Chapter 7 – Establishing Brand
Once you have determined your mission, vision, audience, and separation from the competitors you can begin to establish your brand. There are many things that you need to do to establish your brand so people will begin to remember your name. These things include getting inside of the customer’s mind, get endorsements, find hot prospects, and use the public relations firms to your advantage. These few things will go a long way when making an effort to establish yourself amongst the competition an in the market.
Establishing a Place Inside of the Customer’s Mind
One of your biggest goals in the branding process is establishing a place inside of the customer’s mind. At this point, you have a good idea who your audience is supposed to be. You know what their income level is, their age, and possibly geographical details. This information is relevant in establishing an actual audience.
Your goal is to prove to the customer they have a need for your product or your service. The customer needs to find a reason why they need you. The branding techniques will tell the customer that your product resolves a problem they may have, fulfills a need they have, and makes their life much better if they purchase it. There has to be a reason to purchase the product and a positive aspect of why it is the best option to use it.
When you get inside of the customer’s head the customer will believe they absolutely have to have the product. As you see many infomercials talk about how someone will become rich if they use a product or how their health will be better you need to establish the benefit of the customer so you can make them truly believe that their life will be much better when they use your product.
This also means that you have to build trust and credibility with the customers. Many products do a fantastic job of proving to the customer why a product or service is beneficial and needed. However, they fail to establish credibility or trust with the consumers. Your reputation is not at stake but it is questioned at this point so you need to provide proof that you are going to deliver the promises you are making to the customer.
Endorsements
The public and consumers listen to public figures. When you have the ability to get an endorsement on a product then you need to take advantage of it. However, you cannot wait for an endorsement to come to you. Your public relations manager may need to contact some of these figures to see if they are interested in endorsing a product. One thing to keep in mind is that endorsements may cost quite a bit of money if you are trying to get a public figure to back your product.
There are many ways to get endorsements. You may attend events where a public figure is going to be. This includes getting back stage at concerts or shows where you can have access to the person. You also can call their managers and talk to them about endorsing a product.
One thing to keep in mind about endorsements is that you need to find a figure that matches the audience also. If your target audience is teenagers then you want to find an endorsement that the teenagers know and trust. Someone that the teenagers think is hip and would want to buy the product when they find out the person uses it too. The last thing you would want to do is get an endorsement on your product by an older individual who is well known and respected by an older audience that the teenager audience has never heard of. This would be a waste of money and time on your part.
Hot Prospects
As a marketer, when branding your business or product you need to be on the lookout for hot prospects and opportunities at all times. These need to be taken advantage of when you can. It is important to use every opportunity to get your product exposure in the right methods. These methods may be trade shows or other public events.
When you attend trade shows and other events the goal is to look and be professional. If you just have a table set up with a few products on it then customers may not take you seriously. Attending events like this require professional flyers, banners, signs, and other things to get the attention of attendees. It is important to look prepared and professional.
The more events you attend the more your name gets out there. When you create banners and signs you may find a situation where someone would like to display your banner or sign. Do not charge someone for this. This is a benefit for you because it is free advertising, minus the cost of the banner. It will give you exposure and help you with the branding of your business and product.
Hot prospects need to reach out to the targeted audience for your product or service. Do not attend events that your audience is not going to be at. If there is no way that an elderly crowd will be interested in what you are offering then you are only wasting your time to make a big presentation to them at a trade show. Know who the audience is going to be at the public prospects for gaining exposure.
Using Public Relations Pros to Your Advantage
Media attention needs to be used to your advantage. There are many ways to do this. One thing to keep in mind is that your product and your brand do not have to be fully established yet to gain the attention of the media. What is important is that you use the media to help you get established.
The media can be used in many ways. Press releases are one of the best things you can do to get the exposure you are looking for and help you create a place in the industry of the business.
A press release is usually used for announcing grand openings for new businesses, new product launches, big sales and events, or anything else new that is happening within a company.
The elements of a press release should include the event itself, why people will benefit going to it, the location, date, and time of the event. If you don’t tell people where to go it will do you no good. You should also provide your company contact information in case the media wants to call you to get an interview or even write a story on the company. Customers may have questions. Without contact information it could cost you a lot of business. Also, always include your website address in a press release so people can go to your site and learn more about who you are.
Press releases are sent out to as many media outlets as you can send them to for the targeted audiences you are trying to reach out to. These media outlets include news stations, newspapers, magazines, radio stations, and more. When a media outlet receives a press release they may do a few things. They may immediately respond and use it for the next big story that hit the press and tell the public all about it. They may put it aside for when they are waiting for a slow period and then use it as a story or they will do nothing at all.
Sending out press releases doesn’t cost a business anything. It is cheap and you do not need to worry about cost. It never hurts to send out press releases even if the media is not interested. The point is that you have to at least try to use public relations to your benefit. It may be that one event or announcement you have about your business that is used by the press. That one small bit of exposure could go a long way for you.
