Branding Your Business and Promoting Your Brand

Branding is just as important for small businesses as it is for big names – but what does it mean? 

Branding is a way of defining your business to yourself, your team and your target audiences. It could be called the business’ “identity”, because it embodies the core of what the business is and its values, not just what it looks and sounds like. Customers of all sorts of businesses are so savvy today that they can see through most attempts by companies to gloss, spin or charm their way to sales.

The benefits that a strategically-defined brand can bring are the same as when people fall in love with each other. When customers connect emotionally — because they share the same values and beliefs of a brand — it leads to higher sales and better brand differentiation. It also leads to loyalty, advocacy and can even protect your price in times when competitors rely on promotional discounts to drive sales. It can also give you the ideal platform from which to extend your offering or range.

Before you can effectively promote your brand, you need to understand it and be passionate about it.  

Keep these tips in mind when developing your brand:

1.   Define your brand.

Review the product or service your business offers, pinpoint the space in the market it occupies and research the emotive and rational needs and concerns of your customers. 

2.   When building your brand, think of it as a person.

Every one of us is an individual whose character is made up of beliefs, values and purposes that define who we are and who we connect with. Your business’ brand should encapsulate its character.

3.   Consider what is driving your business.

What does it believe in, what is its purpose and who are the target audiences?

4.   Aim to build long-term relationships with your customers.

Don’t dress up your offering and raise expectations that result in broken promises. Create trust with honest branding — be clear who your company is and be true to the values that drive it every day.

5.   Speak to your customers with a consistent tone of voice.

It will help reinforce the business’ character and clarify its offering so customers are aware exactly what to expect from the product or service.

6.   Don't repeat the same message in the same way over and over again. 

Alternatively, aim to make your key messages work together to build a coherent identity. 

7.   Don’t try to mimic the look of chains or big brands.

Carve out your own identity. There is a big consumer trend toward independent establishments, and several chains are trying to mimic an independent feel to capture some of that market.

8.   Be innovative, bold and daring – stand for something you believe in.

Big brands are encumbered by large layers of bureaucracy, preventing them from being flexible and reacting to the ever-changing needs of their customers. Those layers of decision-makers can make it hard for them to be daring with their branding.

9.   Always consider your branding when communicating with customers.

Don't lose your pride or dilute your brand positioning with indiscriminate discounting. Try offering more, rather than slashing prices. Promotions are an opportunity to reinforce your brand mission.

10.  The old way of stamping your logo on everything won't cut it.

The future of branding is fluid and engaging — respect your customers' intelligence by not giving everything away up front. Generate some intrigue and allow them to unearth more about your brand for themselves. Everyone loves to brag about what THEY have discovered.

Now that you have defined and developed your brand, it’s time to promote it.

Have a powerful presence physically
If you want to build up your reputation in the world, the first step is to make sure people see you. Advertise in places people will see, that makes sense for your business. Make sure that your company and your employees are present at important events where there are opportunities to promote your enterprise. No one can promote a brand by being invisible, so make sure to get out there and let yourself and your business be seen and heard.

Appeal to people intellectually
Think about specific questions people might have about your business and how you can provide logical, honest answers. Ask yourself questions like the following:

• What sets you apart from your competitors?
• What image do you give off to the community?
• What unique opinions do you have to share with the outside world?

Consumers today are smart. Win people’s brains in addition to their hearts.

Promote content on social media
Social media is a great tool for branding your business. In addition to using the sites for straightforward promotional messages, you can also use social media for promoting content that has something interesting to say about your industry. If you share information that’s relevant and compelling, people will follow you.  In turn, more people will become loyal to your business. 

Consumers will notice if you have a smart approach to social media.  They will also notice if you DON’T have a presence on social media.  Find the sites that are most appropriate for your business.  Not everyone needs to use Instagram or Pinterest.  If you’re unsure of what social media strategy to use, get help from a professional.

Don’t steal the show
While it’s important to be active on social media to establish your brand, there is such a thing as being too involved. You don’t want to spam people by promoting too much content. Being overwhelmed with information will turn people off, and you don’t want to be known for promoting yourself too much. Let the marketing wing of your company handle the job. You might be in charge, but you are only one person, and it’s good to share the spotlight when possible.  This frees up your time to do what you do best – running your business.

