Your brand is your promise to your customer. It lets them know what they can expect from your products and services, and it differentiates your offering from your competition. There are two ways to build a brand: by accident or on purpose. So what does it look like to be purposeful about building your brand? And why does it matter?
Everything Communicates
Your website, your business card, what you wear, how you smell, how you (or your staff) answer the phone—all of these things collectively over time reveal who you are and what you stand for. It typically takes about FIVE seconds for a first impression to be established. But according to a Harvard University study, if that first impression is bad, it takes EIGHT subsequent positive encounters to change that negative opinion.
Take a hard look at your business from your customer’s perspective. No matter how you want your customer to perceive your brand, you can’t just tell people what to think. Conduct surveys, ask clients directly, or hire a consultant. Use whatever sources you need to provide an “outside-in” perspective. You can try to guide it, but your brand is ultimately determined by those who experience it.
Be Consistent
Because your customer experiences your brand in short bursts—a Facebook post here, an email there—you have to be intentional about how consistent you are with your marketing. Over time, all of those impressions will add up to create an expectation (aka, a promise) in your potential customer’s mind about what it might be like to do business with you. Think about memorable brands you engage with on a regular basis. They likely have a steady drumbeat approach that doesn’t change with the direction of the wind.
Keep it Simple
Don’t try to solve every problem your customer has in one ad campaign. Today’s most effective—and most memorable—marketing strategies are focused on a singular objective, audience or opportunity. Take a disciplined approach to constructing your brand identity in a way that boils who you are down to the simplest possible expression of what you do and who you serve. There’s no faster way to fail than by trying to please everyone. You usually end up pleasing no one.
When Promises Are Kept
When your customer’s expectations are established, met and exceeded—in other words, when a brand keeps its promise—your customer does your marketing for you. They tell other people, they Like, they share and they keep coming back. This is how brands such as IKEA, Amazon, Starbucks, Costco and HP all rose to prominence before ever spending a dime on advertising. Making and keeping your promises to your customers will be the most important marketing activity you’ll ever do.