Chapter 8 – Establishing Company Identity
Establishing your identity is very important when you are fighting for a place in a market or a certain niche. You may know exactly who you are but you need to get your name out there and for people to be aware of your existence also. There are many ways you can establish an identity in a local community or around the world.
Donations
Donations do you a lot of justice when it comes to establishing an identity around the local community and anywhere else. Many companies or non-profits offer plaques with your name on them, engravings in the wall, and other things when you donate money to them. This gives you exposure. When customers see your name as a company that made a donation, not only does it look good for you but it gets the company name out there permanently. This part of the branding process is important because it helps the business build credibility and trust with the customers in the market.
Investments
Investments are very important also. When you invest in a company it is important to be sure they are in the same industry as your product or service. Investing helps build a name for your company, give you more exposure and more. When you invest in a company, one of the agreements you can make when lending your money is that they provide exposure or advertising for you. Investments are very beneficial and help with the branding process.
Give Free Information
So many companies upset customers because they want to charge money for everything. This leaves a customer walking away with a bad taste in their mouth about you and only causes you to look dishonest or greedy. There are things that you can give away for free when it comes to information. There is no way you can teach a customer everything you know in just a few minutes of talking to them or in a few pages that they can read.
Many people practice giving tips and advice through flyers and brochures. You may want to place a few useful tips on the back of your brochure. This will help build credibility and trust with customers that you are not greedy and you are willing to help them achieve certain goals. It will also prove to them that you actually have the knowledge to perform certain tasks within your company. You don’t have to reveal secrets of the trade but you can give out helpful information that is useful.
Giving useful information may include offering tips and advice when you are out on a service call in a home. If your company offers plumbing services and you are on a call that the customer has frozen pipes under their home then you may recommend they leave the water dripping overnight. This type of advice is useful to the customer and will help them not end up in a situation with a burst pipe. Although, continuous broken pipes may be a profit for you it is only one customer.
You may think it will not benefit you to tell them how to avoid problems because then they won’t need you. However, there are plenty of other reasons they can call you. Plus, you will be the person they will turn to any time they need something repaired. In addition, word of mouth goes a long way with customers and the customer may attract you plenty of business your way.
Adding Value to Your Business
When you are branding it is important to add value with everything you do. Adding value means making yourself valuable to the customers and the community. This may include giving out free information through tips and tricks, statistics, and other useful bits.
You can make the business more valuable by adding a little extra in everything that you do. A voice mail message might include a quick tip on fixing something or a way to prevent a computer virus. The signature on your email should contain more than your name, address, and phone number. You might include a useful sentence underneath that is a quick tip or useful bit of information.
Making yourself useful adds value to your business and to the customers. The customers need to believe that they need you and this is a part of proving to them you are useful and the best person to turn to when they need something.
Getting Your Brand Out There
So you have designed a logo, a name, a tagline, and anything else. Now you need to practice other methods to get your name all over the place. This can be done with clothing, pens, cups, and other paraphernalia.
Clothing is one of the best things you can get out there on people. If you design t-shirts with your company name and logo on them people will wear them. These should be free items that you give away to people as they visit your booth, table, or even take a survey. You may offer the t-shirts to people if they give you feedback on their opinions for certain things. They may provide their information or email which also is a contact you just made. Always hold onto this information as you can use it in an email campaign. One thing to consider is that when you ask customers for an email address, always ask them if it is okay to contact them via email. Do not assume that it is okay or you may upset them. One thing that is okay is sending a flyer, brochure, or coupon in the regular snail mail.
Clothing works in many ways. People wear free t-shirts all over the world. They may travel to different destinations like a gym working out, a beach, or a fair. This is exposure for you for every person that sees this person. The more t-shirts you get out there the better for your business.
One thing to keep in mind with printed materials as advertising techniques to spread the company name is that you want to create things that are useful for people. A pen with your company name is more useful than a koozie. Pens will never be thrown away because someone will use them until the ink runs out. They are very cheap to make and easy to distribute. You can give a package of pens to a business that you know spends a lot of time traveling around the world. Before you know it your pens were left in meetings and other places and now you have people checking out your site from other countries. It is as easy as that when you distribute items with your company name on them.
You have to get your name out there and create your popularity. You can do this by designing t-shirts and other useful things for the business. Try to give these things away for free so you can have the best results with your branding. Also, make sure that the items created look nice and represent your brand as you want to be portrayed. Match the scheme.
Get One on One with the Customers
Getting one on one with the customers is very important. You need to talk to the customers and let them know that you are there for them if they have questions and that you really exist. Companies need representatives of a business so they are existent. It is hard for a business to gain exposure when they don’t have someone to actually talk to.
If your business targets a local community then it is important to get out there and talk to the community. Remember you are looking for the audience who is going to benefit from your product. These are the people you want to talk to.
