1. The Way You Communicate.

Communication plays a big role in your ability to persuade potential customers that you’re capable of satisfying their needs. Generally speaking, a brand communicates via voice (conversation), written copy (one way messaging), and media (visual imagery or video). Aside from consistency, a brand should speak to it’s customers in a specific tone of voice. Understanding how and why your brand is communicating will help you determine how to position the voice you speak in.

Some companies like to be heard as encouraging or empathetic – while others prefer to be more direct and precise. Either way, there needs to be a purpose behind the way you articulate your verbiage. This function headlines my top 5 branding characteristics because the way you correspond impacts the way you’re perceived. Moreover, it sets up your marketing strategy moving forward.

Take this a step further, and consider how word of mouth factors in. As people begin talking about your brand, you’ll want to ensure they convey an accurate representation. In the long run, this is immeasurable.  But, without a cohesive message across all channels, it’s rather difficult for those aware of the brand to promote it accordingly.

2. How You Differentiate the Brand.

Uncovering the uniqueness of your brand can be done in a number of ways. But, I would recommend looking at leadership’s experience and origin. Every single person has a story and corresponding experiences. Harnessing these events and funneling them into the aura of a brand can be uber credible and often appealing.

The second aspect of differentiation surrounds the branded “why.” Promoting your reasoning for coming to market gives your audience a chance to relate to or get behind the provision you’re presenting. What does the brand mean to the company? What would you like it to mean to the industry and it’s consumers? Having a strong “why” can always be a sound differentiator.

Lastly, what makes the brand memorable or worthwhile? It’s important that every business focuses on the customer experience and the culture within. How have you altered processes? How do you make people feel a part of the team or culture? What does the company bring to the table that no one else can boast? How are you following up with customers after they’ve bought in?

You can’t detour from this if you’re looking to attract a loyal following that understands and appreciates the environment you’ve created. Aside from revenue, differentiation helps you attract talent that adds to your ability to serve.

3. Values and What You Stand For.

When writing these top 5 branding characteristics, I wanted the content to flow in a way that made sense. Although you might think values fall in line with #2, I consider beliefs to be a choice – not necessarily experience. What you stand for plays a big role in the identification of a brand. People identify with certain things. Setting the parameters of your business will set the bar for expectations.

You might value an open working space that encourages frequent communication or even conflict. You may find that employees are more effective with confined office spaces. You could stand for a laid back fun-filled atmosphere or promote a stone faced culture of seriousness. I’ve worked for an agency that stood for full autonomy as well as a corporation that required me to wear a suit jacket on a daily basis. Neither are wrong, but preference was there for a reason. It worked for both.

Take some time to figure out what’s important – or what factors into the success (or differentiation) of your business. Whether it’s faith, company hierarchy, employee benefits, or the way you manufacture products or happy customers. Knowing what you value and stand for makes a heck of a difference in the way you’re perceived as a brand.

4. The Brand’s Vision and Goals.

If you listen to my podcast, you’ll find that I’m pretty passionate about transparency. Believe it or not, allowing your audience to be aware of your brand vision and what you’re setting out to accomplish encourages them to be apart of the journey. This also rolls into differentiation by consistently conveying what you bring (have brought and will bring) to the marketplace.

Providing insight on how the brand is accomplishing goals and where you’re being forced to make pivots establishes a sense of trust and integrity that viewers can feel. Once you’ve tuned into the emotions of potential buyers with your messaging, it’s a good idea to harness the cognition that drives conversion. Giving consumers an idea of where you’re going creates a peace of mind and enables them to intuitively make a decision in your favor.

In addition to targeting customers, this approach also builds awareness for potential partners or influencers that believe in the vision and goals of your company. Aligning with other businesses that compliment your value not only strengthen yours but it enhances the reach and support of the brand.

5. The Aura of Your Brand.

The last of my top 5 branding characteristics refers to the mystic and aura of the brand itself. Now that you’ve taken the time to develop a number of factors that play into your identity, it’s time to create the essence of the brand. In this step, you’ll want to harness all of the aforementioned factors to determine how you want to present yourself – as well as be perceived.

If I were to give one form of advice, I’d recommend avoiding promotions that are outside the persona you’ve created. If you spend a lot of time attempting to drive relevant traffic (publishing blogs, implementing SEO, or posting randomly on social media) – then pause it. It’s imperative that you focus on brand perception before exposing yourself to potential customers. Ask yourself how you want people to feel when they see your brand. If this isn’t executed prior to marketing, then you risk a skewed perception.

So, How Do You Establish an Aura?

In order to put all of this work into action, you need to have a presentational plan. Consider your style of imagery, videos or designs. Think about your on-site or print media typography even. Look into the events you attend or the companies you align with. If you want to be taken seriously, but use chalkboard typeface and partner with those that aren’t really trusted, how can you be?

Let me use my company as an example. I want potential clients to know that I don’t place them into a general process that’s equal to or less than other clients. I want them to know there’s a way to PreFocus and be effective no matter their budget. It’s all about being purposeful and caring for their success. In my latest podcast, I hosted Kelsey Tainsh who speaks on her passion for others. I’m not going to host an entrepreneur that focuses on persuasively making money or selfish ambition. It just won’t work.

