I have a quite interesting story to tell you, it's about a beggar and the city of Gothenburg.

This is the first post of a series of posts about branding. The reason I am writing about it, is because branding a business is an essential step that any business owner need to take. And, at the moment, I am thinking about how our college should be branding ourselves - because I really don't think that we have a strong brand.

Branding - a definition

At the moment, I am at a cabin in Skeikampen (Norway) with six of my friends. We are here in order to ski, relax, and have a lot of fun. So far, we are having a great time.

While driving here, we pulled over at the most famous gas station in Norway. It's called Espa, and it's located next to nothing. It's at a place where I thought no gas station would be able to profit. But the owner of this gas station has understood how important a purple cow really is.

The purple cow of this particular gas station is their bakery.

At the moment, I am in a cabin at Skeikampen (Norway) with six friends. We are together for the weekend, to ski, relax and to have fun. So far, everything has been perfect. While driving to Skeikampen, we pulled over at a famous gas station. The gas station is called Espa, and it's in "no mans land". It's the only thing worth mentioning for miles. The interesting thing about this gas station is that it's probably the most famous gas station in Norway.

Yesterday, we had our grand opening at the college. I am calling it the grand opening, because it's probably the most important day of the year for our (any) college. It's the day where all the new students are being registered as students, and it's their first glimpse at our college from the inside.

I think that this might be our first attempt to create a Purple Cow.

Do you see the fortress below?

Sometimes I think that the job I have is an almost impossible job. Because I am about to market a college, and attract more students. Hmm, that almost sounds like a very interesting job (ok, it really is an interesting job, but I have a few obstacles).

I'll be brief about the problem; there are a lot of people who have strong opinions about marketing. The college is using a very small amount of money dedicated to marketing, and the way the college have been marketing itself in the past is the traditional way - like all other colleges and universities in Norway.