As you consider the actions you’ll take to make this a profitable year, I suggest that you also assess the strength of your brand, with the intent to optimize its marketing power. Freelancers will evaluate both the personal and professional expressions of the brand because they are closely intertwined. Make 2023 the year that both facets of your brand work in tandem to effectively represent and promote the reputation, and success, of your company.

Let’s begin with the definition of brand. Think of the brand as your image and reputation, whether someone is referring to your company brand, that is, the products and/or services that you sell, or your personal brand, with you as the leader and public face of your entity. Your brand, personal or professional, consists of a group of attributes and characteristics that your clients, prospects and others who are acquainted with you are inclined to associate with you, your products and services and your organization. Your brand sums up how others feel about you, how they perceive you.

Some mistakenly think that logos, tag lines, or colors define the brand. While these symbols are part of the brand they are in fact marketing tools that a company uses to symbolize, promote and advertise its products and services. When the symbols et al. are used together with the core characteristics and attributes that compromise the brand, these tools communicate the brand identity.

Cultivating a well-respected brand can contribute substantively to the long-term success of any business. The assumption is that the characteristics associated with a brand are at least somewhat positive and that makes your brand a valuable asset. An effective brand sets you and your company apart, differentiates your organization, from others who provide similar products and services and can lead propects and returning clients to do business with you/ your organization rather than a competitor. Your brand achieves that by communicating dependability, trust, excellence that result in loyalty, repeat business, referrals and long lifetime value.

To make your brand work for you and your business, your brand-building strategy should acknowledge the qualities that clients and prospects associate with you and your company. The challenge will be to make strategically sound decisions as you choose which qualities clients and prospects will be inclined to find most persuasive as brand signifiers. Your objective is to ensure that your business stands out in a crowded marketplace. Your goal is to nurture positive, long-lasting relationships with clients (and referral sources, too).

Create marketing themes and talking points that communicate the vision, purpose, mission, strengths and value proposition of your company. Sprinkle those talking points throughout your marketing content and communicate them wherever clients or prospects interact with your promotional info (touch points). So are you ready to begin your branding upgrade?

• Step 1 in strategic branding is to answer the question why. Why have you launched the business? Why does it exist, what is its purpose? Frame your answer in terms of the solutions that your company provides by way of its products and services.
• Step 2, answer the question what. What is the mission of the business? The mission statement can be expressed in three parts—1. What the company does, what solutions does it provide. 2. For whom does the company provide its solutions, i.e., who are the primary customers? 3. What is the outcome, the benefits derived, what can customers expect to receive?
• Step 3, consult your primary clients and let them tell you what they want to achieve when they do business with your company and how they feel about the outcomes derived and the experience, including the post-sale experience and support. Be sure to ask clients to also tell you what they’d like to see you do differently. Pay particular attention to the language clients use to describe your products and services and the customer experience at your organization.
• Step 4, integrate the first three elements and create core themes and marketing messages that use as a touchstone the goals and priorities revealed to you by the clients with whom you spoke, incorporating the terminology that the clients used.

In sum, effective branding helps a company to build trust and credibility and to become memorable in the process. As is often said, people are inclined to do business with the companies (brands) that they know and trust. Powerful brands are an asset that give companies a competitive edge. Keeping your brand in the minds of prospective clients means a bigger bottom line.

Building a strategic brand for your business is well worth the effort— the process is vital to increasing the visibility and credibility of your business in the marketplace and strengthening relationships with your customers. Take the time to plan how to develop a strong brand for your business so that your business is better prepared to succeed in 2023.

Thanks for reading,

Kim

Image: The Beatles, owners of one of the most powerful brands in history, as they film A Hard Days Night in London, England (1964). L-R Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Ringo Starr, John Lennon. © David Hurn | Magnum Photos