In order to brand your business effectively, you want to prove that you have staying power. Think about your business and where it’s headed in the future. What are you doing to embrace future trends in the business world? Will people still identify with your brand in five years? What about in 10, or 20? Your promotional message should be one of long-term potential. Your goal is not only to service customers’ needs now, but also to earn their loyalty for the long haul.

Remember, branding isn’t just for businesses – it’s for individuals too!  If you or someone you know needs help differentiating themselves from others in their field, contact us today.  Visit www.stonekingconsulting.com for more information on how we can help you strategically brand and marketing your business!

Navigating the Ever-Changing Fundamentals of Marketing

The fundamentals of marketing are always going to be the same, but with the landscape changing at the speed of technology, what matters most is how one activates the fundamentals. Smart marketers know that they need to get ahead of the trends and anticipate the next big things, or else be devoured by their competitors.

Transparency is an important tool of marketing. Consumers are going to continue to exert power and influence. The idea of radical transparency is something that few brands are taking advantage of now, and most brands fight it. The best brands aren’t necessarily those with the best stories, or sort of made up fictional stories, but those that give an accurate and real time picture of what they are doing in the interest of the consumer.

Chief Marketing Officers are actually Chief Simplifier Officers. Most companies have arranged themselves in endless vertical silos - by geography, product, or function that hamper them when it comes to working more closely and with the free flow of ideas. To optimize consumer and customer engagements, CMOs should put silo busting on top of their agenda and begin to think holistically about the company’s overall value proposition, integrating messages and insights across business units, geographies, and functional groups.

There is a growing need for marketing technologists. Too many companies think in terms of digital marketing. Instead, they should be thinking in terms of marketing in a digital world. The best marketer in a digital world would be the marketing technologists, people with heavy digital DNA and technology acumen. They should be integrated seamlessly with the marketing groups and play an important role in how marketing strategies are developed and applied.

Agility marketing is for winners. Social media produced a different, more elusive consumer with short-term thinking. Marketers are now chasing their daily meanderings in “likes”, “shares”, “tweets”, click-through rates, and ever more immediate metrics. However, the best marketers should have more consumer data, capable of faster adaption, shorter lead times, and real-time marketing.

Marketing should be about personalization. The world is more connected because of technology, but marketing is becoming more regionalized, localized, and even more individualized, as consumers resist standardization and cookie-cutter templates. Personalization is not a trend. It is a marketing tsunami that should transform how we think about and how we manage global brands.

Internal Communications are a must. Businesses should put a strong focus on internal communications as a marketing asset. If there is poor communication, it’s difficult to engage employees to become brand ambassadors.  By implementing a strong internal communications process, employees will feel engaged and will want to live the brand and better share the vision and strategy of the company. 

There will be previous trends to ignore, present trends to tackle, and future trends to watch because everyone is looking for the next big thing.  While keeping an eye on the future is crucial, sometimes it’s easy to get so caught up gazing into the crystal ball that we lose touch with the timeless fundamentals.

Listening to your customers is a marketing fundamental that will never go out of style. Neither will remarkable content.  Make sure you take the following steps when developing a marketing campaign.

1.       Know Your Target

2.       Educate on Your Benefits

3.       Craft A Strong Call to Action

4.       Measure, Monitor, Log, Report and Learn

Now that you've put in the work and you are ready to push your campaign live be sure to measure and monitor the progress. Learn from your efforts, it will come in handy for each campaign that follows.

What were the results? Did they meet expectations? If so, why? If not, why? Know the answers to these questions, understand the answers, identify how you can make a campaign better, identify what worked. Log these answers, analyze the data and work to make each subsequent campaign better.

Marketing is a fundamental part of business.  A comprehensive and strategic branding and marketing plan is a fundamental part of a successful business.  If you are wondering whether the marketing tactics you are currently employing are working for your business, then they’re not.  But, we can help!

SK Consulting prides itself on providing strategic marketing and branding techniques for businesses in need.  We keep up with the latest marketing trends so that you don’t have to.  If you or your business are in need of marketing or branding assistance, contact us today.  www.stonekingconsulting.com