CREATing a MEmorable BRand The American Marketing Association (AMA) defines a brand as a Name, term, sign, symbol or design, or a combination of them intended to identify the goods or services of one seller or a group of sellers and to differentiate them from those of other sellers. Brand should do a number of things it should identify you, it should help define you, it should make you memorable, and give people a shortcut experience to thinking about you. Think about the brand Fed Ex when it absolutely, positively has to be there overnight. They don t talk about the planes, they don t talk about the delivery trucks, the number of employees or how many packages they ve delivered it s all about the guarantee. 1
Pain Points You MUST have three things: 1 A specific group of people you help. 2 A particular pain that you help alleviate. 3 A specific solution that you offer. 5 biggest causes of a snoozer brand: It s about you. It s about the process, not the solution. Uses trite words or phrases. It s clever or cute, but not clear. You do too many things, and you re trying to cover all with the same umbrella. Your brand must: Be pain or solution focused. Express what s unique about you, that s about your clients. Have a verbal, visual and experiential component. Incorporate your business vision so it s in alignment with your goals. What s the Focus of Your Brand? Is your brand pain focused, or solution focused? Those are the only two options. If you have a process-focused brand (i.e. I m a massage therapist, I m a life coach, I m an EFT practitioner) you are leaving money on the table. 2
Most brands are solution-focused, but it is possible to start with the pain. We ll talk more about pain and solution when we delve into marketing language. What solution do you provide for people? How will they know that they have achieved that solution? What specific, measurable thing will exist that proves that they have the solution? What s Unique About You? If it s your process, no one cares unless there is a benefit to the process. When Fed Ex was started, no one promised overnight delivery. It was such a crazy idea that the originator of Fed Ex was thrown out of Harvard Business School. At the time, it was completely unique. Now UPS, DHL, and the Post Office all have this service. Make Your Success Real has as part of its brand the inclusion of EFT tapping. But it s not about the EFT it s the idea that you can 1) do things you couldn t do before, and 2) take actions to grow your 3
business more comfortably and easily than before. What s unique about you? Are you faster, more effective, more complete, specializing in one group only, etc? (Hint: Don t choose cheapest in the race for the bottom, you ll always lose, even if you win.) Your credentials can be useful (we looked at those when crafting an elevator speech) but they aren t part of what s unique about you at least not in a way that is about the benefit for your client. It s more about the experience. Branding Verbal, Visual, Experiential Components Your brand should have all three of these components. Verbal Component Verbal what do you say about your company and the work that you do? What is the text on your website, your business card, your elevator speech? 4
(Learning to write marketing copy and sales copy is one of the most important skills you can develop as an entrepreneur. While there are many things you can outsource, copywriting is something that you need to learn, so you can write effective emails, sales pages, and more. One good, inexpensive resource is the book Web Copy That Sells by Maria Veloso.) The verbal part of your brand includes your business name and tagline. The verbal component isn t just about the marketing words that you use. It s also about the kind of language that you use. Do you use down-home, casual language? Or is it more natural for you to be formal and professional? Your language should fit your target market, and your personal style. If you have congruence between your message, your language, your personal style, AND your target market, your verbal message will resonate powerfully with your audience. How would you describe the verbal style of your brand? 5
Visual component Visual the visual part of your brand includes logos, your color palette, the layout of your website, and even the clothes that you and your associates wear. When my assistant appears at a function representing my company, her clothes are part of my visual brand. The visual part of your brand includes your logo, colors, and website header. The visual part of your brand is also about you. How do you want to present to the world? What will your clients expect, and what will instill in them the confidence that you can provide the solution that you offer? As with language, your visual branding should be congruent. For some, this means upgrading your personal style, or choosing to emphasize a particular distinctive style in order to visually reinforce your message. How would you describe the visual component of your brand? 6
Experiential component Experiential this is the part of your brand that will have the longestterm impression on people, though it is the hardest to describe and establish. This part of your brand involves how you treat people, how you want your customers to feel, and what images and sensations you want your company to evoke. For example, Nordstrom s has a long-established way of treating customers that goes far above and beyond the call of ordinary service. Nordstrom s policy is that you can return anything at any time, and there are stories about the extraordinary level of service. That is part of the brand. The experiential part of your brand includes how others describe their customer experience with you, and how you want others to feel about what you deliver. How would you describe the experience of your brand that you want people to have? 7
