VBL015 – Building Your Entrepreneurial Brand, with Matthew Needham (The Tomato Guy!)

Summary: Welcome to another edition of the Virtual Business Lifestyle Podcast! (http://itunes.apple.com/ph/podcast/virtual-business-lifestyle/id377846535) I have exactly 14 of these things in the bag already, with tons more planned. We'll be releasing a lot more in the coming weeks and months. Today's guest is no stranger to the VBL Blog. Matthew Needham is a very solid part of the community here, and regularly comments on the posts, as well as contributing from time to time. I wanted to interview Matthew on the excellent job he did on branding his company - The Big Red Tomato Company. His method of picking a name that would be different and stand out is just the tip of the iceberg in regards to how he has taken this little unknown entity and turned it into a full-blown entrepreneurial hub where he writes some great content on all-things 'how do I grow my business?'. Throughout the course of this enjoyable chat we discuss, amongst other things: * Why he picked the name he picked for his company! * His personal strategies for getting the company's name out there. * The importance of brainstorming for business growth. * The difference between corporate and personal branding. * How to build traffic to your website the right way! * Plus much more... Play or Download the audio of this podcast to listen to it on your iPod, iPhone or iPad below, and be sure to subscribe on iTunes (http://itunes.apple.com/ph/podcast/virtual-business-lifestyle/id377846535), too! My Take-Away From This Interview The one thing that resinated with me, more than anything else from talking with Matthew on this subject is that there really is a right and wrong way to go about branding either yourself, or your business. His comments on the difference between the two (personal and corporate) were enough for me to think a little more, and retouch my own personal philosophies on the subject (even though I have been moderately successful with them thus far). My thanks to Matthew for taking the time, and if you want to learn a little more about branding the 'Tomato Way', be sure to hop over to Matthew's blog (http://bigredtomatocompany.co.uk/) and follow him on Twitter (http://www.twitter.com/bigredtomato), too. I've also asked him to mosey on by to answer questions / comments, should you feel the need to ask him anything - so go ahead and get busy below!