Branding is something that confuses a lot of business owners. It’s more than a recognizable logo or tagline that describes your business.
According to Wikipedia, “A brand is a name, term, design, symbol or any other feature that identifies one seller’s good or service as distinct from those of other sellers.” Sounds simple right?
Consider a few well-known brands, such as Starbucks. Your mind conjures up delicious coffee-drinks that you can count on to be consistently good. Red Bull brings to mind a fast-paced lifestyle and high energy. Those are two examples of good branding in action. It’s good to figure out the “why” to get to the root of what your brand represents,
Establishing the culture for your business is vital to building your brand. If you’re not sure where to begin, it’s a good idea to make a list of Key Learning Elements (KELs) about your product or service.
Either alone or with your employees, name one product or service at a time and write down as many benefits, features, and elements about why it exists as you can come up with. Even if they are wacky or make others around the table laugh, include them. Then discuss and focus on the purpose and scratch things off the list that are merely features of your product or service. Those are “whats” not “whys.”
Once you eliminate the “whats” you will see a pattern form that tells you the why of your company. From there, strengthen and drill down for marketing points to build your brand on by talking about the elements that set your product or service apart from all your competitors. If you cannot come up with any, time to rethink your strategy because you need to determine why you’re doing what you do so you can market that across your entire company. That is how you build a robust company culture.
To quote Simon Sinek, “People don’t buy what you do or how you do it, they buy why you do it.” For example, they buy the uniqueness and culture of thinking outside the box they perceive in Apple products and the high energy from Red Bull. Anyone can create a computer, phone, or energy drink; these brands have successfully established the feeling people get when they hear or see the brand name.
In your content and social media marketing, it is crucial to build a brand your followers can look to and trust for reliable information about not only your product or service but the industry you are part of. When someone sees your brand on social media, they should know they can trust the information you share and know your product or service is something they can count on. Evoke feelings of trust and you can build a loyal following that will not only use your product or service, but they will also recommend it to others, which allows your brand to build relationships with your clients.
Horizon Marketing works with small and medium-size businesses to help them leverage the power of inbound marketing, social media presence, and more. Call (310) 734-1493 Ext. 1 Now and request your Free Web and SEO analysis.