A brand is an image and that image helps to differentiate your business or even you personally in the marketplace.You can have a positive or a negative image.What’s a negative brand? Well think Wall Street in the middle of the recession or Lehman Brothers. A poor brand image is one that crates a negative reaction when people think about a business or business activity. You might be thinking that you are just one lone marketer trying to make a living. But even a sole proprietor or home based entrepreneur wants to create a strong positive brand to attract positive responses. Brands evoke emotional responses and mental images. They make people feel something about what’s behind the brand. People trust a brand they become familiar with.
What’s behind a strong positive brand?
•Excellent customer service
•Quality products or services
•Skills that make you unique among a crowd of retailers or service providers
•Experiences that make it possible to relate to customers on their level
•Honesty and truthfulness
•Name repetition and exposure
The last category is where so many internet businesses destroy their brand image. The make-a million-in-a-month crowd is not being honest. Customers who fall for the hype and end up with broken promises and disappointment to show for their money forever more have bad memories they will call up when the business name or huckster is mentioned.
Law of Attraction marketing dictates that you create a truly authentic brand that is consistent when used in any marketing material. With a positive brand image you know that customers reading your copy or listening to what you have to say are receptive and willing to accept information from you from a vantage point of trust.
Think about how much easier it is to sell to someone who trusts you than it is to sell to someone doubting your veracity. A positive brand reflects a positive self-image and authenticity. Remember that the Law of Attraction says that positive thoughts create a positive reality. Recognize this knitted image? What do you think when you see it? Do you think reliable personal computer? Stunning
graphics?Reliable customer service?Trend setting products? If you don’t have a positive image then ask yourself, why? Was it due to a faulty product you had trouble exchanging? A rude customer service representative?
There are multiple tools you can use to brand yourself even when a one-person business.
•Use words that reflect your passion for what you sell or do
•Include personal information relative to your business in your marketing material such as your passion for good health or technology; an explanation of your special skills and expertise; or a description of why customer service is so important to you
•Be authentic and don’t try to be Billy Mays when you are really low key like Bill Gates of Microsoft fame; people are attracted to those who are comfortable in their own skin
•Elaborate on how your particular talents, skills and creativity can bring value to a customer’s life
•Maintain brand consistency whether you are printing flyers, posting a blog or developing a website
If you have a website or a blog then you want to develop a branding story.
The Shiny Side of the Truth May 19th, 2010 by Rob | Posted in Brand Experience, Brand Story | “I want you to make an advertisement that is, well… basically a lie, because that will get people calling our store. Then we can sell them stuff.” —Recent post at Clientsfromhell.net.
Several years ago, I had an assignment to write about an environmentally friendly laundry detergent. The product was pretty good. It was concentrated so it used significantly less packaging than other brands. The formula was made with more natural ingredients than the typical brand. And it was
cheaper, per use. Unfortunately, it had one major draw-back—it made whites look dingy. Sometimes it left blue spots on whites. Many customers who used it also kept a box of Tide in the laundry room to use when they had to wash their whites.
Shortly after I submitted my copy, which, if I remember right, focused on the environment, I found myself sitting in the CEO’s office. He was livid. I hadn’t told the right story, he said. His product matches Tide in performance. I replied that the research showed that it didn’t. His response was, “Sometimes you need to tell the shiny side of the truth. That’s what I want you to do.” Ah, the shiny
side of the truth.
That would be the part of the truth that isn’t true. It needs a little (sometimes a lot) of extra polishing to make it sound better than it is. The shiny side of the truth is a good story. It will attract new customers. And if it’s a really good story, it will attract lots of new customers.But what happens the moment customers learn that the story isn’t exactly true? What happens when customers realize
that the detergent you said was as good as Tide, leaves blue spots on your favorite shirt?
They stop being customers. You’ve just sold your brand’s most precious asset—trust—for a single purchase. Plus, you’ve lost the purchases of anyone the customer tells about her experience. At some point you run out of potential new customers, then what? The brand story you share has to be good enough to get the customer to try your product. And it has to be true. If the brand experience
isn’t as good as the story you sold the customer on, you have wasted your only opportunity to turn a trial into a customer.
Once your customer tries your product, her experience is the brand story. If you can’t tell the truth, fix the experience. Receive $ 8 for each one you give away! Imagine...
To Your Success,
J.Amoros
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