A company’s brand can make or break it. Branding determines how your business is perceived by consumers; if it is compelling and reaches the right target audiences, it can boost awareness and drive sales.
Through memorable visuals and strong storytelling, your brand helps consumers come to recognize both who you are and what kind of value you offer. Once you’ve developed a loyal following, it serves as an ongoing reminder for existing customers that your company is still thriving and there to serve their needs.
If you feel in need of a refresh or want to see better results, building upon or modifying your current branding strategy doesn’t have to be overly complicated or expensive. Below, members of Forbes Coaches Council share 13 straightforward ways to do it.
- Clarify The Transformation You Provide
Clarify what you do, who you serve and what transformation you provide. This simple task is actually quite mind-boggling for many companies, as their core message tends to be product-focused and not customer-focused. By homing in on these key areas, you are laying the foundation for your sales and marketing moving forward. – Yunche Wilson, SolomonBell Consulting
- Build Relationship Capital
Relationships between people are any brand’s most inimitable asset. When you create a collaborative and value-centric circle of like-minded leaders and entrepreneurs, you breed trust and build relationship capital. In turn, this leads to the expansion of resources and the knowledge base, creates competitive advantage, increases audience exposure and drives more impact. – Divya Parekh, DP Group
- Tell Stories
Storytelling is a powerful way to infuse authentic life into your brand. Because humans love stories, capturing and sharing stories related to your services or products takes your audience on an experiential journey they can relate to. You want your community to create a personal bond with your brand. Keep those stories authentic, action-provoking and uplifting. – Mari Carmen Pizarro,Whole Leadership Systems
- Show Audiences What’s In It For Them
Express what’s in it for your customers when they choose your products or services. To clearly relay what’s in it for your audience, you have to know and not assume. You have to hear their voice, not your biased thinking. Replace assumptions with curiosity. Place customer insights above what’s convenient and expedient for your business. – Jay Steven Levin, WinThinking
- Reframe It As Building Credibility
Do your best to keep it simple. Reframe branding as building credibility. Start with the foundation: Know your prospect’s possibilities. Speak directly and specifically to how to transform challenges into opportunities. – Ruth Simone,Luminare Coaching & Consulting
- Align Branding With Your Vision
One of the best ways to improve your branding strategy is to assess where your brand is now and look at what you need to do to move to the next level. Gaining clarity is the key, as there is nothing more beautiful than having a powerful vision for your brand and aligning your branding with that vision. Once you create this clear vision, run with it, be fierce and rebrand with total ease and flow. – Queen Chioma Nworgu, Queen Chioma Media
- Build A Unique Selling Proposition
Build a clear USP and bring it to life in every touch point of your brand. Whatever your business, there are likely many others who do what you do. What makes you different? What makes you stand out? This is your USP. Once you’ve defined this, how do you bring it to life? It isn’t about a tagline or saying it; it is about demonstrating it every time you interact. – Krista Neher, Boot Camp Digital
- Strive For Focused Consistency
Simplify and strive for consistency. There is a tendency to try to be all things to all people, but focusing and targeting your strategy will better allow you to share your branding message and gain momentum. – Jonathan H. Westover,Utah Valley University & Human Capital Innovations, LLC
- Be Accessible, Relevant And Trustworthy
One straightforward way to improve your strategy is to make sure your brand is accessible, relevant and trustworthy. Accessible brands use a consistent name and message that stays the same in both the physical world and the virtual world. Relevant brands have trusted descriptions that are the same across platforms. Trustworthy brands have reviews that show they have delivered on their promise. – Tracy Levine, Advantage Talent, Inc.
- Get Feedback About Your Reputation
As Jeff Bezos is often cited for saying, “Your brand is what other people say about you when you’re out of the room.” A great way to improve your brand is to learn if others are interpreting it in the way you’ve been trying to communicate it. Your brand originates with you, but it’s held in the hearts and minds of those who know you. Ask others to ensure that you’re on-brand. –Carol Parker Walsh, Carol Parker Walsh Consulting, LLC
- Get The C-Suite Involved In Content Creation
Get your C-suite executives directly engaged in creative content. I have coached and helped many C-suiters assist their marketing departments by writing a monthly column or getting involved with customer interactions. As busy as you are running the company, that should not mean you stay away from the limelight, and this means the CFO, CMO—everyone, not just the CEO. Get and stay involved. – John M. O’Connor, Career Pro Inc.
- Know Your Lane And Stay In It
I coach only lawyers, being one myself. I named my practice Under Advisement, a play on a legal phrase. I hashtag posts with the word “lawyers,” but also “attorneys” and “law careers.” My email address begins with “jdcareers.” Branding calls for clever continuity and for word usage that speaks specifically to your target audience. Have fun with branding, and you’ll do it better. – Kathy Morris, Under Advisement, Ltd.
- Connect It To Purpose And Values
If your brand is built from the purpose and values of your organization, make the connection between brand and purpose and values explicit as you talk about progress, success and new projects. Lift up the internal and external examples that illustrate your purpose/brand in action. If you have a good brand that is real, and you deliver on it, the execution of the brand strategy will follow. – Leann Wolff, Great Outcomes Consulting
To see the original article, visit https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbescoachescouncil/2021/04/15/13-straightforward-ways-to-improve-branding-strategy
Have any tips you’d like to share? Let me know! I’d love to learn from you.
With love,
Mari Carmen
