DON'T LET "HOLES" IN YOUR BRAND STEAL YOUR HAPPY!
Article by Kelsey Borlan Lee
Photo Credit: Pinterest
Magazine: Issue #15
“A Brand is not a product or a promise or a feeling. It’s the sum of all the experiences you have with a company.” -Arim Kassaei
So you are running your own, lucrative, exciting, passion filled businesses… right? If the answer to this is not a resounding YES!!!!!!! Then its time to take a good look as to why not. I would argue that your brand itself is the single best way to measure the health, status, and overall sense of wellbeing you experience in your business. Great branding is an honest and accurate reflection of who you are AND it speaks directly to your ideal clients. If both of these elements are not firmly in place within your brand, then its going to be pretty hard to run the business (and ultimately live the life) of your dreams!
So, here are a few question to help get your creative branding juices flowing:
Your company name - Does it tell potential clients anything about what your business does?
Your logo - Does it speak to what you do or who you are?
Your products & services - Are they luxury items or necessities? Do you want a high-end feel? all american? boutique?
Here’s a huge one: your website! - Is your site user friendly? Does it showcase your business at its best? Can your clients get a feel for who you are and what you are about simply by clicking around your site? If not, this is a problem & you are inevitably loosing business
How you dress is an important one! - Do your clothes align with your brand or work against it?)
Social Media - Does your genuine voice shine through? Or, are you a self-promotion machine?
What is your brand promise? - Do you deliver on your promise?
OK! So, your brand is the whole package. Its what sets you apart from every other photographer, every other designer, every other coach, every other business. Then, what happens when one or several of these elements are out of alignment with your brand? Well, these are what I call “holes” in your brand.
When people encounter a hole in your brand, they will get confused, pause for a moment, and one of two things is going to happen.
• If they already like you and/or if your branding is mostly in place and this is a small hole , they will keep going.
OR
• They will simply walk away to find someone else who they can more easily understand and relate to.
Obviously, this is NOT what you want to happen. So, how do you avoid this? How do you rest assured knowing that the people who click away are leaving for the right reasons (they are simply not your ideal clients) rather than the wrong ones?
Well, I would start with a quick DIY brand audit by going over the above list of brand touch
points. At the same time, ask yourself, “does my brand make me happy?” and, “does my brand speak to my ideal clients?”
If you find that you just have a few minor brand elements that you can tweak, great! Get to it! If on the other hand, your answers are all over the board, then it might be time to consider getting some help and objectivity. Or perhaps, rebranding all together might be the right choice.
Stop loosing customers, time, and money! Instead, invest in yourself and your company by
building a brand your customers can be OBSESSED with!