Enhancing your brand will help elevate its visibility to your existing client base and increase your visibility to a newer, potential client base. By following the steps below, your brand will be enhanced creating greater brand awareness.
1. Continuity is Key
Presenting your brand in a consistent manner, within every aspect of your business is essential to brand enhancement. It begins with message presentation, both visually and literally. The message components (visual and literal) need to work cohesively, be clear and concise and maintaining continuity over time. This does not mean the message has to be exactly the same, it can vary, however the core substance should be intact. Continuity is not only in the marketing message you deliver and engage with, it is also key in customer service whether it be in how the phone is answered, how your greet your customers in person, how you interact with them on every communication level, it must all be presented in a way where you are there for them. And, over time, this continuity will bring a sense of trust to your customer and potential customer. You will soon see the true benefits of continuity.
2. Medium is the Message
Continuity is extremely important to your brand enhancement yet your options for message delivery are vast. Maintaining the continuity across a variety of mediums means you’ll need to adapt your brand and message to to fit the different mediums available. Mediums can include everything from print to broadcast to social media, online (your website or online advertising campaigns) environmental and more. Start with being aware of the audience the medium will be addressing and the medium itself – how it translates to your audience. For instance your message presented in a magazine ad can be full bodied and encompass a complete thought targeting one of your demographics. When translating the message online in a banner ad you could be targeting another demographic yet your message will need to maintain the essence of the overall look and feel. Also, given the medium – an online ad banner, you’ll have only a few seconds to grab the viewers attention much like driving by a billboard where only a few words will work. Unlike a billboard you will have animation choices to help get the needed attention. So when it comes to enhancing your brand across the various mediums available, make sure you understand the medium itself and the audience.
3. Meeting and Exceeding Expectations
What better way for you to enhance your brand than through expectations. Meeting and better yet, exceeding expectations, on a consistent basis, will fulfill customer needs and create positive word of mouth. Depending upon the category you serve, a customer’s expectation will differ. You will want to determine, within your category, what you do best, what you can do better, and with these things, how you can differentiate yourself from the competition. The best way to differentiate yourself is to meet and exceed your customers expectations. Apply what you know and what you can do better – consistently and you will easily exceed expectations.
4. Customer is King
If you were to think back to why you started your business, no matter what size it is, you will come up with an answer similar to others who started their own business. It was to fill a need, to help people. This applies whether you manufacture a product or provide services. Filling a need is all about the customer and that is why the customer is king and the reason you are in business. If you have no customers, you have no business (or what you have is a hobby). Knowing this truth yourself and for the entire organization to understand, will always keep the customer front and center.
5. Your Brand is Your Business
Understanding your brand is the whole of your business will help you to consistently enhance your brand. Your brand is not your logo, it’s not you, it’s not your product, it is all these things and more. More being the customer, your employees, the place in which you conduct business and so on. Maybe an easier way to understand it is to state it is all a reflection of your brand, all of these components. And when put together, they equal your brand.
Enhance your brand on a daily basis following these five steps, doing so will create a greater position in your category and elevate your brand overall.