Five Steps to a Prosperous Brand
Anyone who’s been through a sales plateau that’s stretched for any length of time can tell you how frustrating it is. It’s almost as if you’re living under a dark cloud. You seek desperately for the light to shine on your business again and bring back a fruitful season, but the sun never shows. You look outward to your competitors to see if they’re experiencing the same darkness… hoping to place the blame for lack of sales on an external factor, like a dip in the economy, and hoping to find you’re not alone in this struggle.
Then you see it… the sunlight shining. Only it’s not shining on you, it’s shining on your competitor. You may even see a few of your loyal clients in their sunlight and paying good money for it. Money that they used to give to you! What has happened?! What does your competitor have that you don’t?
In today’s world, it’s a rare thing to have no competition. If you truly have no competition, you either have a niche so small your viability may be in jeopardy or you are the first to market with your p
The difference between the businesses that grow year after year and those that don’t is something I call your “It Factor.”
Your It Factor is that one thing that makes you lovable in the eyes of your clients. It’s something no other business can possess… it’s unique to you. Discovering your It Factor will position your business to attract your ideal client avatar and ultimately increase sales.
So how do you find it?
We've identified five steps to identify your “It Factor” and cut through the noise in a crowded marketplace.
Understand your market. When you understand the things that go on inside their head that they never talk about, that’s when they’ll take notice of what you have to say. Because you’ll be saying all the things they’ve been thinking but were either too afraid to articulate or didn’t know how to articulate. Learn more about understanding your market.
Understand how your solutions solve their problems. Every product or service is a means to an end. Sometimes the ends can vary as much as the problems that precipitate the purchase of the products or services. You may be selling zippers to be sewn onto clothing, but a customer may be purchasing the zipper to sew into a bag. Learn more about positioning your offer.
Create a brand script. Your brand script is the endearing story that will draw customers in and make them loyal fans. The most important thing to remember in creating your brand script is that you are not the hero in this script… your audience is the hero! This story is about the reader. Their problems. Their desires. And how you can help them overcome their problems and achieve their desired end result. Create a brand script here.
Create experiences for the senses. When most people think of branding their business, they think of designing a logo and selecting colors and graphics. Notice, however, that this is only addressing our sense of sight. An all-encompassing brand incorporates multiple senses: sight, sound, smell, taste and/or touch. Think about the distinct flavor of KFC's original recipe. Or the unique scent of Play-Doh. Whether or not it's done intentionally, these scents are an inseparable part of their brands. More about brand experiences.
Deliver a consistent brand. Have you ever walked into a store and been completely thrown off by what you encountered? This is what happens when a business suffers from a branding identity crisis. Perhaps previously you only interacted with them online. Or maybe you’ve never directly interacted with them and just know of them through media or by phone. This is why it’s important to ensure consistent branding across the board. Learn more about consistency in branding.
Getting noticed is becoming more and more difficult, and executing these steps to the fullest extent possible will help you stand out. The more money you are asking for from your customers, the more your branding need to be on point. Think about it: if you stumbled upon a website that was clearly done by an amateur with paragraph text running across the entire width of your screen, you’d never pay $10,000 for their services. Whatever they are selling, you would expect to pay less than market value and expect to get a good deal. Why? The message they are conveying is that they are cheap... so cheap they can’t even invest in a course to learn how design a website!
Don’t fret if you are just starting your business and have no money to hire a professional designer. Your design just needs to be commensurate with where you are setting customer expectations for your products and services. As you gain experience and grow your business, you’ll want up your branding game as well. A rebrand right before a price increase will help position you in a better light to command higher prices (if the rebrand is done right).
Are you considering a rebrand? Regardless of where you are in your journey, we’d love to chat with you and learn more about your needs! Schedule a complimentary discovery call now.
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