At this point in time, branding and marketing are pretty synonymous with one another. Because if you don’t do a good job of branding your business, you aren’t really marketing yourself at all.
And, lately, I have been focusing a lot on the role of marketing and branding as powerful tools to generate business.
The key concept that we all need to be aware of and operate under is that branding is marketing at this point and your ability to create a narrative that is compelling and captures your story is going to likely be the difference between success and failure for your operation.
Here are a few ways to maximize your branding:
1. Branding is about story:
I don’t mean story with a beginning, middle, and end, but story in the way that you talk to yourself about what you are doing and how you see yourself.
Think about the difference between Mac and PC in those old Apple commercials:
One was young and hip and the other was stodgy and clumsy.
That told a store that even if you weren’t young and hip, you didn’t want to be considered old and out of touch and made Apple that much stronger as a brand.
Even now, this same dynamic plays out with Apple users versus Android users.
At the core, branding is about the story your product or service makes your potential buyers and buyers tell themselves.
2. Branding needs to be targeted:
There is no point in coming up with a brand if it doesn’t appeal to a specific audience.
You can either try to have a niche market and be a specialist, or have a mass-market and be a generalist, but you must choose one or the other.
Your customers need to know what you stand for.
You can use Reputation.com or a similar site to gain insights from your customers to better understand their point of view.
Gather feedback to further hone in on your target market.
3. Branding has to be consistent:
This applies to pretty much everything we do in business.
The more consistent we are, the better our results are.
Branding is this written large.
Your brand has to be consistent in its delivery. It has to have a point of view. And, it needs to always be showing up.
4. Branding must be proactive:
As the cartoon at the top makes a point of showing, you have two choices in the world of branding…you can be the one carrying the branding iron or you can be the one waiting to be branded.
In my experience, creating a clear, compelling and powerful brand statement pays for the effort tenfold.
But the big point is that you have to spend the time and effort on being proactive in your branding efforts.
Who do you want to be?
What value do you want to provide?
What is the tangible manifestation of your value?
Intangible?
Who is your target customer and buyer?
How do you want people to feel when they have worked with you?