Branding

Notes Shared By Others…

• Notes from IDS National Brand Awareness Workshop
• Ties an emotional connection to your brand
• Tells about your reputation and quality Loyalty, reputation Especially important if you’re new
• How? Without money—social
• Who defines the brand? We do—& observe how the consumer interprets it, and you respond
• Authenticity—we’re more complex than we think we are; and if it’s overstated it comes off as fake
• Social—what everyone says to each other & reputation
• Reviews are essential
• Responding to bad review – can see it as advertising cost to resolve it, do whatever it takes
• Branding tips—don’t apologize for who you are & let our personality go through your business; be unique & like what you do = attract the customers you want to work with = plays into not faking it
• And it’s consistent repetition—every time, in every medium, every conversation & phone call

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Additional Branding Tips…

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STAND FOR SOMETHING. A style. A method. A reason. A cause. Standing for a price will eventually kill you

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BE SPECIFIC, but not too specific. Find your Niche

Sears sold everything

Then Dicks decided to just sell sporting goods

Then Golf Outlet decides to just sell golf related sporting goods

Then someone opens a golf towel store and fails (too specific)

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Convenience is also key. Radio Shack was specific, but Amazon was convenient. Give the customer what she wants when she wants it. What you want doesn’t matter to her.

Once you’ve determined who, what, and why you are, you can define a target that’s more easily reachable. Don’t aim at everyone; shoot for your 15%.

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Reviews, reviews, reviews. Do everything possible to encourage the good and eliminate the bad. Don’t think of spending money to make a customer happy as a customer service expense, think of it as part of your advertising budget.

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INSPIRE Instagram/Pinterest/Facebook are places to inspire. Posts are seen by more people when more people are engaging with them (double-tapping, liking, pinning, sharing). Create posts that are share-worthy. Answer common questions. Provide tips or free advice. Don’t just show what you sell and don’t just share memes or recipes. Think about the types of posts YOU interact with and copy that.

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ENGAGEMENT Add some easy fun to your posts. Invite followers to answer a question or express how they feel about something with a GIF.

Be real. Show the ugly, the problems, the challenges, not just the beautiful result.  Every HGTV rehab show mixes-in a perceived problem to create some drama. People like drama.

Capitalize on FOMO (fear of missing out) by adding some exclusivity.

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If you have a place, make it selfie-worthy.  Create something people want to take pictures in front of – wings on a wall, a giant high heel, furniture nailed to the ceiling, a bathroom where everything (EVERYTHING) is the exact same color.

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SHARING Create a valuable message for your existing audience, and then ask for it to be shared. Sharing is easy compared to asking for a review or referral; generally only requiring the receiver to click Share or Forward. And that allows the Sharer to add value to others whom they care about making a positive impression on. 

Your fans will lose interest if you only ask them to share your content and send you referrals. Make things fun so they’ll look forward to your emails. For example, send links to fun quizzes and games. Think about what would give your fans a laugh and break up their workday. The better you engage them with interesting activities, the more likely they are to perform some serious acts of advocacy when you ask.

Many fans are motivated by competition. Make advocating for you a game, in which you give them points when they complete a task for you. For example, they can get 10 points for sharing your latest blog post and 500 points for sending you a referral—the bigger the ask, the higher the point value. To motivate them even more, put their points on a leaderboard to show them how they stack up against their peers. Using gamification to turn advocacy into a contest will inspire them to do more for you.

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