According to Kentucky Horseshoeing School (KHS) Executive Director Joe Police, your brand must be what you eat, sleep and breathe.

“Maintaining a brand can never stop. It means you are constantly representing and ‘selling’ your business, in our case the school, based on your foundational cornerstones,” he advises. “That means in conversation, in email, in anything you do for your company, you sell around that brand, around what you stand for and how you display that.”

While it’s a constant effort, Police says that when a brand is a right fit, you never get tired of sharing it with others. 

“It just becomes the language you speak,” he says. “Three years ago, I was an unknown, but I had a mission to promote this school. I had to think through what plan I was going to use, and I went with what I know to be true, which is educating excellence. I don’t go away from that primary brand, because I and others will lose focus.”

Joe Police

says that having consistent brand messages for KHS marketing and carrying the brand throughout the school’s program and grounds makes it easier to meet their business goals, including attracting new students.

“When I take potential students on a tour of our campus they see how our brand exists in our classrooms, where they’ll be making shoes and even in the living spaces,” he says. “Plus, I can back up what I tell them with facts, with the names and places and results of our graduates.”

Branding can be a challenging concept to grasp, but it can help to think of it as you would in creating a custom shoe. When you start by identifying what’s needed, use the right materials, take the time to hammer out a good fit, then make sure it’s comfortable and something the horse can not only live with but be successful wearing — that’s a good result. 

When your brand (and the marketing tools and techniques you use to convey that brand to others) accurately reflects you and your business, is clear and understandable by your customer base and is something you can maintain easily over time, that’s a good result, too.

Read more about marketing band branding in the upcoming free issue, Getting Started In Hoof Care, avalable online and in print on August 30, 2013.