The Importance of Branding for your business

THE INTERNET AND SOCIAL MEDIA CHANGED THE GAME. MORE THAN EVER BEFORE SMALL BUSINESSES NEED TO HAVE A RECOGNIZABLE BRAND TO THRIVE. CONSUMERS ARE SMARTER AND WANT TO CONNECT EMOTIONALLY WITH BRANDS BEFORE BUYING. ARE YOU CONNECTING WITH THEM EMOTIONALLY? HOW DO YOU MAKE THEM FEEL? DO THEY REMEMBER YOU WHEN YOU'RE NOT IN THE ROOM?

My favorite quote from Maya Angelou: “I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”

We're all humans and we all operate on emotions. We make our decisions out of feelings and emotions. And emotions, my friends, create memories that’s a fact! So the big question is: what memories do you want to create in the mind/subconscious of your customers? More specifically, how do you want your customers to feel when they meet you (your brand)?

With the advent of the internet and the explosion of social media, we’re all bombarded by images, advertising, information and stories on a daily basis. What would make your customers stop and pay attention to what you’re doing? You need to differentiate yourself ➡️ you must #BRAND Yourself.

You differentiate yourself by creating something interesting. How you create something interesting is by being unapologetically who you are. You have to ask yourself the right questions:

• WHAT IS MY PURPOSE?

• WHAT IS THE ONE THING THAT MY BRAND GIVES TO CUSTOMERS THAT THEY CANNOT GET ANYWHERE ELSE? (BASICALLY WHAT MAKES YOU DIFFERENT?)

• WHO DO I SERVE? (YOUR IDEAL AUDIENCE)

• HOW DO YOU MAKE YOUR CUSTOMER FEEL?

People often think of branding as being the logo, the pretty website, the business cards, etc. As a consequence, they don’t necessarily take the appropriate time to define their brand thoroughly. They think short term whereas branding is a long-term strategy

The logo, website, business cards are all part of the branding process but branding is more than that. Branding is showing who you are — showing your authentic self through and through. It’s the whole experience. The experience your customers have with your company from the day they meet you, to the day you're not present in the room with them. It’s the relationships, the emotional connection and promise you give to your customers.

Branding is the combination of your internal branding, your external branding, and your processes.

Internal branding = voice, vision, mission, personality etc.
External branding = logo, colors, business cards, etc.
Processes = Client processes, internal communication etc.

So let me test this with you: Finish this sentence — Disney makes me feel….
What about this one: JEEP makes me feel ….

So for me, Disney makes me feel magical, and if you know Disney and you’ve experienced it you’ll know that everything that Disney does, says, writes, advertises, plans is engrained in this simple word — magical.

JEEP makes me feel adventurous. What JEEP does advertises, writes, says is ingrained in this one word -- adventurous.

So now take a minute and think about your favorite brand. What emotions did it spark in you? Pause for a second, all the feelings or memories or feelings that you just experienced were "purposely" targeting you.

This leads me to my next point which is: to efficiently brand you need to know your customers. Knowing your customer is “extremely" important for your business. Let me repeat this: knowing your customer is “extremely” important for your business.

To know your ideal client, you need to create a perfect customer profile, which should be meticulously detailed. Where do they live, what do they eat, do they go to the gym, magazines, and blogs they read. This analysis needs to be incredibly detailed, that’s the only way you’ll be able to reach your ideal clients.

By the way, narrowing your niche will not be a detriment to your business. As a contrary, it will give you the opportunity to be a specialist in the industry and who doesn't love specialists? Think about it; when you have a toothache where do you go? To a generalist or a specialist?

In fact, the most crucial part of creating and perfecting your brand is talking to the right people. So you need to study your customers for you to directly speak to them and turn them into loyal fans! Who wouldn’t want that? What I know for sure is: PEOPLE ARE WILLING TO PAY MORE FOR A TARGETED SERVICE.

So for those of you who need a little help with your branding, I have a gift for you.

I made a FREE "Do it yourself Branding" 10 pages E-book that you can download here Hopefully, this will help you in your branding journey.

So now I hope that you understand the importance of branding for your business. To be seen you need to be special, different and unique. You need to be able to convey your unique story to the world.

You need to have that unique story, this unique feeling that you want your customers to feel, emanate from every part of your organization. When you make your story not about the product or service you offer but rather about the entire experience you're on the right path for developing stronger relationships with your customers.

Branding sets the strategy for everything in your business. When you know your brand everything else revolves around it. Finally, please note that branding is an ever going process. You look, adjust and continue to evolve with your brand.

So now that this is out of the way have fun branding your business. If you have any burning questions, let's chat for 15 minutes I would love to hear your Q's.