Thanks to guest blogger, Toni Nelson
Building a successful brand will certainly solidify your business in the industry you are in.
Think of logos for various businesses. What do you think of? Do you think of the lizard that represents Geico? Do you think of the red target sign for Target stores? What about the logo for Starbucks?
You see, logos call to mind “the company.”
However, your brand is more than just a logo.
It can also be a statement or tagline. In short you’re branding stands for who you are and what your business stands for. As you establish your brand your business will become known as a business that can be trusted.
Developing your brand takes time and consistency.
Let’s review 5 tips designed to help you start building your brand.
1) Be real and honest with your customers. Never promise something that you cannot deliver. If you promise what you cannot deliver your credibility will suffer. Strive to not only deliver on your promise but over deliver.
Always speak in terms that your customers understand.
Put a face to your business. Add a photo of yourself to your business. This will help people come to know, like and trust you. People will start to recognize the image of you and immediately think of your Business.
Go back to the example of Geico. They use the lizard as their image. When they changed that image people did not react well. Why? They came to know, like and trust the Geico lizard.
Another example is Progressive Insurance’s advertising. Everyone knows Flo! When you see her image you immediately think of Progressive.
Since an image is so important be sure you are using a professional image of yourself.
2) Create a great customer service experience. The major flaw with many companies is there customer service. Customer service is the backbone of your business.
Try to put different systems in place that promote a great customer service experience. For example, after someone makes a purchase be sure to send thank you e-mails. If a customer requests additional information be sure to get that out to them in a timely manner.
When I had a great customer service experience at the car dealership you know what I did? I wrote a blog post about it. That’s how impressed I was with their customer service.
Wouldn’t you like people to write a blog post about how wonderful your customer service is?
3) Be consistent with your brand. Whatever you decide your brand will stand for be true to that. Use people and ideas that are in line with your brand to help your audience identify with it.
4) Target the right audience. Your brand is reaching out to a certain target audience or demographic. You need to connect with these people in order to make offerings for your products or services. Use keywords to draw your customers to you. Create a list of potential customers and then stay in contact with them.
When promoting your product, do so in the places where you know your target audience is listening or hanging out.
For example, if your target audience is largely on Facebook, make sure you have a Facebook presence. Are they on LinkedIn? Twitter? Your goal is to make sure you are promoting your products on multiple platforms. You want to be drawing people in to your website – specifically your blog. Make sure your blog addresses the issues that your audience has for your products and services.
5) Increase customer engagement with YouTube videos and podcasts. Both of these strategies help increase your online visibility.
Podcasting is a great way to get comfortable with “speaking” to your audience. Think, radio show host.
Video helps your audience have that immediate connection with you. Think of video as your own TV show!
These tips simply scratch the surface when it comes to creating your brand, but at least they are a starting point.
To help you with your branding I’ve created a special report highlighting 10 tips for branding. You can download it here: http://toninelsonmeansbusiness.com/brandingreport
Have you created a brand for your business? Please leave your thoughts and comments below because I’d love to hear from you. If you like this post be sure to share it on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter or any other social networking site you engage in. Be Savvy and Successful! Thanks.
About guest blogger, Toni Nelson: In addition to being the founder of The MINE System of Learning, Toni is a business coach, award-winning videographer and photographer.
Image Source: Photobucket
