Growing Your Business: The Power of Branding
The glue binding all your marketing and sales efforts together is branding.
Regardless of everything you are doing right, if you are new, you have a brand to build. If you are in business and growing, you have a brand to expand. If you are established and secure, you have a brand to maintain.
What is a Brand?
A brand summarizes a set of values, virtues, qualities, and attributes that your product or service represents. Over time, a good brand can be identified easily, and people will know how your brand signifies what you offer. In products this can be easier if consistency is easy to obtain, but in services a “brand” is more about how the services go. In services, customers need to be able to expect the same thing from your brand, even if it gets delivered by different people within it.
There are so many brands on the market that are instantly recognized. Your task, as an owner, is to figure out what you want people to think about when they hear, see, or use your brand. Then, you tie that desired outcome to the brand in all sales and marketing efforts.
In most cases you won’t want to compete with the “Big Box Stores” because your value proposition offers something else. And it should. You also don’t want to compete with a high volume, diluted- cost seller if you want to get a desired return on the time and effort you spend bringing your product, or yourself, to market.
Your brand will need to be connected to the Seven P’s discussed before. You can’t build a brand if your product, pricing, promotional efforts, positioning, placement etc. is inconsistent with what you have put out to the world.
In services, and sometimes in products, YOU ARE YOUR PRIMARY PRODUCT.
Whether you have unpacked this or not, you already have a brand. People already think about you a certain way. This is either based on their experience with you, on what they have heard from others, or on what they see you doing.
In services, often the corporate brand is a close cousin to the personal brand of the owner.
So, how can you Create a Brand?
Two main places to start:
1. Think about the Promises you Make
Your brand offers a promise. It sells something that people ideally want. Your brand must tell the world who you are, and ideally elicits a response from your ideal client: “I want to do business with them.” An important question to consider is: do you match the qualities of your ideal customer? You will need to, so you can bring that ideal customer to your doorstep.
2. Then, Keep Them
People are going to expect something (hopefully something positive) from your brand. You need to deliver on those expectations, as you were the one to set those expectations in the first place. You did that through consistent messaging, and by creating and building a brand that matches who you are and what you do. You and your team need to consistently deliver on the promises you make. Your brand needs to reflect you. Create it wisely and protect it diligently.
You + Your Brand = The Entire Package.
Consider if how you present yourself, your space, your language, and your actions aligns with the vibe your brand emulates. In the world of trust, character and consistency matter. Your attitude and energy towards your work and those that want to buy from you will resonate.
The Seven Laws of Branding
There are seven laws of branding worth considering:
The Law of Specialization
Do not try to be all things to all people. Having a niche and keeping your offerings aligned with this will expand your brand possibilities.
The Law of Leadership
Become one of the most knowledgeable, skilled, and respected people in your field. Invest in yourself to become better and better.
The Law of Personality
In all aspects of branding, you need to be likeable, positive, and helpful. You will need to do the right thing, especially the thing you said you would do.
The Law of Distinctiveness
Do things that make you unique and people will notice. Are you the one with the “best swag” or that overdelivers? Find a way to stand out.
The Law of Visibility
Your brand must be seen repeatedly and consistently. Be active in your circles and get to know many people in those spaces. Be there (where there needs to be!) and participate.
The Law of Congruence
Be the same person behind closed doors as you are in person, online, or when marketing or selling. All aspects of you and your brand must be authentic and trusting.
The Law of Persistence
Once you build it, hold onto it. You can expand it, evolve it, and tweak it all you want, but it needs to be available, trusted, and consistently messaged.
Summary
Every interaction with you is a testament to your brand. You can build your brand organically by simply showing up as you and seeing what sticks for people. Or, you can truly understand your unique gifts and attributes and find a way to intertwine those with your product and service. Either way, your brand is like trust – every interaction someone has with you either supports your brand, or erodes it. Choose carefully and do the work to make your brand intentional, consistent, specialized, distinct, visible, congruent, and visible. Let it show your leadership and personality and then, PERSIST!
Adapted from “Growth 3.6 The Power of Branding Part 1: Corporate Branding”, and “Growth 3.7 The Power of Branding Part 2: Personal Branding” by FocalPoint Coaching and Training Excellence, Copyright 2018, by Brian Tracy and Campbell Fraser. Reprinted with permission.
