VA QUICK TIPS: (full story)
How To Make Your Brand as Recognizable as
McDonalds ...
Have you thought about what branding can do for your
business? As you probably know, branding is the
identification – along with the positive image and sense
of goodwill – by consumers that your product or service
conveys in the marketplace. Without branding, we’d never
be able to instantly recognize McDonalds, Coke, Wal-Mart
or any other highly branded product or service. Here are
some ideas to help you brand your services to be
instantly recognized in your own area.
Your Brand Is More Than Your Logo
Your brand is the combination of your logo and
your tagline or Unique Positioning Statement
(UPS). It is the recognition your name, logo and
UPS get when people see them.
Why Do You Need To Create A Brand?
By branding yourself, you can establish
yourself as an expert in your field. Branding
also differentiates you from your competitors
and increases your perceived value. When you’re
looking for ways to set yourself apart, branding
is the place to start. It helps establish a
solid reputation in your industry and increases
awareness among your target market. Effective
branding tells people who you are, what you do
and how you do it.
Ask yourself this, when people see your logo
or hear your name, what image does it evoke?
With the right branding, you can help influence
your target market to have a positive
impression. To do this, you must be consistent;
consistency reinforces your brand. The colors,
graphics, typography, etc. should always be the
same in order to increase brand identification.
It should also have the same look and feel online
as it does in print.
How To Start Branding Your Service
To help you decide what your brand should
convey, start by describing your service and
list its key features. Then identify and
describe your target market. Who are the people
that could use your services? (If you have a
particular niche, you will find it easier to
market effectively to them.) This little
exercise will help you target your potential
clients with the most appropriate message – one
that tells them you offer a solution to their
needs.
Your Logo —What It Says About You
Since your logo is the centerpiece of your
branding, here are some tips on developing an
appropriate one for your market. It should:
- be attractive and eye-catching
- be timeless (used over and over through
the years to build brand identification)
- follow basic design principles (form,
function, color, consistency and
scalability)
- be unique
- have the ability to be used in different
mediums (in print, on the web, etc.)
- look great when enlarged or shrunken, or
when used on a solid or patterned background
without losing clarity
- project an appropriate image of your
business. For example, a trucking company
shouldn’t use a small, delicate design and,
conversely, a day spa wouldn’t want just
hard, cold typography to convey its message
- as a general rule, use no more than two
colors (and black is considered a color in
the print world). This keeps your expenses
down
Several Virtual Assistants provided tips on
ways to brand yourself. Michelle Spalding with
ProTMC.com says, “When we think of farming,
it’s to brand ourselves as the Realtor of choice
for that neighborhood, area or even city. But …
what about being the Realtor of choice for an
entire place of business or office building?
Think about how awesome it would be to be the
real estate expert that everyone calls upon to
help them with their personal real estate needs
within an office building. Being the one that is
asked by the senior business leaders within that
building to help their employees with their real
estate needs. That is powerful branding and can
be done easily by visiting local offices and
developing relationships with the CEOs and
owners.
Brand yourself as the Realtor who can save
the company money by providing high quality
service to their employees so they can focus on
their jobs. Try holding lunch classes, providing
regular helpful homeowner tips and information
on the market. If a buyer or seller comes along
that is not in an area you feel comfortable with
then refer them to the expert in that area.”
Carolyn Nelson, of
OnlineREPA.com, advises, “When the public
receives a copy of your marketing piece, you
want them to remember your name, right? Look at
the number of promotional materials you receive
on a weekly basis. What do you remember about
each? What did you like about the pieces that
you have saved? Follow these tips to help brand
your business:
- Do not overwhelm potential clients with
eye-soring colors that are unrelated.
- Select your target market and
consistently send out your marketing pieces.
- Make your messages beneficial to the
potential clients. Feed the “What is in it
for me” syndrome.
- A consistent branding message ensures
that the recipient will remember you.
- Design a brand that fits you, your
personality and your business. Make it
user-friendly.
- Provide honest and reliable information.
Say what you mean and mean what you say.
- Make sure that your stationery, website,
postcards, flyers, business cards and other
marketing pieces are consistent in color,
design and layout.
- Don’t rush to create a brand; it takes
time to find the right fit.
The next time your target market receives a
real estate postcard in the mail, you want the
recipient to remember your name and think of you
even if the marketing piece is on a table across
the room.”
In helping clients brand their businesses,
Crystal Curran with
REVAville asks them to complete an
assignment to help identify their perceived
strengths in order to use that information to
build their branding. Crystal has her clients
“email 20 people in their database asking their
people to describe them using five adjectives.
The only requirement within those 20 people is
to try to select those most likely to respond to
them. "We certainly do not want all business
acquaintances anymore than we want all family
within that group. I suggest they get a good
sprinkling of people that are from different
areas of their lives so when we look at how
people view them we have a good sprinkling of
views. We then get their top five adjectives
from those emails and use them to provide a good
basis for a tagline and then turn it into a
UPS.”
Keep Your Branding Information Accessible
Caroline Wright of
The Wright Solution suggests “creating a
folder that has all your branding design
information in one place makes it really easy to
ensure that other people – such as those
creating brochures, web pages or other
collateral pieces for you – have everything they
need for one-stop shopping. This should include
the pantone color(s) of your logo(s), the web
hex codes (the web equivalent color codes that
correspond to your printed colors); and relevant
logos in various formats, photos, brokerage
logos, etc. As these files are sometimes large, I
find it easier to zip them all up in a zip file,
ready to go asneeded.”
Tricia Fink Andreassen, CEO of
Pro Step Marketing, reminds us to use the
following strategies when building your brand.
“Create a secondary brand that complements your
personal brand. This brand should reflect your
target market to attract, connect and
communicate the wants/needs of the consumer.
This will also lead to creating a strong exit
strategy for your business. Smash your brand!
Bring your brand to life in all your marketing
channels, especially your website. Have elements
of your brand dispersed throughout your website
to convey the sense of the brand. This can be
done through compelling copy, icon elements and
animation. Refresh your marketing materials.
Your listing and buying books may have great
information, but your brand needs to be
streamlined into these pieces. Consistency in
all areas of your marketing channels shows your
presentation and positioning. You postcards,
business cards, listing brochures and email
stationery need to smash your brand! Communicate
with clients using branded email stationery. You
send out personal messages every day. Let your
brand come through with your email
communication, which also provides traffic to
your website.”
When helping my own clients with their
marketing their brand, I recommend using the
following tools to increase brand awareness:
- Distribute press releases to trade
publications regularly
- Create a strong online presence to give
potential clients a reason to visit your
website often. You can accomplish this by
providing e-seminars and by email marketing
to increase your visibility
- Let your clients do your advertising for
you! Give away promotional items with your
brand on them
- Sponsor local events to get your name
out in the community
- Develop a cooperative relationship with
a complementary business such as lenders,
inspectors, appraisers, stagers, etc.
Remember, your brand is the foundation of
your marketing. It’s important to spend the time
investing in the research, definition and
building of your brand. Your goal is to win the
battle for clients that seems to intensify
daily.
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