I want people to see the strategic value I bring to the table and how I put together an identity that fits and makes sense. Not only does this differentiate my provisions, but it creates a seamless referral network that cares about my success. This is the aura of my business. No matter what I’m working on, there’s fulfillment in knowing that I’m providing businesses with value they can implement on their own. In the long run this increase their loyalty, influence and marketshare.

1. Establishing Branded Appeal

Most business owners seem to believe that appeal refers to how “cool” or “relevant” their brand is. In reality, society is shifting towards more believable messages that relay quality and competence. You can tell the customer over and over that you’re their best solution, but until you’re able to show them, it’s going to be an uphill battle.

Establishing appeal shouldn’t focus on how funny or entertaining your company is. Although witty leadership may resonate with some, most are looking for the most competent and trustworthy company to handle their immediate needs. Seeing a picture of a CEO fishing in the Bahamas isn’t really going to drive a conversion – even if most of their audience enjoys fishing.

How Can You Establish Appeal as a Small Biz?

Creating appeal begins with a small business’ story. Discussing “how” and “why” you came to market may seem boring, but targeting people with like-able content isn’t necessarily going to establish credibility for the actual value you provide. If you’re a small business and you’re marketing mirrors global chains or informative producers then I urge you to reconsider your strategy. Going anywhere outside of your unique personality and the relationship you have with your local audience can be a recipe for wasteful spending. Moreover you’re allowing the company to be compared to larger institutions that have the money to invest in reach campaigns.

Search results and relevance have taken content marketing by storm over the last 5 years but consumers are beginning to see through the BS. Although I cannot speak for everyone, I know younger generations are beginning to look past the fluff and read into substance. If you’re trying extra hard to persuade, then maybe you’re in the wrong business. Or maybe that’s simply what you’re conveying. To me, that’s not very appealing. Especially when I’m searching for answers or a local solution and only finding opinionated bias without any relevance to my search.

You can promote appeal simply by showcasing the work ethic or personalities or your people – or leaders. You can be perceived as appealing by highlighting first impressions or a preview of the customer experience like the imagery below.

2. Reinforcing an Ability to Solve and Serve.

As I dovetail with my initial reasoning, I want to reiterate the importance of competence. After being a part of the marketing agency realm for a few years, I started to realize that content strategies were being formulated based on consumer interests instead of needs. Agencies were attempting to place brands in front of potential customers before they were needed.

Although this is a solid complimentary strategy, not all small businesses have the capital to afford the results of this approach. Especially now that there are eerily similar blog articles throughout different industries. Don’t be misled – in the long run, consumers want to understand the experience they’re preparing to take part in, not necessarily how much a pool company knows about pool party decor. What bothered me the most was that many clients viewed blog content as a success because they saw an increase in traffic. But, how can you monetize consumers that are simply reading your articles for information? In most cases, they aren’t bookmarking you.

Reinforce Abilities With Reason

Taking the time to reinforce an ability to serve and solve problems creates a peace of mind while setting the bar for consumer’s small biz “shopping” experience. Although some brands are remembered for their content, it’s imperative that small businesses hammer down their brand personality and efficiencies so they’re remembered for those. If you didn’t start a business to entertain, then don’t focus on entertaining until it’s something you can afford. In most cases, this is after you’re able to sustain and scale the business. A recently launched small business should harness authenticity to the fullest extent to save on the front end.

Take pride in leveraging customer testimonials or even authentic videos of company processes to give consumers insight on the brand. You can still optimize these forms of content in order to be found for specific searches. Moreover, you’ll be able to create different forms of content and media to maximize the reach of your provided value across multiple channels. Being original and authentic allows you to promote what you know and what you do by positioning it in a way they appreciate the most. Discussing what you do best is a great reason why small business should harness authenticity for content production. Here is a simple way to do just that:

3. Generating Trust and Loyalty.

The last point I want to make pertains to what most small business are chasing – residual income or return customers. For the most part of the last decade, companies have been focusing on keeping their audience engaged on social media or through email marketing. Thing is, you shouldn’t need to remind previous customers of their experience or incentivise them to return. Your competent appeal and ability to serve will inevitably persuade them enough.

When brands focus more on retaining customers through persuasive tactics instead of harnessing and maximizing their value – it hinders their believability and (aforementioned) competence. Stop trying so hard. Be authentic and transparent with your product or service and inform followers on your commitment to them. At the end of the day, this is what matters – right?

How Does PreFocus Help with Loyal Acquisition?

When it comes to branding, we attempt to create an experience that not only resonates with consumers but allows them to trust the process. Providing insight on every layer of the business gives customers confidence in the brand to satisfy their specific needs. Not every business can address all customer concerns. No matter how hard you try, the further you extend your value reach, the harder it’s going to be convey believable competence.

Inevitably this hinders brand trust. It’s important that small businesses focus on what they do extremely well so they can drive loyalty in that area first. The easiest way to solidify this is to promote the identity and personality of the brand on a consistent basis. Show what you do, how you do it, and why you’re doing it. Tell people about your pivots, overcome conflicts and other success stories. People can and will relate to an established persona they can identify with. This is my main reasoning for why small business should harness authenticity. Marketing with purpose helps garner traction for the perceived speciality of the small business.