Do You Have a Knockout Brand?

The battle for your customers’ attention is becoming more difficult by the day. Customers have short attention spans due to their preoccupation with work, family, and other interests. They are tired of blatant marketing messages and being sold to at every minute of the day. If you want your product or service to be noticed, you have to have something that will help you to stand out from the crowd. No, it’s not a gimmick, a nice website, or even having more Facebook “likes” than your competition. What you need is a knockout brand. Do you know what it is that makes people stop and pay attention to your brand? If your answer is no, then you have a big problem.

What is branding?

The word branding is thrown around a lot in marketing blogs and articles. Branding is simply the creation of a story that connects your product or service to your customers’ emotions. Your brand tells the world who you are and makes you clearly distinguishable from others who may be selling similar products and services. Branding, done correctly, can create loyal customers who will voluntarily tell all their friends about how much they love your product or service.

Some hints that your brand may need to be reconfigured

How do you know if your brand is working for you? Sales is a major indicator of whether or not your branding is a success. Some other indicators of a poorly planned brand are

• you find it difficult to build upon the momentum of past success;
• your customers are confused about who you are and what you do well;
• you tend to be defensive when talking about your company.

When rethinking your brand, it is a good idea to go back to the drawing board and figure out why your brand is not resonating with your target market. Here are a few reasons why customers may not be connecting to your brand.

Unfocused messaging. Your message is inconsistent because you have not figured out what makes you unique in the marketplace yet. This is essential to the success of any brand. Once you have this information, it will be much easier to create a brand that will resonate with your people.

Look of your brand is inconsistent. The colors and typeface on your website should coincide with the story your brand tells. The look and feel of your website, logo, social media profiles, etc. should be consistent no matter if I find you online, in a local newspaper, a magazine, etc.

Look of your brand does not speak to your audience. Your target market may be a group of 30+ year old business owners, however your website features pictures and colors that are more attractive to baby boomers. If you want to know whether or not your brand is connecting to your target market, simply ask them. Let them tell you — in their own words — what works and what does not.

Your brand is the face of your business. Take the time to get your branding right and your marketing will be much, much easier to plan in the future.