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Nominate Your Favorite Tastiest Small Business Brands

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What goes into creating the best small business brands?

Tastiest Small Biz Brand AwardThat’s a question that a lot of folks ask, but few know how to answer (succinctly). Sometimes we just know it “when we see it.”

Cooking up a tasty brand requires ingredients that are both unique and familiar. These ingredients create a “Secret Sauce” that:

  • Gets our attention – they stand out from the rest as something totally different
  • Keeps our attention – they have a fascinating, yet relatable story to tell and it’s told with credibility
  • Creates loyalty – they make us feel connected and part of a community

I love helping small businesses find and share their Secret Sauce. In fact, I’ve got a great online workshop that begins in February (2012).

One of the best parts of that workshop will be looking at real, live small business brands that are doing it right.

And I’d like your help finding them.

Let’s work together to find and showcase an annual “Tastiest Small Business Brand.”

Here’s how you can help…

How to Enter/Nominate:

cooking up a tasty brand

You may nominate using any or all of the methods below. All nominations (you can submit up to 4 times) must be posted no later than midnight Pacific time, December 31, 2011:

  1. Leave a comment below nominating your favorite small business brand. Include a link to their website AND a short description of WHY you feel they deserve the nomination. Then share this contest via Twitter with hashtag: #TSBBA.
  2. Write a blog post about your nominee and go into more detail about what makes that business so “tasty” to you. Link back to this page in your post.
  3. Record an audio or video explaining who your nominee is and why. Be sure to mention this contest (and the URL: theWordChef.com) in your recording. Share that on our Facebook wall and tweet it to your network.
  4. Share a link to the Secret Sauce Workshop page and include a short phrase of why you’d like to take the class. (If you share via email, make sure you cc: tea@thewordchef.com. If you share via Facebook, be sure to tag Word Chef in your post.)

Each time you nominate someone, you’ll be entered to win a fabulous prize package…

The Prize Package:

The winner will be drawn at random and announced the first week of January 2012.  And if you don’t want or need the prize, we can work it out so you can gift it to someone who does.

All credible nominations will be featured in a future blog post in January 2012 (Look for, “Is it Soup, Yet?”) and voting will commence for the Tastiest Small Biz Brand Award. You may nominate yourself, but nominations by 3rd parties will be given more weight in the final tally.

Here’s the list of who’s been nominated thus far.

The winner (as chosen by you, our readers) will receive honor, glory, prestige and yes…a $300 Restaurant.com gift certificate. Plus a fancy badge to display on their website, if they want some extra bling.

Many thanks to our sponsors:

The Solopreneur Life

WPproBusiness.com

wp Pro business logo     

 

 theNumbersWhisperer.com

Number Whisperer logo

 VirtuallyDistinguished.com

Virtually Distinguished logo

 

 

 

p.s. – The prizes are open to everyone on the planet, but the Restaurant.com gift cards only work in the states.

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Filed Under: Branding, Branding Award, Chef's Recommendations, Creativity Tagged With: ,
About Tea (the Chef)

As a marketing coach and consultant, Tea excels at helping her clients find and share their Secret Sauce with the world. She's also the founder of the Tastiest Small Biz Brand Awards and the author of the new book "Attract and Feed a Hungry Crowd."

  • http://pajamaproductivity.com Annie Sisk

    I’m probably taking myself out of the competition with this one — though I honestly believe this nominee deserves the honor: The Word Chef. In case you’re too modest to let that one go through, I’ll also nominate Big Brand System from Pamela Wilson at http://bigbrandsystem.com.  Both of you have narrowed your niche, deliver consistently high-quality and on-mission content, have extended the visual metaphor creatively to create your branding, and generally are kick-ass women. ;) More in my blog post to follow!

    • http://www.thewordchef.com Tea Silvestre

      Gracias! You’re officially IN the running, my dear!

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  • Anonymous

    I’m going to nominate The Circus Serene run by @Torideaux:twitter .  She targets quirkipreneurs (creative entrepreneurs) and has developed such a great brand.  Her theme is a circus (always a bit wacky), she has developed a whole persona for her business plan (Emmit the clown who even has a twitter handle @DearEmmit:twitter ), has drawn unique totems and just launched an amazing beta forum for quirkipreneurs.  Her niche is laser focused, easily identified and quickly self-identifies when it lands on her page.

