Are you struggling to put your business on the industry map? If you are, lack of branding might be one of the central reasons why your service or product isn’t doing all that well.
We know that marketing and branding might seem like vague nonsense to some businesses. But, before you start dismissing the power of promotion, give it the benefit of the doubt.
Regardless of what industry you belong to, the question is always the same: how to build a brand that will propel your business to success?
Give your company an identity and share it online
Follow this simple formula…
Logo + Tagline + Vision + Mission + Brand face + Brand language + Website + Style = a well constructed online identity!
Logo – Make that memorable little image stand out and speak a thousand words about your company.
Tagline – Make it a short, powerful catch phrase that captures the essence of your company. It should be the ultimate message about your business that you want to convey to your customers.
Vision – A short statement on what you want to achieve, and mission – a statement explaining how you intend to achieve it.
Brand face – Business does not exist outside of human world. Instead of using generic stock photos, connect your brand to living, breathing persons your customers can trust. Take your best people and promote them as experts, send them to events and have them represent you online.
Brand language – When speaking to different people we use different styles. Are your customers traditional or modern? Right-brainers or left-brainers? Formal or easy-going? The language you use to address them should be a language they understand.
Website – First impressions matter a lot. Your web page is often the first contact your clients have with you. Make that contact count for something. Your website should be simple, accessible and consistent across all digital platforms. That is, it should look the same on all devices.
Style – Choose a unique style that matches the tone of your company. Pick colors, shapes, attitudes and behaviors that paint a clear picture about your brand and synchronize that look across all of your media, digital or printed. Make sure your employees follow that style.
Promote your brand and engage your customers
Start with a marketing strategy. Create a thorough plan on how to reach your target audience. Whatever way you choose to do it, make sure you stay true to your visual brand and values.
Find out what your customers need. Start thinking like a customer. Once you gain customer loyalty, try and keep it. Deliver on your promises by backing up your message with a great service or product. Be transparent, respect deadlines and sell quality. In short… put your money where your mouth is!
Make sure you keep all your channels of communication open. Respond to feedback attentively and hear out what your customers have to say. It will reinforce existing relationships, as your customers are your best ambassadors, and it will help you forge new ones. Remember each person is a valuable marketing asset.
Analyze your data all the time
In business, numbers are worth a million words! And yes, branding is measurable. Branding can provide measurable business outcomes, and believe it or not, there is some mathematical logic to it.
Statistics will tell you a lot. If there are none available, conduct your own research. What’s the demographic and age group of your main customer pool? What do they want? Target a specific demographic and test your service and product with them. Their feedback will tell you a lot. It may even sway your branding strategy in a surprisingly different direction.
Know thy competition. Find out what others are offering and what makes your service or product different. What sets you apart? That very difference is what your branding efforts should focus on.
Once you have your branding activities put on paper, begin projecting the costs of those activities. Find out how much your competition spends on marketing. Find out what others did wrong, and learn from their mistakes.
Source : Ivana Steele (Marketing and Sales Manager)