My brand 1 Business Name Your business name, if possible, should be the same as your URL. If a.com is taken, try for another name rather than going for a.net. Most people will assume.com, and you may lose business. You can create an account and buy URLs through godaddy.com, or many other domain registration sites. 2 Tagline You don t HAVE to have a tagline. It depends how descriptive your business name is. Some examples of business names and taglines: www.angelsforsuccess.com Helping Professional Women Access Their Divine Guidance www.corporatewellnessinnovations.com Healthy People. Healthy Profits. 3 one-liner about my business This is not the same as an elevator speech (we ll get into that in the next class with marketing language.) It may be very similar to your business name and tagline, or something different. For example: www.makeyoursuccesseasy.com (no tagline) One-liner: I help transformational entrepreneurs those who transform lives and the world with what they do to build six and seven figure businesses by overcoming their fears of marketing and sales. 4 Business Logo This doesn t have to be a $$$ project. Google cheap logo design for lots of options. 8
5 Business Colors Your colors should be a reflection of you and the flavor of your business, not just your favorite colors. What do you want your business to convey? Are calm, soothing colors more appropriate, or bold, passionate colors? Once you choose your colors, continue to use those colors to establish your brand. 6 People say about my business What s important to you? What do you want to be top-of-mind for? Andrea J. Lee of Wealthy Thought Leader is known for her innovative approaches. She doesn t try to corner the market for biggest, most allencompassing, or fanciest but her fans know she ALWAYS will bring something unique and innovative in all her offerings. Even if you don t have a business yet, and you re just starting one, you can make these decisions now. Incorporating Your Business Vision If your vision is not running a multi-million dollar company don t create a brand that sounds, looks, or feels like that. Instead, create one that feels congruent with you. If you want to run a multi-million dollar company, don t create a brand that looks like a cozy mom-and-pop. You can be small and professional. You can be large and friendly (think Zappos!) Be sure that what you create is in alignment with the vision you create. 9
Your business vision will almost certainly change as your business grows. While you may want a million-dollar business from the beginning of your company, what that means and how it is expressed will change as you pass $100K, and $500K in your business. Or you may start with a vision that crossing the six-figure mark is all that you desire, and then decide you want to create a larger business. How would you describe your business vision? Branding Mistakes The big marketing mistake that makes even your ideal clients walk away: Selling to need not want 1 You know what they need, but do they care? What they need will not sell them. They may need to get unstuck, to improve their health, to take care of themselves more but do they WANT it? 10
2 What you want to give them (I want to help women who aren t taking care of themselves to do that better) Questions to ask: Do THEY know they have this pain? Are they searching for you? Do THEY want to get rid of this pain? Will they pay to get rid of this pain? If you try to sell to need, you spend a lot of time educating people who may not want to be educated. Healers and coaches often sell to need. Frankly, it s maternal. Being unclear about the outcome This is closely related to selling to need. Often, a transformational entrepreneur is unclear because she is describing the outcome as SHE understands it. This means that she sees all the wonderful things her client will get, that the client doesn t even know about, or care about yet. (However, the client will love those results, and value them, but they aren t looking for them yet, so they aren t part of the marketing message.) Beware of trying to sell outcomes that your client doesn t yet understand. Example: a relationship coach trying to sell you ll learn to love yourself. Most people who hire a relationship coach want a partner to love. Although loving herself may be the first step a client needs to take, that s part of the process, not part of the marketing or promise of the offering. The client doesn t yet recognize the value. SELLING to curiosity, Not strong desire There are plenty of businesses that sell to curiosity. Most of them sell inexpensively. Most hobbies fall into this category, and with few exceptions, people won t pay high-ticket for curiosity. 11
Transformation is never a good match for a curiosity-type sale. Transformation takes effort, and investment of time and energy. If someone isn t willing to invest that time and energy, they won t get the transformation. One way to make sure that someone IS invested is to charge well for transformational services. Example: AftertheLawConsulting.com Helping Unhappy Lawyers Find a Career that they Love If the lawyers aren t unhappy, but just a bit dissatisfied they probably won t pay for consulting about a new career. They might buy a book, or read an article. But only unhappy lawyers will invest. Transformational entrepreneurs need to target strong desire. Your clients need to be strongly invested in getting the solution they desire, and getting rid of the pain. Trying to find an umbrella to cover multiple diverse offerings If you try to create a brand that includes two or more diverse offerings, you ll look silly, or like an amateur. Even if you offer two transformational services, if the presenting problem is different, those look like two different businesses. Under the surface, they may be the same perhaps they are a result of low self-esteem, or self-sabotage. However, the LANGUAGE and the PAIN that a client experiences will be completely different, depending on which challenge they are experiencing. For example: Improving your business, and losing weight. Both of these challenges can be helped by overcoming fears, blocks and limiting beliefs. But trying to create a brand that encompasses both of these offerings will not work. giving inconsistent messages Is your brand about being bold, but your wording is wishy-washy? Do you talk about clarity, but use words that are confusing? 12
You want to make sure that everything about your brand is congruent. Your language must support your message and the experience you wish to create. Your visuals must agree with the language. I ve seen great copy on a visually cheesy site. Get opinions from your target market about what works for them. Module 3 Action Steps Step 1 Answer all the questions in the handout. Step 2 The changes I need to make to reflect this new brand include: 13
Step 3 Make calendar entries for the changes you listed above. Step 4 My branding A-ha is: (Share your branding A-ha with the Forum.) 14