Keith Granet on Branding Yourself

We are thrilled to share with you a recap of a recent Designer Trade Program event at Williams–Sonoma Home Beverly Boulevard – a fantastic morning with Keith Granet, owner of Granet & Associates. All-around design brand maker and brand manager, Keith spoke about branding yourself and the power of a signature look. Over 200 designers attended when we hosted the event in February 2010.

Navigating the design world for 30 years and operating his own business for 19 of them, Keith’s valuable experience with creating and managing designers, developing brands and cultivating design businesses provided an exciting, relevant and eye-opening opportunity with designers. Keith touched on his own career path, actual client stories featuring product development adventures and thoughtful tips and ideas for engaging in your own brand.

The main points that Keith discussed were the importance of having a solid company point of view in place, knowing who your clients are, understanding that clients are more educated, setting up a process and more.  It’s important to establish what you want to do and what you want your company – your vision. Work with people that you enjoy and who are nice. (Yes, this makes a huge difference and is a no brainer!) It’s important to create real relationships on projects where both you and your clients can communicate and create a home. Keith notes that “a house is a product and a home is a process”. Recognize that your clients are more educated about design then ever because of design sites and design blogs but you still play an important role. “The difference is”, says Keith, “it’s about your eye and putting it together.  How you communicate your skill and who you are to your clients will make you successful in your business.” We also want to share Keith’s thoughts on setting up processes so regardless of the situation you come across, you and your business can handle it.

So you have your foundation for building your brand and many designers want to create a signature style or look to reflect their vision. Keith has worked with many designers on building product lines and licensing opportunities. While this is a big undertaking both from a financial and time commitment perspective, it’s possible. To understand what really goes into it, Keith put together Product DNA, a flow chart of phases covering the process. Starting with the product conception (the creative nuts and bolts), moving into Product Development (designing and evaluating the products) and continuing to the Marketing phase (positioning the products) and finally Launch.

Defining your look and creating a point of view requires attention but it is achievable. Some points he made were to “really determine what it is that you want to do everyday and what your company wants to be.”  He suggested taking small shifts to change the direction if there’s another place you’d like your company to go. Creating your successful brand means taking on clients that fit within your vision. 2010 is about embracing relationships and following Keith’s ideas can lead to a successful, creative and thoughtful design career.

Learn more about Keith by visiting his site www.granet.net. Check back in with us next week for more stories from Williams-Sonoma, Inc.’s brands.

For future exclusive designer events, visit our Upcoming Events section.