Build a Brand pt. 2

If you read our blog post last week – and quite honestly, why wouldn’t you? You’ll know that we looked at the importance of small businesses’ investing in developing their marketing and branding as much as possible in order to stimulate growth.

Well, following on from explaining all of the reasons why this is important, this week we’re looking at how you can start to implement some changes and move forward with building your brand the right way.

1. Keep your customer in mind:

Whatever it is that you’re selling, your brand must always align itself with your customers’ needs and wants.

So, no matter how small the steps are that you take to develop your branding and marketing campaigns, always have your customer in mind. Who is it that you’re targeting? Do you have an ‘ideal’ customer in mind? If so, how do they think? What do they want? How do they behave?

Ascertain the key traits of your core demographic, whether this be by using in-depth market research or simply by asking as many people that you can, and keep these points at the forefront of your mind when creating the principal look and ethos of your brand. This way, you’ll be aligned with your target audience, and so will all of your subsequent marketing and sales efforts.

2. Illustrate your value:

When it comes to ‘selling’ your brand to your customer, you’ve got to get straight down to business. No, we’re not suggesting that you invite everyone over for Netflix and chill (other streaming services are available) but that you need to create a direct and simple message of why your brand should matter to your customer.

Most consumers really don’t have the time, or the desire, to try and figure this out on your behalf. Why would they? We are all very busy, with very important lives to lead, so your brand must create a story that answers the question, “why do you need us?” without anyone having to think very hard about it.

Your brand’s messaging i.e. the essence at the heart of your brand, ultimately dictates how you will sell what you do to your customers, partners and employees, and it needs to hit straight at the heart of what your audience need and want. Oh yes, and it probably also needs to be quite clever, witty, welcoming, and emotive – look, we didn’t say it easy, ok? But you’re a smart cookie, you’re sure to figure it out 😉

3. Emotion-locomotion

Why do all successful movies usually make you cry? Well, because If you give consumers a reason to care and feel something about your brand, then they have a reason to buy into it, or in the case of movies, make a gazillion bucks from it.

The majority of people make purchasing decisions based on their emotions, and not on logic, (and by purchasing, I also mean dating/marriage/procreation etc etc) so, to ensure that people are invested in what your brand has to offer, you need to create an emotion in your prospects that re-ignites every time they see your brand.

The emotion could be nostalgia, trust, reliability, relatability, humour, pride, the list goes on, but the most important thing is that you tap into an emotion that people can engage with and associate to your brand.

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So there you have it, a quick run-down of a few of the ways you can start thinking about developing your branding strategy and how it can encourage the success of future marketing campaigns and sales initiatives.

No matter what size they are, the most successful businesses are the ones that have established themselves as a leader in their industry by creating a strong brand, and why shouldn’t that be you? Because when these businesses focus on building valuable customer experiences, they easily transform customers into brand ambassadors, who spread the word far and wide, of their own free-will. And thanks to the internet and social media, free will goes a hell of a long way these days…

Next week we’ll be looking at some of the key marketing assets that businesses can develop and utilise as part of their branding strategy, so stay tuned!

In the meantime, if you want to discuss any of your branding with us, simply drop us a line today!

Thanks for reading.