The Power of Content Part 2: Building a Name for Yourself.

“Good content is not storytelling. It's telling your story well.” - Ann Handley

Last time, we discussed how content can help build authority, with your end goal being things like conversion and sales. However, that’s not the only thing you should be focusing on while creating your content. Instead, you should keep two other things in mind: Brand awareness and brand loyalty.

Sure, using your content to show your expertise is a good idea, because you’ll help drive more traffic and get more sales. However, it’s the other things that’ll help you in building a loyal following, while differentiating yourself from the others.

Let’s get straight to it.

“Hold on. Isn’t authority enough? Why should I focus on anything else when I can already get good results?”

The thing is, although it can help get initial trust and credibility, simply having authority won’t be enough to sustain good results.

Beyond getting initial sales, you'll want to do many things, including building a name for yourself and having repeat customers instead of one-time buyers. Focusing on brand loyalty and awareness will help you do that. While your authority and promos can bring traffic in, your other efforts can focus on retaining and providing value to your customers.

That way, you drive growth while also focusing on building relationships, starting conversations, and conveying your brand’s personality, portraying it as a brand that cares more than simply getting that sale from the consumer.

“Hmm. Makes sense. So, humanizing the brand?”

And having a story, yes. But we’ll get to that in a bit. Now that you know why this is important, let’s start with brand awareness.

So, brand awareness is more than just about people ‘knowing’ your brand.

It’s more about how WELL they recognize your brand or are even aware of its existence. Take Nike for example. Even if doesn’t say Nike, you could probably recognize what that curved smooth tick mark means, whether it’s on a plain, white billboard or a pair of shoes.

Now, unlike direct conversions and leveraging authority, building brand awareness is kind of a long game. You know how when you want to search for something you Google it? That’s what brand awareness leads to.

You’re associating a brand with the action you want. You want to search for something. But, Google has become so obvious and common, that that is the answer that comes to mind.

Anyways, there are a few steps you can take to get started, and then develop things and nurture your audience as time goes on.

First of all, focus on building a recognizable brand.

You want something that consumers can easily recognize. Something that people can identify, regardless of if it’s on a shirt, in a magazine, or on a tiny poster outside a shop.

How do you do that? By having brand elements that can be recognized easily.  That means focusing on your brand voice, developing a specific type of tone, and using specific keywords in your content, from your posts to your ad campaigns.

That also includes your brand aesthetics, values, tagline, logo, and any other visual brand assets that have a direct impact on your audience. Do you have consistent brand colors? Do you have a brand-specific font? Do you tell your audience what you stand for? Is your logo easily recognizable?

These are the things that you start with, to lay the foundation of a brand that people are likely to recognize, and able to associate with.

Then, you’ve got your story.

You’ve got the visual elements done. The logo. The tagline. The colors. You’ve started to spark people’s interest. You’ve got them exploring your social media posts. Now what?

Now, you need to give them something that they'll be able to relate to. The best thing to do now? Tell them your story. It doesn’t matter if it’s your personal story or through the eyes of the brand

Tell them what you stand for. Tell them why you’re doing this. It doesn’t matter if you’re selling donuts or chartering submarines for deepsea tourism. There’s a purpose for doing things. Tell them yours. This is where you can connect with them on an emotional level. Maybe talk about the hardships and struggles you faced while you built your business.

Your story will be your brand narrative. Now, whether you showcase it through customer testimonials and reviews, or you do your own thing and talk about your mission statement and past struggles, make sure you tell it.

And then, make sure it’s seen. You’ve done your initial job trying to bring people in. The story’s going to help keep those that can connect or relate with you in one way or another.

Got them hooked and interested? Surprise them.

Now that they’re interested in what you’ve got to say, sell and post, do things differently.

Focus on giving value, rather than pushing promotional posts. If you sell woodworking workshops, put together a free A-Z guide and give it away as a lead magnet to your newsletter or as a free download. If you’re a chef, give them a couple of your best recipes.

When you start giving value, providing things that educate them, solve their problem or entertain them, that’s likely to increase your perceived value. You’re more likely to be seen as a customer-first brand, rather than one that just cares about making that sale.

Doing this will not just tell them about your brand or educate them and give them value, but it’ll also help you build relationships with your audience. And that means more brand awareness.

Now that they know about you, work on the loyalty part.

You’ve told them your story. You’ve built out a proper, recognizable visual identity. You’ve started giving value. Now, you want to strengthen that. How do you do that?

Simple. Consistency. Remain consistent in giving value. Sure, now you can start to mix in the odd promo post here and there. Maybe you can slightly orient your content to subtly direct them toward your brand, your products, and your services…

But remember to provide value. If you’re coming out with top-quality software, and you want to pitch it, include a freemium model. That is, have some basic functionalities that can be used without paying. It’s a win-win. After all, you get to openly talk about it and position it in a way that you care about them because you’ve got a free version that they can use without any cost to them.

But it’s more so about the variety of your content.

Got testimonials? Showcase them.

That’ll show the people who wrote them that you care about what they say, beyond simply getting a testimonial for your brand.

Implemented some feedback someone gave. Let them know.

Again, this shows that what they say matters. You’re doing the things that you need to do to improve your brand, while also giving value to your customers. Win-Win.

But, above all, start conversations. Genuine, authentic conversations.

Doing something behind the scenes that you know people will be interested to talk about? Put out a post or do a Twitter Space and engage with whoever responds. Sure, you’re a brand and you’ve got other things, but again, it’ll just go that extra step to show them that they matter

And…That’s it.

First, you focus on brand awareness. That is, getting people to know about you. Then, you work on brand loyalty, ie getting people to remain more connected and devoted to your brand and what you do.

Do these two things right, and you’ll have a good number of people finding you on their own, through other people, through the content you made, and via other things. Maybe your brand came up somewhere in a conversation. Maybe someone was wearing a T-shirt with your brand’s name on it.

Could be anything.

And before you ask…

Don’t worry about anything. It’s all an ongoing process. You try, test and refine your ways. Whether it’s creating content or sending out personalized emails, as you do things, you’ll figure out how what works and what you should be doing.

Anyways, if you’re still having issues or just have some queries, feel free to reach out and let me know. We’ll figure something out.

Hope you liked this two-part series. See you next time!

Drew