How can you make your brand more memorable and impactful to your target clients? Today, Gerry Foster unpacks the importance of making your brand stand out from the competition. A big part of what makes these brands and many others so attractive is a human connection. A heart-centered brand rather than a hit-centered product is necessary for the sustainability of any product. Join Gerry as he briefly shares to you the key to having a brand that matters.
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Stamped On Your Memory
One of the things I’ve been stressing throughout my show is the importance of finding a way to make your brand stand out and be different from the competition. It’s one thing to make your brand visually attractive. You can do that through colors, images and other aesthetics you choose to use. However, it’s an entirely different thing to make your brand as interesting and appealing as possible. Separating your brand by looking at the experience you offer, your customer can often be more effective than any logo or any marketing strategy or tactic that you use. It’s all about the brand experience. Actions speak louder than words. We can all say whatever you want to say about our brands, but it’s a whole different thing to talk about our brands followed by actions in terms of how the brand or what the brand delivers. Let’s take, for example, a few big brands that we can all relate to.
Let’s start off with Virgin America Airlines. They provide one of the most unique experiences in the sky. They decoded the whole ritual of flight and made it fun and cool. Virgin Air introduced the concept of mood lighting to aircraft cabins through the use of purple lights. They’ve got slick-looking black leather seats for a more comfortable feeling in the economy section on the plane and they’ve even got plush all-white leather recliner seats in first class, but it doesn’t stop there. You can order food and drinks from a touch screen menu. Their service is fast as your order typically arrives in a matter of minutes, always delivered by a smiling flight attendant. They even place freshly cut floral bouquets at the Virgin Airlines desk and the kiosk in the airport.
Humanize your brand to stand out from the competition. Click To TweetRichard Branson, the Founder of Virgin Air, I’m talking about one of my big branding heroes. He wanted to make the whole flight experience feel special. He dared to be different as a brand and it paid off quite handsomely for him. We could also look at another brand in the airlines industry, which is Singapore Airlines. Singapore Airlines is known for pleasing its travelers with incredible cabin comfort as well, five-star service, delicious food, impeccable customer service and great value. They, like Virgin, have also mastered luxury in their first and business class cabins. Their first-class cabin is full-grain leather seats that transform into 80-inch lie-flat beds. We’re talking about lie-flat beds on the plane. Both Virgin and Singapore Airlines like other big brands that we admire and love, they don’t simply sell products and services. They sell something bigger. Let’s take Apple. Apple sells cool and simplicity. FedEx sells absolutely reliable. Harley-Davidson sells the freedom to ride. Tony Robbins sells life on your own terms. Nike sells belief. Airbnb sells belong anywhere. Warby Parker sells designer eyewear at revolutionary prices. Martha Stewart sells decor perfection. Crunch gym sells making fitness fun.
Do you see my point? A big part of what makes these brands and many others so attractive is that they attach human emotional ideas that consumers feel and buy into allowing the brands to deliver experiences that are stellar, magical and meaningful. I’m sharing all of this to point out something about many small business brands that I come across and I’ve come across a whole lot over the years. Whether these brands are for a company, product, service, nonprofit or personal brand for someone, the bottom line, what have I seen? They aren’t attractive and if you’re a business owner who is using or considering the use of social media, your brand absolutely needs to be as attractive as possible, especially if you wish to attract younger audiences like Millennials. It goes well beyond simply having a great logo, a cool looking website and awesome videos on YouTube, Facebook or Instagram.
Making Your Brand Memorable: Separating your brand by looking at the experience you offer can be more effective than any logo or marketing strategy that you use.
Don’t get me wrong here. A great business logo that will catch the attention of your ideal customers, your target audience and engage them along with a visually-appealing website is essential. No argument there. Without a doubt, video is the rage at the moment. Videos are also essential for your branding. However, my question to you though is, how can you make your brand more attractive by enhancing the experience for your customer and making it memorable? That’s something to think about.
Let’s unpack this. For example, could you perhaps post pictures of yourself, your team, maybe some of your customers at your company events and activities to bond more with your target audience? Maybe you could provide a more multisensory experience online in terms of what people see or hear when they come across your brand. Could you perhaps inject the use of humor somewhere, make your ideal customers laugh or make them think by sharing some of your best stuff, your ideas, suggestions or solutions to some of their pain points? Your aim here is to acknowledge them and address their needs to help them learn and grow. Perhaps you could find ways to inspire, engage, pump up, motivate and empower your target audience. Touch their hearts or even make them cry if need be. Let’s not forget most people, most consumers all want to be more and do more so they can have more or give more. In our culture now, what we’re finding across many businesses is that people as customers want fast responses, streamlined services, open ears and things to be simple and not complicated or overwhelming. You decide to be as authentic and genuine as possible in how you present your brand.
There’s an old saying in branding, “Never create a new conversation. Enter into the conversation that’s already inside the customer’s head.” That means putting yourself in the shoes of your ideal customers, their heart, and their head with your focus being to be heart-centered and not hit-centered to make a heart connection that will last. Ask yourself, how do you want your ideal customers to feel after experiencing your brand? What do you want them to remember? If they visit your website or experience any of your social media platforms, what do you want them to take away? Always remember your goal is to make a lasting, memorable impression through a brand experience that will glow for a lifetime. Humanize your brand. Make it personal. Decide on the brand experience you wish to provide. Not only is this a sure-fire way to help set you apart from the competition and will help you rise above the noise, be more distinctive and recognizable and attract attention that can drive more sales leads or transactions. Because you will be capitalizing on an exciting opportunity to scale your business next year as well as the days and months ahead, all leading to higher profits, stronger cashflow and financial stability. Not to mention you having a lot more fun and personal fulfillment from your business. Take care.
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