1. Make it about your customer, not you.
You have a product or a service to sell. Great. Your target audience needs to care about what you’re selling. And the key to getting them to care is by pinpointing how you are providing a solution to a problem they have. Your brand personality should promote your business by connecting with your customers and building trust.
2. Give your brand a persona.
Here is a little trick that has been useful to me over the years. When I read a book, I love to assign an actor or a celebrity to every character. That helps me visualize the story better. While not every business can have an actual celebrity face to represent their brand, we can use that way of thinking when giving personality to our brand. If a celebrity was reading your brochure to a client, would it be Morgan Freeman or Puff Daddy? Would it be Reese Witherspoon or Angelina Jolie? Each of these celebrities is in essence a brand and evokes certain emotions in all of us. You can find your brand by applying this technique and channeling a famous person that is best representative of your tone of voice. And it’s fun to do.
3. Be authentic.
Nothing is a quicker turn-off to customers than a promise not-delivered. Make sure your brand is genuine and your promises are accurate. If you are selling an affordable product, don’t misrepresent it as a luxury item. If you are offering your customer 24/7 online support, make sure you have an online chat option. You get the idea.
4. Don’t pretend to be something you’re not.
Research shows that customers want the personalized, human-centric approach smaller companies provide. You don’t need to be a huge brand to develop a following of loyal customers. Embrace your true self and make sure your customers know that every single one of them matters to you.
5. Customize your message to each audience.
You may have more than one target audience and that’s fine. Often times you have to customize your message for each segment. But be sure to maintain some cohesiveness that immediately ties back to your core brand voice and visual identity.
6. Engage your customers across all touch points.
Branding needs to be engaging and give your customers value. If you have an email list, send them regular content (blog, video, etc) that will be interesting to them and apply to their daily lives. This will set you up as a thought leader and a reliable resource.
7. Stand up for your brand.
There will always be someone who has a negative thing to say about your brand. Don’t let that discourage you. Consider what’s been said and try to address it through improvement, however don’t undo your entire positioning and what you stand for to appease everyone at all times.
8. Be bold and take risks.
You have your own business and that means you make the rules. Unlike huge companies where every action is limited by red tape, you are in a position to take risks and be bold. Take advantage of it to be full of good surprises to your customers.
9. Put your company’s visual elements in professional hands.
Your logo, website, flyers, banner ads, brochures, they all do the talking for you to your customers. While smaller businesses often adopt the DYI approach to these elements, wise entrepreneurs know that it is a worthwhile investment to go to professionals for sleek and strategic creative developments. Of course with today’s technology everyone is capable of putting together a logo or brochure and even a website in some capacity. However, not all designs are created equally and your audience will be able to tell the difference between amateur and professional. More importantly, customers will feel the difference and it will create a subconscious perception of your business.
