When you’re committed to your craft or passionate about delivering great work, you might be spending more time DOING your work than you do PROMOTING it.
Chances are your brand is letting you down and not showing the world your unique story, your talent or your ideas.
To ensure that your brand works for you, you need to put some time into working on it! A brand is not something you can just ‘get done’ then let it sit on the shelf without taking care of it. If you’re brushing your branding under the carpet, maybe it’s time to consider giving it a bit more TLC. Creating an excellent looking brand identity or developing a polished website will not be enough by itself.
Here’s why …
Your brand is a living, breathing entity, and it should be your friend, your ally and your business partner that works for you and with you. If it’s not, it might be working against you. However, if you take the time to nurture your brand, it will be actively building your business aligned with you and your dreams.
The top five things business owners skip over or miss out on completely that will dramatically affect how well your brand is working for you
- You’re not clear on your ideal audience, who really values what you do.
If you’re not clear on who your audience is, your marketing efforts are not going to reach them. Identify them and you can deliver marketing that reaches the right people at the right time with the right content.
- You haven’t found that sweet spot that defines YOU.
Something that connects with your audience, that only your brand can deliver and that stands out in your industry. That makes you the obvious choice for your ideal audience.
- You’re not clearly delivering or packaging your offerings.
With cluttered messaging and busy branding, your customers are left feeling confused or leave you in search of your clearer competitors. Organise your offerings and present them clearly and concisely and your customers will thank you for it.
- Your visual identity is not accurately portraying your business.
If your logo is tired or your identity is outdated, you’re not able to charge what you’re worth and you’re not going to attract the right people. Design a brand that portrays you correctly, and you’re going to connect and cut through.
- You’re practicing reactive marketing
Hoping for sales and traction with a scattergun approach? If you’re throwing content out there because you ‘have to be on social’ it’s a waste of time. Instead, prepare a goal driven strategy that you can deliver consistently and professionally and you’ll start to get noticed by the people that matter.
- Your visual identity is lacking personality
If your visual identity is bland or ‘greige’ you’re going to get lost in the crowds. If you’re not oozing personality and delivering something that’s meaningful, inspirational or insightful to your chosen audience – you’re going to get overlooked by your target audience and overtaken by your competitors that have spent the time doing the work – to make their brand work for them.
