If you want to build brand loyalty with customers and market your business effectively, then defining your brand is key.
All other marketing will grow outwards from this, so it’s important to put time aside early on to really get under the skin of what your business is about.
After all – if you can’t be concise and focused when it comes to describing what you do, and know why you’re doing it, then you can’t really expect customers to buy into your brand. And if no-one buys into your brand, then no-one will love it and help it to grow by becoming a customer.
Brand storytelling is a hugely effective way of connecting with customers in today’s digital world, but to do this successfully, you’ve really got to know what that story is. It’s not enough, for example, to say that you’re simply a designer, or a fashion retailer.
What do you design? What makes you unique? Why do you do what you do?
If you’re a fashion retailer, do you sell adult or children’s fashion? Do you specialise in luxury fashion, affordable fashion or designer pieces? Is your ideal customer the modern business woman or the fashion-conscious teenager? What’s your unique vision and your goals and what’s in it for the customer?
Authentic marketing wins customers
There are a wealth of questions to ask about any one aspect of your business before you even begin to get down to the nitty-gritty of telling your story. What’s more, the deeper you dig into your brand, the more things you’re likely to discover that you’d just never thought about before.
Questions often lead to more questions and answers can throw up some really interesting ideas that are well worth exploring. And – the more you know and understand your business, the more authentic you’ll appear when it comes to marketing, which after all, is what customers have always wanted.
Here are some brand-building tips to get you started:
– As Simon Sinek says – begin with ‘the why’. Why do you do what you do? Why are you passionate enough about this to make it your business?
– What are your values? How do you communicate these?
– What’s your USP? What specific services/products do you provide which makes you stand out from the crowd?
– Who are your customers? Specifically – what are their ages, job roles, gender etc.?
– What do your customers need? Are you able to provide this?
– How do you want customers to feel when they interact with your business?
After branding, comes content marketing
Once you’ve defined your brand, the next stage is marketing it, which is where quality content/inbound marketing comes in. How you present all that carefully collated information about your business onto your website is crucial to getting the right message across.
Also, when you blog, are you reflecting the true ethos of your brand? Is the tone reflective of your approach to customers, and is it upholding the values of your business in the content it conveys?
Does any promotional material answer your customers’ questions and focus in on their needs over what you want? And have you been specific enough with your content to define your specialities while still leaving potential for adding in further products and services in the future?
When it comes to digital marketing and storytelling, there’s more to it than meets the eye, but with a clearly defined brand, you’re already well on your way.
Email me at claire@cseditorial.co.uk if you’d like to get started on sharing your business story.