    • Anonymous

      Well, thank you, Ms.Fende! I’m blushing, I am.  And I’m pleased to meet you under such pleasant circumstances, Tea :)

      Now I’m going to have to think hard about  who to nominate – there are so many tasty brands being cooked up out there…

  • http://www.IAmNickArmstrong.com Nick Armstrong

    I nominate @TMFProject:twitter. She’s me. With girly parts – http://www.themiddlefingerproject.org

    I think Ash is quite possibly one of the best small business folks out there. Her ability to tell stories and market products is world-class.

    • http://thewordchef.com Tea Silvestre

      Testing my new comments system…

  • Anonymous

    I would like to nominate Kathleen Gage for this award. She deserves it because she shares so abundantly when she teaches her courses. Even her free webinars or video series provide ample helpings of information so that even if you choose not to go further, you’ve learned something you can put into action. She also teaches when she’s not teaching through the example of how she runs her business while living a normal life that’s full of ups and downs like everyone else’s. If you run a small business online or off, I can pretty much guarantee you can learn something from her.  http://www.kathleengage.com

  • http://www.askviki.com/index.php?id=18 Viki

    I’d like to nominate The Trucking VA. Dianna designed our logo which encompasses how we support the transportation industry; it’s comprised of a laptop, a truck, and the earth. The laptop symbolizes the internet, the truck represents mobility & who our main focus is, and the earth is representative of how we work – virtually. You can see it at http://www.askviki.com/index.php?id=18. Thank you and good luck to all participants!

  • http://www.facebook.com/CelebriDucks CelebriDucks Craig Wolfe

    Well, I don’t really like to nominate myself for things, but since Tea suggested I do so, maybe I will this time.  I own a company, CelebriDucks (www.CelebriDucks.com)  that does a line of celebrity rubber ducks of the greatest icons of film, music, history, and athletics and was voted one of the top 100 gifts by Entertainment Weekly.  I wouldn’t nominate myself just for that however.  But here’s why.

    The rubber duck was invented in America…in Ohio actually.  Now every single rubber duck is made overseas.  I’m bringing back the whole rubber duck industry to the USA….back to Ohio in fact, this year!  To return jobs and a whole industry to America for an art form that like Jazz is pure Americana, means a lot to me.  I know it’s going to cost me more to do it all here, but honestly I don’t care.  I cannot support this constant outsroucing of our country any longer. 

    I can tell you that having spent years putting this together., if you saw how much of our manufacturing has been lost, it would scare you.  The time has really come for us to reclaim our heritage.  Maybe, it’s only one industry that I in some small way I can help bring back, but at the end of the day, since most of the money from this biz is being left to non-proft, if I can’t do something good with this company, why do anything at all.  Yes, passion and heart do matter!

  • http://virtuallydistinguished.com Michelle Church

    Well Tea I like Annie would nominate The Word Chef for sure..I love you branding and you are so creative and inspirational but since I cannot do that I will nomniate @ollinmorales http://ollinmorales.wordpress.com/ because his writing is so inspirational and heartfelt.  I signed up for his blog after reading his guest post and fell in love with his various post.  I especially love the title Courage to Create, because it does take courage to step out on your own and believe in what you are doing.

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  • http://thewordchef.com Tea Silvestre

    Loving all the great nominations that are coming in!

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  • http://www.backyardgetaway.net lisa burns

    I would like to nominate Heather Lindsey Sell of ShoutOUT Tampa bay. She started shouting out local small businesses on facebook in the Tampa Bay area & has expanded to Jacksonville, Miami & Orlando. She is in the process of creating a website to include small business events, deals and accomplishments. Heather has created a very well know brand that is easy to remember that describes exactly what she likes to do ShoutOUT!

  • Sandy H.

    I would like to nominate LocalShops1, a grassroots movement in the Tampa Bay area. The company uses a lifesize cutout of its logo, a woman carrying shopping bags, to help promote local independent businesses. They take the cutout to stores and restaurants and iconic regional landmarks.

    The company has a huge social media following, and often has contests and events to get people to shop and dine at independent businesses. It has helped me find many shops I did not know about, just a few miles from my own home.

