Every company has a reputation.
Everyone you meet will form an opinion
about your company, even if they have
not done business with you yet. The
challenge is to manage your reputation
so that the opinion that people have of
you is positive. This is what creates a
brand.
Brands have a number of strategic
functions, enabling you to:
- Differentiate yourself from your
competition
- Position your focused message in the
hearts and minds of your target
customers
- Persist and be consistent in your
marketing efforts
- Customize your services to reflect
your personal brand
- Deliver your message clearly and
quickly
- Project credibility
- Strike an emotional chord
- Create strong user loyalty
For small businesses, branding is not
about slick advertisements. Small-
business branding is about getting your
target market to see you as the
preferred choice. Building a slightly
famous brand is not just about what you
do; it´s about what you do differently
from everyone else.
Building Your Brand
A brand is a promise of the value your
clients will receive. In an amazingly
complex and competing world--where itís
increasingly hard to know whatís real
and whatís not--having your customers
not only acknowledge but support the
promise of your brand is the key to
building a thriving business.
To become a brand, you´ve got to become
relentlessly focused on what you do
that adds value. Do you deliver your
work on time, every time? Do you
anticipate and solve problems before
they become crises? Do your clients
save money and headaches just by having
you on the team? Do you complete
projects within the allotted budget?
Branding integrates customer service,
sales promotion, public relations,
direct mail, newsletters, discounts,
event sponsorship, word of mouth and
other communications tactics to present
a unified message about the company,
its products or services.
Your brand will integrate all your
marketing around a core idea and
vision. As a result, you will find it
easier to sell yourself, because your
message will be uniform and powerful.
Every business needs to evaluate its
brand identity against the following
criteria:
Relevance to the Market
A brand must stand for something that
is meaningful to members of a target
market. Your brand encompasses the
total experience of doing business with
you.
Consistency of Behavior
Customers must be able to depend on the
brand to deliver the same experience
every time. Because your market
experiences your values through your
brand, the only way they will truly
become loyal to your brand is through
your dedication and consistency.
Relationship-Building
A brand is not a logo or an advertising
strategy. "The strength of any brand is
in the relationship it has between a
company and its customers. The stronger
the relationship, the more business
they will do, and the more likely it is
that customers will refer them to their
friends and business associates.
Loyalty to the Customer Is Returned
The test of a brand is, in fact, the
strength of loyalty it generates. If
you have a strong relationship with
your target audience, then you have a
strong brand and a strong business.
Reputation Is Priceless
The only way to be successful in
business is by establishing a good
reputation, and a brand can help you do
that. Your reputation works as your
strongest marketer by communicating the
relationship you have with people
who´ve done business with you, and your
target market in general.
Good brands stand the test of time. To
develop a brand that will last a
lifetime, go beyond what you do right
now. Think long term. Look at Coke,
Ford and General Electric. No matter
what they sell or how they change over
time, they can rely on their brand
equity build on a foundation of
customer trust to take them deep into
their customerís trust quotient and
keep them there.
If you establish a place of trust and
relevance in prospects´ minds, you´re
already in the door. The more people
believe in your brand, the more it will
spread throughout your niche market
without your pushing. If your brand is
clear, distinctive, and easily
understood, and expresses a unique,
compelling benefit that people believe
in, it will bring you all the business
you can handle.
Steven Van Yoder can be reached via email or at http://www.getslightlyfamous.com.
Steven Van Yoder is author of Get
Slightly Famous: Become a Celebrity in
Your Field and Attract More Business
with Less Effort. Visit
http://www.getslightlyfamous.com to
read the book and learn
about ´slightly´ famous teleclasses,
workshops, and marketing materials to
help small businesses and solo
professionals attract more business.
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