Your brand is more than just a marketing tool that you use to win your customers over, it is the feel that is central to your business, the image that you put forth and maintain all the way through your business relationship with your clients, and it can be just as vital for retaining old customers, not just winning new ones. Representing your brand is vital throughout your relationship with your clients and, here, we’re going to look at how the ways that you communicate can help you reinforce and strengthen that brand.
Consider what your brand values are
First of all, before you go about trying to shape a brand identity in text form, you need to think about what your brand is really trying to represent in the first place. A brand can represent many things, but most often, people tend to think of it as a collection of values, virtues, and aims that their business strives toward. A brand story can also be included, whether the story revolves around the challenges facing the customer and what the business can do to help with them, or the journey of the business and its founders to find a place in the market. Narrow down what your brand values are so that you’re able to stay consistent with them in your communication.
Always consider your audience
Of course, you want to make sure that how you communicate is staying true not just to the values that you ascribe to your business, but to the people that you’re trying to communicate to, as well. Depending on things like their age, location, occupation, family status, and otherwise, the ways that we speak and write to different people are going to change. The point of reference we share with them might change, as might the particular values of the products and services to that person in particular. Creating an ideal customer profile can give you a better idea of who you are writing and speaking to and, as a result, what kind of approach you might take with them.
Deliver your insights in your way
If you’re looking to demonstrate your knowledge and expertise, then one of the easiest ways to do it is with a business blog. If you’re starting a blog, be it yourself or with outsourced help, then you had better ensure that you’re able to keep it posted to a consistent schedule. Think about what questions you’re likely to get from your audience, or what they might be likely to think about products and services, as well as use cases where they can be the answer. Generate a long list of valuable blog ideas so that you can keep publishing posts for the foreseeable.
Get social with it
Social media is the tool of modern brand interfacing, there’s no two ways about it. Find which social media platforms are best for your business. While Twitter/X and Facebook tend to be the most widely used, and thus are the typical choice for companies of all kinds, LinkedIn might be a good fit for businesses that operate on a B2B model or target professionals, in particular, while Instagram is great for lifestyle brands that really benefit from the aesthetic of their products and services. Social media can be used to disseminate existing branded content, like your blog posts, but you should take advantage of the opportunity for live interaction with your audience, as well.
Stay in their inbox
If a client is interested in listening to what you have to say, wants to keep up with your latest insights and tips, or simply wants to be kept in the loop regarding any offers or vouchers down the line, then that is your opportunity to get them on the hook. With an email marketing campaign, you have the opportunity for prolonged and repeated contact with both existing and potential clients. This gives you the chance to really sell them on the value of your services. Just make sure that you manage your email campaigns right, making them easy to read and engage with, while ensuring that you’re really curating the content on them to drive as many clicks to your blog and site as possible.
When it comes to money
Communication isn’t always just about reinforcing your marketing or encouraging your clients to stick with you or come back for more. It also has some highly practical uses as well, such as getting paid, for one. Invoicing your clients may not be glamorous but if you make it a professional, reliable, and consistent part of how you do business, it can reflect well on your brand. Tools like field service quoting software can help you ensure that you have a formalized and professional-looking approach to quoting and invoicing your clients. This can make it feel much more like a matter of course for your business and, of course, helps you get paid quicker, too.
Maintaining a high level of service
Another practical use of your branding is to offer your company the best possible representation when you are helping someone with an issue. Having a strong customer support system is vital if the experience of interfacing with your brand is a focus for you. This might mean having the systems in place that make getting that support as frictionless as possible, such as having an on-site chat widget that customers can use to get in touch with your staff directly. However, it’s just as important that your staff is trained well to handle a wide range of issues and to keep communication as pleasant and professional as they can at all times. It can do a lot to help manage the tone of a customer support call and make them more cooperative and thus more likely to reach a conclusion together.
Managing complaints
Not every instance of a client or customer having trouble is going to be quite as pleasant, and some problems cannot be solved. You have to have an approach when it comes to handling problem customers, as well. First of all, learning how to respond to reviews is a good idea for small businesses that might be easily harmed by one that spreads beyond control. Unless you’re able to show and prove, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that a customer’s recounting of an experience is wrong, trying to contradict the can be dangerous. Instead, taking on a reconciliatory tone, aiming to fix the problem with them publicly, and offering to get in touch privately is often a much better outward-facing strategy.
Represent the brand in person, as well
You want to make sure that your brand is more than just words and images on a page (or on a screen.) Taking the opportunity to showcase it in real life can help it feel all the more real to your audience. For instance, taking the opportunity to make an appearance at trade shows and other conferences can give you the opportunity to greatly improve the platform and reach of your brand. Combine that with the opportunity for interested parties to get some free swag or a demo of the products and services you offer and you can make a really good impression.
Any time you have to communicate with your clients and audience, whether it’s in a one-on-one space or via more public means, you should think about what it may mean for your brand. With the tips above, you can get used to thinking with that lens.
[…] and what they’re hoping to achieve. Once you have got that nailed down, you can craft videos that reinforce your brand, turning views into fans and, hopefully, paying […]