If you want your business to succeed, then the importance of the brand can never be underestimated. However, it’s also very easy for businesses to mess up how they present it. They can deliver muddled and mixed messages, or fail to understand how customers and clients interact with their brand in the first place. Here, we’re going to look at some of the ways that you can make sure that your customers are really getting the message of the business and that you’re able to stand out against the rest.
Know what your brand is
First of all, if you’re looking to promote your business, then you have to have an understanding of what, exactly, it is that you’re trying to promote. Get to the core appeal of your business, rather than just highlighting the services and products that you provide. Find your unique value proposition. This might mean taking the time to think about who your ideal client is, what obstacles or problems they are facing, what goals they want to meet, and how your products and services can help them meet those challenges. Get the idea of what really appeals to your clients and make it the core of your branding message that you hit them with time and time again.
Know where to find them online
Nowadays, a lot of marketing and brand-building is done, online. It’s your way to access the greatest potential audience, but if you want to make sure good use of the marketing budget, you need to find out where they are before you start putting all of your cash into it. For instance, take the time to consider which social media platforms are really most widely used by your audience. While Twitter and Facebook might be widely used by most people, certain platforms have niche appeals, like how LinkedIn is typically used by professionals first and foremost, and Instagram is often used by those with interests in lifestyle brands, such as fashion, travel, and cars, that tend to have a more visual appeal.
Get out there in the real world
Of course, it’s easy to get stuck in the mindset that digital is king and that all of your efforts should be focused on improving your reach online. However, that’s not true. When it comes to return on investment, physical methods like flyers, direct mail, and billboards tend to still be some of the most effective. Work with an online printer to help you expand the reach of your physical marketing, spend the time to build good leads, and find the places where your brand is going to make the most impact. The best branding efforts come from the marriage of digital and physical marketing to ensure that all of your bases are covered.
Put a face to the brand
Whether you’re making an effort to make an appearance at events, or you want to reach your customers online through video marketing, the importance of creating a personal appeal to your brand cannot be overstated. This might mean taking the opportunity to appear personally when you’re giving video tutorials or explaining parts of the business. It can also mean finding public speaking opportunities to grow your personal brand, which can then reflect positively on your business, provided that you manage it well. Building a sense of familiarity and trust with your brand can make it easier to create the first impression than wins clients.
Make a consistent, quality brand
Regardless of the medium that you use to spread the word about your brand, you want to make sure that your marketing messages are consistently hitting the same mark, or at least similar. If you have inconsistent marketing messages, brand visuals, and the like, then it can start to muddle the client’s impression of the business. One of the best ways to ensure this consistency is to create a brand bible, which is going to be a set of guidelines covering everything from logo and colour scheme right down to the voice and specific language you want to be associated with your brand. A good brand bible can make sure that, even if you’re working with outsourced professionals, you can ensure the consistency of your branding.
The strength, integrity, and clarity of your brand is something that you’re going to have to build and keep investing in, in the long term. The tips above can help, but it requires a consistent and persistent effort to get the kind of impact that really helps a business grow.