The success of a small business relies, in part, on the company’s ability to create a winning brand. In order to be successful, you must create a memorable reputation — and part of that reputation lies in your ability to successfully brand your company, products and services.
The idea of branding is not new. Branding dates back to 2000 B.C. when inscriptions on the walls of ancient Egyptian tombs indicate that cattle were branded. What has changed is how you create a winning brand in today’s online-intense marketplace.
Successful companies create strong brands around colors, images, logos, shapes, slogans and taglines.
Coca-Cola has been called the world’s most iconic beverage. The company consistently and very deliberately, uses their trademark red, the distinctive Coke glass bottle figure, their script logo, and targeted slogans. Below is one of their latest videos. When I posted this, the video was less than 2 hours old and had 306 views. It will be interesting to see how many views it has when you read this.
Free Branding Assessment Tool
Coke’s consistent branding has resulted in a strong consumer following. You can do the same with your branding.
To learn how to brand your products, services and company as consistently as Coke, start with a quick branding assessment. Click here to download Reciprocate’s free branding assessment tool. You’ll also receive an exclusive offer to receive a free company branding of your Constant Contact emails. But hurry, the Constant Contact branding offer expires Feb. 29, 2012.
Once you have identified the Pain Points, you can identify the solutions available from your product/service.
In your marketing messages, reinforce that you understand what your customers really need. Illustrate or demonstrate their pain point and how your product/service can take away their pain. Clearly define the Pain Point that your product/service is addressing.
When you market your products or service directly to solve those pain points, your customers will respond.
Try to understand your customer in terms of the Pain Points they are experiencing. Learn to recognize these Pain Points by asking questions and listening. Here are a few ideas:
Imagine a day in the life of your customer What problem does your product or service address?
Ask current customers about their lifestyles and goals How do they perceive themselves?
Ask customers what motivates them – and what doesn’t. Find out what the customer really needs
What is the true source of pain? Sometimes, you’ll need to read between the lines and listen past the immediate requests
Who sees the most value in having that pain removed? These will be your best customers
Who will ultimately pay for a solution? The end user of your product/service is not always the one who pays i.e. child/parent or pet/owner
Example Pain Points
Imagine you own a restaurant. You might be addressing not only a customer’s Pain Point and need for nutrition but also the Pain Point for a place to gather with friends without having to clean the house, a place to watch sports on multiple screens, somewhere to escape from work or home, or a place to celebrate. And the type of food you offer – healthy, inexpensive, ethnic – also might address your customers’ Pain Points.
Do you understand why your customers buy your product or service? I mean really understand what makes them buy?
Nothing motivates a person quite like pain.
While that might sound harsh, one of the best ways to increase sales is to identify your customers’ Pain Points and then position your company to deliver solutions that relieve these issues.
Customers with a burning need for something – their Pain Point – are highly motivated to alleviate this pain by buying what you have to offer.
What Pain Points do your customers have? Sample Pain Points include:
Are you getting the most marketing “BANG”
from your website?
Your website is the center of your online universe. One of the biggest mistakes small businesses make is not engaging with their website visitors — an easy mistake to make – and, luckily, it’s just as easy to correct.
Here’s a quick 4-question self-evaluation quiz to see if your website is working effectively that includes tips and simple fixes.
Website Effectiveness Quiz
Does each page offer a “Call to Action”? Encourage interaction with website visitors by asking them to do something – such as “Click here,” “Call today,” “Learn more.” Then hyperlink the Call to Action to the appropriate page or action.
Do you have contact information on each page? Website visitors move fast. If they can’t find what they are looking for quickly, they will leave your website and move on to the competition. Make it easy to reach you. Include a hyperlinked email address for added ease.
Are you capturing email addresses of web visitors? Now that visitors found you on the internet, you need a way to stay in touch. Offering a white paper or email newsletter subscription is a great way to capture email addresses so you can continue to market to your website visitors, even after they’ve left your website. Constant Contact offers an inexpensive, easy-to-install website tool that can turn visitors into an email contact list. Click here to learn more.
Choose one marketing theme for each month in 2012. Then feature the theme on your website, in social media postings and in all your monthly marketing efforts.
The themes will also give you new points for discussion at networking events and a reason to approach prospects throughout the year.
Marketing doesn’t have to be hard — or time consuming — and can even be fun. Here’s a simple way to use a modern twist on mythology that is guaranteed to increase sales whether you are a B2B or B2C.
Marketing Mythology
Create a mythological character, MTC (MyTypicalCustomer), based on your target market. Artist talent is not required; you can even use an online photo of an anonymous person. As you create MTC, answer these questions to help you determine what is important to MTC and why MTC is your target customer.
What does MTC look like?
Do you have several MTCs — male, female, different ages or even different education levels?
What does MTC do for a living?
Does MTC work/study in the city, suburbs, at home?
How does MTC spend his/her spare time?
Does MTC have any hobbies?
What is MTC’s family life like? Does he have kids? Aging parents?
Where does MTC live? Does he live in the city, suburbs or rural area? On a farm, in a mansion, or in an apartment?
Does MTC recycle or place high importance on green companies and products?
What pets does MTC have?
Does MTC donate to charities? Which ones?
Is MTC tech savvy? How much time does he spend on the computer each day?
Does MTC own a smartphone or mobile device? What apps does he use the most?
Is MTC active on Facebook? LinkedIn? Twitter?
What problem does MTC have that your products or services can help solve?
What words does MTC use when looking for the solution to this problem?
These become the keywords you should use everywhere online — on your website, in your social media profiles and posts, and in directory listings.
Now that you have created your Mythological Marketing character, keep MTC with you. Hang MTC on your office wall. Attach MTC to your monitor. Use MTC as your screensaver or wallpaper. Throughout the day, ask yourself these questions:
wwMTCt? (What Would MyTypicalCustomer Think?)
Would MTC be moved to action by your decision or bored by your message?
Create calls to action that will inspire MTC to pick up the phone/email/purchase your product or service.
There, as easy as that, you’ve created a Marketing Myth guaranteed to increase sales. By keeping MTC top of mind when making business decisions, you will find that your business becomes more focused on your target customer and your sales will increase.
