How To Transform Your Business Into a Meaningful Brand
Do you ask yourself why your business isn't making any sales? Why does nobody care about your product/service benefits or better features than your competition? Why does everybody buys now from your competition that just came into the industry?
I'm sorry to bring this to you. Nowadays, It's not enough to only talk about your business features and benefits. Your competition who just entered the game is doing something better than you. No matter what kind of business you have, think of it as if you want to franchise it, even if you won't! Is it possible to do it in the actual moment?
The answer to this question might bring you many other questions. In this blog post, we will answer maybe some or all of them. It depends on how good I am. Jokes aside, we will cover that
Your company name and logo are not your brand.
Many entrepreneurs/business owners have a misconception around this subject. They think that a pretty name and logo is only what they need to attract their future customers. That is wrong. If a person owns a BMW or Mercedes, what kind of personality will you label to them? Luxurious, rich or maybe flashy? Does that mean that every rich person owns any of these cars? No! Someone can be rich and still have a Toyota Corolla. My point is every brand has a personality, and each person decides to connect with them because they click with it. For example, I love Infiniti because they offer quality, luxurious and reasonably priced cars compared to many other brands. That's why I decided to buy this particular brand over hundreds of different choices.
There are many reasons we decide to choose one brand over another. It might be the story behind the brand, the causes it supports, their customer support, the feeling it procures, or maybe the founder's personality.
Having a "pretty" name and a "pretty" logo is not enough. But you might ask. Imed, I still don't know the difference between a business and a brand. Keep on reading. What you're about to read is getting juicy and knowledgeable.
What is the difference between a business and a brand?
As mentioned before, your name and logo are not enough. What would you do if you wanted to franchise your business? Your name and logo won't get you anywhere.
Think of your business as an actual person. Imagine that someone you know changes his personality and clothing style every day. Wouldn't it be weird? I presume that the answer is yes. Us, As humans. We can't please everyone, and we can't get along with everyone. There is some kind of people that it's just off. It's the exact same thing for your business. You can't expect to attract and be loved by everybody. If one day you're very formal, and the next one you're speaking to the same customer in a different tone. He might never come back because he expected to be talked to the same way as the first time.
So by now, you should know that your "business" is the umbrella of your company, and it is what sells your products or offer your services. Your brand is the identity of your business. How do you want to be perceived? What kind of audience do you want to attract?
Lucky for you, I'm going to explain how it's possible. You'll have everything you need to transform your business into a meaningful brand.
How to brand your business
I can write a whole article on this particular question. But I want to give you three options: the entire idea concisely, educate yourself on the subject, or let me help you with this over a brand strategy workshop.
Hey, don't worry. I don't want you to choose one from the above. Maybe, by the time you'll be reading this. I'll have dozens of articles on this subject that I'll link here.
Now, let's start. I want to give you the easy road. You'll be well served if you don't want to read tons of articles and don't have the budget to invest in a brand strategy workshop.
Define Your Why
As entrepreneurs, we all have reasons behind our choice to work for ourselves. What motivated you to work on your business in the morning? Money can sure be a source of motivation. But is it really what can keep you motivated for 5-10 years? What happens if you have the money you ever wanted? What will your business live for? That's the first step to identifying your REAL Why. It's undoubtedly a challenging task, but when done. You'll have a purpose to determine your business with.
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Inject your Why into your business, and that's one step to give it its first breath as a brand.
Define your brand personality
Even brands have their personality. Among brands, it is commonly called brand archetypes. How do you want your business to be perceived?
The list goes on. Every brand you might know have their own archetypes or sometimes a mix of two. Here is the list of all the brand archetypes with some examples of brands using them.
Define your communication style
Yes, I know. It may sound weird. But, even brands have their way of communicating with their audience. It's commonly called the tone of voice. While having a personality is excellent. If it doesn't match the appropriate tone of voice. It may sound weird.
Let me give you a concrete example. The banking space is considered very professional, and everyone is well dressed and speaks formally. An employee who talks in a way that is not appropriate might get fired the next day. The bank doesn't want those kinds of people to represent their BRAND.
With that in mind, it can be the very opposite if you're selling products for a younger audience. Speaking formally to them might not be the best bet to place.
Attract your ideal audience
Now that you're not an ordinary business, you gave it its appropriate personality and tone of voice. You'll start to attract an audience that will resonate with your brand's personality and style of communication.
The key here is to determine who is your target audience before defining your brand's personality and tone of voice because your entire brand turns around your ideal customer.
How to determine your ideal target audience? This is a question for another article that I'll explain in deep detail.
What you read is a piece of delicious Pie from what you could learn on this subject. My goal was to help you understand the concept concisely. I hope you learned the necessary information to implement right away into your business and transform it into a meaningful brand.
If you have any questions or want help with your business, please send me an e-mail or?schedule a 30min Free-Discovery Call?to determine how I can help you with my best capabilities.
Thank you and in the meantime, enjoy your new knowledge!
Imed!