Know-How Exchange : Branding

In a word, NO. Unless your time is free and you are willing to devote it to a personal mission.

Branding requires communication of some kind, and communication requires creative skills (copywriting, design, etc.) and media cost or time/effort. None of these things are free.

The only possible exception would be to pick a very small target audience -- perhaps a few dozen folks -- and narrate the brand story to each one yourself. Or spend your days/nights posting on social media.

Is there anything really particularly different about this vodka? It seems to me (I am not an expert on branding) that the more unique or special or different a product is, the easier branding would be, whether your budget is large or small.

But what I'm wondering is: why are you working with the company who has no budget? In my experience, some companies spend money on marketing, and some do not. I have personally found it difficult to convince companies who do not have a track record of spending money to begin spending money on marketing.

I'm no longer in business, due to disability. But if I were to begin again, I would limit my potential client base to companies who participate in trade shows. They are demonstrating that they believe in spending money on marketing. They have time sensitive needs for marketing materials. They are relatively easy to learn about and talk to.

If this company has no budget, and you somehow managed to pull off a miracle and dramatically increase their market presence and sales, what makes you think you will be rewarded? Isn't it more likely that company ownership will say, "yes, but what if you done for me lately?"

One of my favorite former clients used to say, "find someone who is happily buying from my competition." If a company is not currently paying professional rates for marketing services, I believe they are quite unlikely to do so in the future. And if they were to turn to professional services, they will turn away from you, since you are not acting as a professional because you are not charging professional rates. And if they are unhapppy with their current supplier, maybe they are simply malcontents will be unhappy with you and cause problems for you as well.

Of course, I don't know your situation. I'm shooting in the dark. I don't know if you are a marketing service provider or the owner of the company. I don't know anything about your product or market or region. But if you would like to have a confidential discussion about your situation and challenges, please feel free to send me an email (email address listed on my profile page).

I guess if I were bound and determined to do a better job with branding and I had no budget, I would go to the library and read whatever I could find on the topic. That will cost nothing, but will give you information and resources which will be helpful whatever you decide to do. Good luck, and take care.

Any product launched on the market or made public will form brand images in consumer minds. If proactive steps are not taken to manage this image, then you never know what image will come out.

So to answer your question of whether you can brand a new vodka without a budget - the answer is yes. A brand will be formed. But whether you can control that brand image without a budget is a very big question.

No.