Xcelerate Business on LinkedIn
Your brand message is tied into your identity. It represents how you speak, the way you frame things, and what you stand for, where you come from and why people might care about you. It helps you create an effective connection between your company and its potential customers and how they will benefit from being associated with you.
As soon as you start thinking about your company’s branding strategy or messaging, it can feel abstract. It’s not abstract however.
Building a storybrand around your product/service is an excellent way to get people talking about your brand.
- To position your ideal client as the main character of your brand story, make sure he or she is featured prominently throughout every aspect of your business.
Don’t get caught up in the spotlight of the company’s narrative. Your services, and your product exist to serve your ideal clients.
When someone contacts you for any reason, whether they’re a prospective customer or not, they should be able to quickly envision who you are and in which specific ways your services are distinctive.
Defining a “buyer persona” (aka buyer types) is important so you can create content that speaks directly to your audience.
ACTION STEP: Think about reaching out to your ideal client. Your focus should be to talk to one particular individual. Speak to his/her needs, desires, wishes and dreams. Show him/her that you understand exactly what he/she is facing and that you can help her/him achieve success.
2. Become an authority
You’ve made sure that your clients are front and center in your business. Does that mean you don’t have an official role anymore?
Your prospective clients should visualize themselves in the role of your brand’s protagonist. They also need to understand exactly who you are in relation to them.
We don’t just compete against others; we want to support our clients’ success.
My branding pages speak directly to my ideal client. They also position me as the person who guides them through their own branding process. Together, these two aspects of our relationship build the foundation for an ongoing collaboration between us.
It’s where we will work together to solve your issues and help you reach your desired destination. In this type of working relationship, I must learn about your situation before I can offer any kind of solution. Only after I’ve learned everything about you can I begin to formulate a plan to help you achieve your goal. I cannot diagnose until I understand. At that point I can create a pathway to transform your brand message and give you exactly what you’re looking for.
Once you know who your ideal client is, go through your own experience, knowledge, and the success you’ve achieved for past clients to show them that you’re capable of helping them succeed too.
3. Identify Your Ideal Client’s Goals — And How You Can Help Them Get There
You need to identify the type of person who would most likely use your service. I absolutely adore envisioning the boss as a mentor, assisting her/his team members navigate their journeys through life. It’s almost like stepping forward and throwing rocks at whatever stands in the way of their success. What a powerful method of considering servicing our clients!
Now that we’ve translated the message into messages for each individual customer, let’s take a look at some commonalities among them.
Their current brand no longer looks, feels, or sounds authentic. They didn’t develop their current brand strategically from the beginning.
Your next step is to identify your ideal clients’ biggest obstacles, and start throwing rocks at those obstacles and helping eliminate them. You can illustrate for your client how they can and will succeed when they hire you.
Listen attentively and don’t offer solutions until it’s clear that you understand the pain, issues, obstacles and struggles as well as the opportunities that exist within the crisis. Once you understand, and can apply your expert skills to help diagnose a potential solution, then you will be creating the vision of the transformation your client is seeking.
While these are the steps, it cannot be a “cookie cutter” solution. That is why defining, clarifying and building a brand message sounds so elusive. It’s creative, but also an analytic process. Those polar opposites must be integrated and aligned to develop a clear brand message and position.
My most favorite way of expressing this is “If you are the jar of jelly, you cannot step outside of the jar and look at the label.” It takes an outside perspective
That’s why it’s critical to get a perspective that will have a viewpoint distinct from yours; can bring key creativity to the process and who is willing to listen and understand. You and your firms’ journey matters and must be integral to brand development ..
What’s been your experience with brand message and positioning?
Author: Iris Culp
