Branding is a pretty big deal when it comes to marketing your business successfully. This is the first and lasting image of your company that prospective customers will have. Keeping that brand alive and well is a whole different bag of chips altogether.
But what does it mean to have a brand at all? A brand is something that goes beyond the logo, the image, look and feel designs. Your brand probably has a set of values, it has a culture and quite frankly can be seen as a living entity. In this post, we take a look at how you can build a strong online brand, not only a recognizable and relatable one but one that your clients will love.
At the end of the day, your marketing efforts should portray your brand in the most accurate way, consistent. This includes all communication with clients, whether it is promotional communication or mere customer care, your brand is an important aspect of your business and you should pay special to get yourself poised to beat the competition by following these simple tips.
#1 Be Branding and Brand Savvy
Okay, so you want to develop a relationship with clients. To do so, you need to start at the beginning and define what exactly it is your brand is about. What do you stand for? What are your values? How do you converse with your customers? How will you meet their specific need or pain points? These might seem like minor details, but it is very important when you want to build and nurture a loyal client base of returning customers who would be able to relate to your service or product offering and would be willing to recommend you to their family and friends. That is the sweet spot right there when your customers bring you more customers.
#2 Ask Questions, Do Research
Don’t be shy to ask your existing customers how they see your brand and how they feel about it. In fact, this is probably the purest, most informative and most important information that you will be able to get! And if you don’t want to ask them straight out, you should definitely have other means of communication on how they can give you some feedback on your brand and what really matters to them.
#3 Focus on Solutions
A lot of brands get this one wrong, even though it is a very logical step. In branding, you don’t want to just focus on what it is your product or service does. This is referred to as hard-selling and is a sure-fire way of putting people off before even getting a foot in the door. It reminds one of those infomercials, “But wait, there’s more…”. No one likes that angle. Why not engage customers and focus your efforts on how you are going to solve their problems.
#4 Nurture Relationships
Yes, we are sure you need to make a profit, but who is responsible for that profit? Nurturing good relationships with your customers will go a long way in building brand loyalty. Who would you rather support, the hairdresser who greets you by your name and remembers the story you told them two months ago, or the hairdresser who is just not interested in getting to know you and cannot wait to just get the bucks as soon as the duty is done?
#5 Transparency Goes a Long Way
Yes, be honest in all that you do at all times. Customers respond positively toward brands that are honest, authentic and can acknowledge that they were wrong every now and then. If you have a social presence, be sure to get back to customers as soon as you receive messages. If you can’t get to something straight away, simply tell them the truth. Don’t make promises you can’t keep.
#6 Have a Clear Brand Image
So, you’ve got a website, social media profiles, business cards, email banners, the list goes on. Is your branding on all these materials unified? Will clients be able to find you when they search your company’s name on a search engine? Or is everything a bit loose? Make sure to tie all your marketing and communication efforts up neatly to ensure you have an identifiable brand, voice, and ultimately presence.
We hope you found this article insightful and that you will get your brand on in no-time and customers loving you for it too. For more insightful information on branding, be sure to check out this article. If you have anything you would like to discuss with one of our team members, you can contact us here.