    The website is http://www.LocalShops1.com

    • Ester V.

      Wow! Thanks for the nomination!!! How cool!

  • http://www.rightmixmarketing.com/ Tom Treanor

    Tea, I’m nominating Denise Wakeman of http://denisewakeman.com/ and http://www.buildabetterblog.com/ . She exemplifies the three criteria for your award:
    Get attention: Denise has a consist brand, a compelling message and “she’s everywhere” that her target market is.
    Keeps attention: She creates and shares great content. She has great, affordable products. She collaborates with other teachers who are relevant for her audience and brings their ideas, viewpoints and resources to them.
    Builds loyalty: To me, this is her best characteristic. Once she has your attention she build loyalty through authentic and “no strings attached” engagement. She has a lot of integrity and people are attracted to that.

    • http://denisewakeman.com Denise Wakeman

      Tom, thanks so much for the wonderful nomination…I’m honored. Blog on!

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  • http://www.kristenwalker.com Kristen W.

    I am nominating Groovy Grooms. In all my years of passing by mobile grooming vans I have never, ever remembered one of their business names. But Groovy Grooms? I will never forget it! Anyone who manages to make their mobile dog grooming business stick out of the pack (pun intended ) and make it memorable to someone who isn’t even TRYING to remember them has got some sort of secret sauce at work. AND, they make it look fun! And groovy! Dog grooming is always one of those things that seems like a chore – and stuffy. So, to add that to the mix is awesome, and probably helps them attract a way more fun clientele than the regular old dog grooming businesses. Groovy Grooms is a pure genius brand!

    Here is their website:
    https://www.sbgroovygrooms.com/

    I am not affiliated with these people at all, their truck just turned my head one day and I’ve never been able to forget them.

    -Kristen

    • http://thewordchef.com Tea (the Chef)

      Thanks for the nomination, Kristen! I’ll let them know the good news today. Keep your eyes peeled for more folks who do it right!

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  • http://saraduggan.com Sara

    I enjoy so many small businesses it is difficult for me to choose just one. To narrow down my choices I will concentrate only on the ones I really benefited from in 2011.
    I’ll nominate 4 businesses :

    1. Staci Jansma http://stacijansma.com/ I met Staci in a forum and she has helped me on numerous occasions with tech stuff in regards to WordPress. I had the opportunity to hire her this month and she is just a great person to work with plus she is timely.

    2. Syrendell http://www.syrendell.com This business is owned by husband and wife team Rick and Jennifer Tan. When you take a course from them it is like being with an old friend or family member. Very detailed instruction and you can tell they love what they do.

    3. Michelle Shaeffer at http://michelleshaeffer.com/ I’ve known Michelle since meeting her on a mothering forum back in 2001. She started out doing webdesign and graphic design and has built a significant business for herself. [and her family] She loves what she does and enjoys teaching others. She’s done a number of projects for me and her customer service skills are top notch.

    4. KellyMcCaussey at http://solosmarts.com Kelly has been around the wahm world for a while and it was in 2010 that I really started following her blog. I’ve learned so much from her and can’t recommend her enough to those seeking to really get past the ‘yuck’ out there to the real valuable stuff that will enable a mom to stay at home and earn an income.

    Like I said it’s so hard to pick but these four really made an impression on me in 2011.

    • http://thewordchef.com Tea (the Chef)

      Thanks for the nominations, Sara! I’m sure they’ll all be thrilled.

    • http://michelleshaeffer.com Michelle Shaeffer

      Thanks so much for the nomination, Sara! I so appreciate it. :)

      • http://stacijansma.com Staci Jansma

        @Sara – Thank you for the nomination.

        @WordChef – Thank you for this opportunity and good luck to all the nominees.

        • http://saraduggan.com Sara

          @Staci You are a great VA I hope one of you win this. Each of you have helped me and I appreciate you and your business.

  • http://michelleshaeffer.com Michelle Shaeffer

    What a fun idea, Tea!

    I’d like to nominate Lisa Kanarek of http://workingnaked.com — she’s got a brand that just rocks. :)

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  • http://www.inkz.biz/About.html Inkz Screen Printing

    Very interesting information! From one designer to another great sitelayout. Just the inspiration I was searching for!

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