding, offers advice on brand building to small to medium-sized businesses in this week's It Starts with One series

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Axle Davids is the founder of Distility Branding, a Toronto-based company that helps small to medium sized businesses (SMBs) "unlock their brand advantage"Scott Ramsay/The Globe and Mail

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Whether its building the name, logo, website or design of a company, Distility does whatever they have to do to help a company make the right impressionScott Ramsay/The Globe and Mail

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"The classic misconception is that branding is just about a logo or a name," Mr. Davids says in Marjo Johne's article. "For many people, brand is also just a fuzzy concept, so they’ll say things like, ‘I want a brand like Apple,’ but they don’t really know what that means or how to make that happen."Scott Ramsay/The Globe and Mail

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The biggest mistake that small business owners make when they work on branding is running into the name and design of the logo before establishing the three P's: promise, personality and position.Scott Ramsay/The Globe and Mail

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Another mistake leaders make, he says, is outsourcing the company's branding strategy. Through it may seem complicated, any leader can grasp the basic concepts of branding.Scott Ramsay

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Many SMBs see branding as something they’ll get around to when they hit a few million in sales. But every company has a brand, says Mr. Davids, whether or not it was created by design.Scott Ramsay/The Globe and Mail

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The most important advice he can offer is to remember that "ultimately a brand is something that exists in the mind." It must reflect your passion for the company and your entire team must agree on it. "It's the sum total of your reputation as it builds in the customer’s mind," Mr. Davids says.Scott Ramsay/The Globe and Mail

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