If you have a business on the web then you will need to get one on one with the customers by providing access to a direct chat option. This gives customers a good feeling but they know that someone really exists. When you offer a direct chat they have the ability to contact a live person rather than talk to a machine. Customers despise machines, automated phone systems, and more. They will try to avoid them and it can give them a bad taste in their mouth about the business. Try to be as responsive as possible with the customers.
Local Business Events
Other local business events are extremely important. Not only do you want to target your local or national audience but you also want to attend other business events. You may find a company struggling that may need your assistance. You might find a company that you can work with together on a project in trade for advertising or even help you build your credibility.
Local business events help you network in the big industry that you may be working in. It is important to talk to companies and let them know you are out there. Maybe you will recommend one company while they recommend you. Always talk to other businesses, let them know about who you are and what you are all about, what their benefit is by knowing you, and how you can help each other. Give them something to remember you by and make an impact.
When you attend events and network with other companies and people then you provide another form of advertising. Networking works very well because when someone does come across a situation where they could use your product or service they will remember you. Creating contacts is a very big part of branding. It also helps instill your company name in the minds of people around the industry.
Chapter 9 – Media Consideration
Media is extremely important when branding a business. There are many different outlets and they can be used in many different ways to your advantage and even for damage control. Proper branding means staying tight with the media as your friend. Some say to keep your friends close and your enemies closer and this is true with the media. They can make you very popular or ruin you but nothing really in between. You need the media on your side at all times.
Local Media
There are many different local media outlets that you might consider using when you are looking to brand your company or a product. You can use local newspapers to announce sales, events, and other things. The television stations are useful when running advertisements or events on the news.
One thing to keep in mind is that public television stations are free and they cannot charge you money to run something on them. If you are a non-profit organization looking to brand your organization the best way to do it is through public television stations. You can announce events like blood drives and other things on public television. This is great exposure and it is free.
Other methods of local media may be local websites for town members. Some towns have a site for the community where people can post things like classified ads and other things. They are free sites and sometimes used more than the newspapers because of this.
Article Writing for Press
Another way you can use the media to your advantage is to write your own articles and distribute them to the press. This is very beneficial. If the press comes across times they need to fill additional space in their paper they may use them.
Sending articles to the press is free. The will not charge you to use them. If you write beneficial articles to magazines in the industry you work in then you may even get paid for the article.
Article writing is a very beneficial way to advertise your business and helps with the branding process.
Sponsors
Looking for sponsors is very important. It is very similar to getting an endorsement. You may make a deal with companies to sponsor you that might include putting up an advertisement at a local event or charity you are holding. Sponsors need to see a benefit in it for them and they are usually willing. When you find local sponsors it helps build credibility with your business. You should always look for local or national sponsors.
Sponsors can be used on your website and at your local business. The most common way to obtain a sponsor is by offering them advertising for their business.
Written Testimonials
Written testimonials are very important in the branding process because they work in two ways. They help build credibility and trust with the targeted audience.
When you sell products or services to customers it is important to gather as many written testimonials that you can from customers. A customer can write up the type of product or service they purchased from your company and their experience working with you. The more written testimonials you have the better.
Written testimonials are beneficial because they create hype. They increase the excitement about your business and make people want to try your product. Testimonials tell the public that you followed through on delivering the promise made. This means that consistency is present and it is very important.
Without written testimonials it is hard to prove that you deliver. It is hard to build a brand without people to back you like endorsements through public figures and people in the community.
Special Offers
Building a brand also requires you to provide offers and special discounts to the customers. Customers are always looking for a great deal and when they know they can get it from you they will shop from you.
You might offer discount codes to customers for specific items or even a buy one get one free deal. These are excellent ways to promote a business. If you have an online company then you may offer free shipping or other types of discounts to people during a specified period of time.
Special offers work very well with customers. Free items usually work the best because customers find that nothing is ever free. Although it is not cost effective to give away free items you may include something free with a purchase of a bigger item.
Referrals
Another media consideration when you are building up your brand is that you need to work on referrals. Referrals work very well in building up your brand. This is word of mouth through customers who swear by you. These can be difficult to build up but when you get referrals it helps with credibility.
You can help with gaining referrals to your business by offering specials or discounts to customers that refer you to other customers. This may be a $5 discount on their next purchase or something else. When the customer sees there is a benefit in it for them they will often times refer the company to gain the benefit. This helps increase a customer base, revenues, and build up your brand.
Inserts
Inserts are very beneficial to brand building and a perfect use of the media. Some newspapers or brochures may have a cost associated with adding an insert in a newspaper while others may allow you to provide an insert for free.
Inserts in newspapers and magazines allow for more exposure of the company. Even if a customer doesn’t thoroughly read an insert they will remember the name of the company and your logo. It creates a stamp in their mind about you and the products and services offered. This way if they come across a situation where they need a product or your service they will think of the business. Inserts work well and are very beneficial for getting into the mind of customers.
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