You are a business owner or entrepreneure with an idea. You plan on offering a service or product that will change peoples lives. But where to start? How do you build a brand for yourself? By focusing on the little details and making sure you never loosing sight of the big picture.
Market Research
Research the marketplace. Define what and who you want to target. Don’t try to do it all. Focus on a niche and position yourself as an authority in it.
Graphic and Web Design
Invest in your brand image, hire a graphic designer. Share your vision and let them bring it to life visually. Clean graphic design and website design will position you ahead of your game. Remember to stay classy and have lots of white space in your layouts. Roll with the times and make sure the website is responsive (mobile and tablet friendly). Stats show, more and more people are browsing the internet via smart phones. So get on that.
Advertising and Marketing
Having a well designed website is nothing if you aren’t checking to see what pages are exploding with traffic and what aren’t. Integrate Google Analytics, it’s easy. If you are completely new at it, google (still find it amazing how this is a word with meaning) and educate yourself on how it works. Ensure the online content is fresh, leading to conversions on your website. If possible, hire a copywriter for the job. Try switching text on the website. See what gets results. Use Google Adwords Keyword Planner, see what consumers are looking up for your industry. Its free!
Humanize your brand
What’s important to your brand on a human level that your customers can relate to? Start by asking, and listening, to your customers. Join the conversation. Create a Twitter chat around an important topic in your industry that has a human side to it. You can also create an Instagram hashtag where people can submit photos of their stories that relate to your brand, take advantage of Throwback Thursday to give customers a glimpse into your history.
“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.” ― Maya Angelou
Be Social on Social Media
Part of humanizing your brand is being social on social media. Don’t just have a Twitter and Facebook account so you can link to them. Don’t have your teenage niece “take care of it” either. As Dave Meerman Scott states in his book, The New Rules of Marketing & PR, Social media is like the world’s biggest cocktail party and everyone is in attendance. It is an excellent networking opportunity. Use it. A great way to build brand awareness, cultivate relationships and establish yourself as an authority in your field. It most likely will get you customers as well.
Time Management
Time is your most valuable asset. Ensure you are prioritizing it well. Email and Social media can be a huge consumer of time. Schedule email checks and reign in on the time spent checking up on Facebook “friends” or even business promotion. Get the important stuff done first. One way to ensure you have control over this is to systemitize your day.
Discipline
Lastly, all of the above requires discipline, laced with an attitude of confidence. Being disciplined is hard work, but not impossible. Surround yourself with like minded people, that can keep you in check.
Designing a brand that makes you stand out from the rest involves more than offering a product or service. It involves experiences, emotions and relations on a personal level with your customers.
Do you have these points in place already? How have they worked for your business? Do you have additional points that could be added to the list? Send me an email, or tweet at me. I am listening.
