A question about Brand
I was recently asked a question about branding. It was:
“If a BRAND is more than just a logo and a set of colours, what other things can we design, build or decide – that positively affect how people feel about us? That help us stand out?”
That question was followed by
“What kind of things can bring a moment of joy or delight to people when interacting with us?”
In answering the first questions, you first need to get your head around what your brand is.
I answer this question in another article – What does your brand say about you?
So, onto…
“What kind of things can bring a moment of joy or delight to people when interacting with us?”
Delighting people
Let's start with “When you Know Your Brand”
“When you know what your brand is this should be reflected in your marketing.”
That means that everything about your business, product or service should demonstrate your brand and be geared towards reaching, connecting, and engaging with your ideal clients. And, of course, your existing clients.
Everything you do should be building the know, like, and trust factor of you and your brand.
Because we know that the more people know, like, and trust you and your brand, the more inclined they are to buy from/do business with you AND be loyal to you.
Which leads to…
“Creating consistency across your brand is key to building loyalty.”.
So, you need to be consistent with all your marketing activities. All the things you can do, that can bring that moment of joy to your ideal clients, and existing clients should be reflective of your brand and appealing to your ideal clients.
Which means what you do depends on your brand. What works for one business won’t work for another.
Ideally your brand is unique. And because of that, your brand attracts YOUR ideal clients.
Which makes answering “What kind of things can bring a moment of joy or delight to people when interacting with us?” kinda challenging!
While your brand should be helping you reach, connect, and engage your ideal clients, the things you can do to achieve that will be different to other businesses/brands.
The Key to Delight
The key to working out what things to do FOR YOUR BUSINESS, to delight people.
That key is to really, really, know your ideal clients and your brand (and vice versa).
Understand what is going to appeal to them.
What is going to attract and engage (delight) your ideal clients.
AND, at the same time, is reflective of your brand.
So, I can’t really tell you what to do to make sure your brand delights people.
What I can tell you is that identifying what to do should be part of your marketing plan, which is incorporated into your marketing strategy.
Yes, the key is having a marketing strategy – a documented marketing strategy where you have identified (as a minimum):
- your goals
- target market
- key messages
- brand position
- marketing strategies/activities and budget
Some delightful things you can do
So, yes, I’ve said I can’t really tell you what to do to make sure your brand delights people.
Why?
Because it depends on your brand and what will delight your ideal clients.
However, here are some things (both tangible and intangible) you can consider and see if they apply to your ideal clients:
- Engage with them on social media
- Share their content on social media and in the digital world
- Showcase their business on social media and in the digital world
- Provide links to free tools and tips
- Make your out-of-office message make people feel special or give them a giggle (both phone and email)
- If appropriate for your brand – include humour in your content (where appropriate of course)
- Be you in your online presence – if you’re a bubbly, happy person in person, then be that in your online presence (including emails etc;iuf you’re a quieter, more formal person, then your online presence should also reflect that
- Allow your clients to contact you via their preferred method (phone, email, messenger services, in person, etc)
- Ask for feedback
- Deliver beyond expectations
- Anticipate expectations and give it to them
- Personalise their experience with you, your brand, your business
- Send thank you notes – show appreciation of their loyalty
- Value add – send a small gift or offer free freight with a product they purchase or upgrade a service
- Provide personalised gifts – not your merchandise, something you know your clients will enjoy. And send a personal thank you note with it
- Hold appreciation events – you can invite clients, ideal clients, stakeholders, referrers, suppliers, team members, etc
- Make sure your marketing is delivering value
- Celebrate their wins and success with them, publicly, digitally, etc
- Do what you say you will
- Ask them what they want
- Say sorry if you stuff up
- Prioritise your clients and ideal clients over the sale
- Connect your clients with other businesses who can provide value
- Send birthday cards
- Be flexible in your service delivery – work with what works for your clients, not what works best for you
- If you have a team, make sure they are given decision making capability and a level of autonomy so they can delight your clients
Remember, delighting your clients and ideal clients (target market) comes down to knowing what is going to delight them AND what is aligned to your brand.
If you have more than one ideal client and they are very different then what works in delighting one most likely won’t work in delighting the other.
So, be personal and differentiate your approach and your marketing activities for each.
If you need help getting to know your ideal clients get in touch.
Or, sign up for my Getting To Know Your Ideal Customer online course.
