Are you struggling to gain visibility and credibility, establish the right positioning for you and your business, and build high margin revenue?
If so, it’s very probable your Brand is at fault.
Whether you’re an entrepreneur, business owner or professional property investor, you need to attract the right audience to you. As well as attracting attention, you need to deliver your unique message, and more than simply tell them what you do and how you do it, you need to deliver the why you do it; your audience needs to be able to understand what difference it is going to make to them.
Let’s dispel one myth straight away, your logo is not your Brand; it’s a part of it for sure, a badge or an emblem, but it’s only the tip of the iceberg.
Just as when building anything, strong foundations are the starting point, and building a powerful and effective Brand is no different. Using the Brand Asset Grid, prompts you to think about the 12 essential elements of Brand building will help you. So let’s start with the groundwork:
1. Your Vision
What do you want your world to look like in 2, 3 or 5 years’ time? Both from a business and personal perspective; for entrepreneurs these are so often intertwined.
2. Your Mission
What does your business need to be doing to deliver your vision? Consider the following:
- Function; what do you actually do?
- People; whose important to your business?
- Processes and systems you need in place
- Geography; where is it going to happen?
- Technology; how are you going to use it?
- Financials; what are they going to look like?
3. Your Values
What’s important to you?
You can try and make up your values but it’s likely you’ll not deliver on them. Far better to be authentic, accepting you can’t please everyone. And it’s a given “trust” is one of your values; in over 25 years of Brand building, I’ve never heard anyone say “distrust” is important to them! Dig deep and challenge yourself.
4. Your Value
What’s in it for your customers? What is your point, and why should anyone care? This is about the monetisation of your Brand.
Now you can take a look at strategical issues:
5. What is your story?
People like stories; we’re conditioned to learn from stories, and “facts tell, stories sell”. Your story creates the emotional link between you and your customers, and how you make people feel is the ultimate reason why they buy from you, certainly if you want to operate in the high value and premium offer arena.
6.Who are your ideal customers?
The more clarity you can achieve on identifying your ideal customers, the more successful you will be. Your message will connect emotionally with the right people, and the cost will be the last thing on their minds.
7. What is your Unique Message?
This pulls together all the above; a summarisation. It might start out wordy and rough around the edges, but bit by bit you can refine and improve until you can repeat your unique message, your pitch, elegantly and eloquently.
8. What should your Brand look like?
And now you can think about the visualisation of your Brand, but also what does it feel like, what does it sound like? Get creative; great design will add tremendous value to your business, and remember, first impressions count. Then consistency in delivering your message, your Branding to your audience will build visibility, credibility, trust and your revenue.
You should then consider some tactical aspects to build your powerful brand:
9. Marketing
You need to engage your audience, and change their behaviour, ie. influence them so they come to you. You need a marketing plan and maybe you should consider the following:
Websites
Social media
Email campaigns
Networking
Search engine optimisation
Pay per click
Exhibitions and events
Print collateral
10. Public Speaking
Almost invariably public speaking will build your Brand. Speaking to an audience builds your authority, your visibility, your credibility and builds trust. BUT do get trained! How often have you sat in an audience, and despite great content, found yourself bored or worse still, drifting off. Don’t be one of those speakers!
11. Your sales funnel
Not everyone is ready to buy right away. You need systems in place to nurture your contacts, to keep giving them value, and retain the space you’ve won in their hearts and minds.
12. Selling
You have to be able to close the deal. The British are generally very reluctant to “sell” but no sales equals no business. If you’ve got clarity on all aspects of your Brand Asset Grid, and you’ve got an ideal customer in front of you, and you know from the bottom of your heart your offer is absolutely right for them, you have a responsibility to help them make the right decision for themselves. And the exchange of money for the value you deliver creates accountability and commitment, and the more your customer pays, the higher the value they will have for your relationship. Call that selling, opportunity to buy or doing the business, you simply have to do it.
Its likely getting your Brand right will give a return on investment that no other asset class can touch.
