If you want your brand to connect with the people that are going to keep making it a success, personalizing its image is a priority.
But you probably knew that already.
What brand identity means in practical terms is forming meaningful connections, and giving people the personal interaction that drives interest and sales. The internet has changed the way that people communicate, and today branding is taking on a level of interactivity that makes engaging customers more important than ever before.
Creating interest in your brand can take advantage of social media to reach people in ways that simply weren’t possible a decade ago, and build up a great brand image that will keep your company relevant. The downside to this new way of interaction is the digital haze that most people live in, and if you want to reach your customers, your brand will need to find ways to float into areas they love.
The good news is that once you have their attention, it has never been easier to connect with potential customers using online communication and build up awesome relationships that will keep your brand banging around in their mind.
Where Does Your Brand Exist?
I am going to assume that your company already has an amazing logo design, and it is tastefully plastered anywhere it can do your image some good. If this is not the case, you will need to address this oversight immediately.
Now, once the logo is out of the way, you can focus on connecting with your potential customers. In the days before the internet, a business had to rely on person to person contact if they wanted to build up an interactive brand image, but now that relationship is much easier to create.
Of course, if your company has a retail presence, or provides a physical service, it is still important to make sure your team knows how to treat people the rightway . These connections are everything when it comes to putting a face on your brand, and the online space makes these relationships much easier to reinforce.
It might sound like a simple thing, but it makes sense to think about any and all the places that your company may come in contact with both the public, and other businesses. And I don’t just mean people that are potential customers either. Your suppliers and service providers are also powerful connections that you can harness for networking.
If the guy that delivers your shipping boxes loves stopping at your joint, make sure he has a way of sharing how much he enjoys working with your company. Today any connection between your company and the outside world has the potential to personalize your brand image, so don’t overlook anything!
Think Positive
It should go without saying that anytime someone interacts with your company, they should walk away feeling like a big ol’ bag of Bitcoins. The way your brand approaches this will vary based on the sector you operate in, but adopting a positive, constructive attitude is vital.
Marketing as we understand it today was a product of the 20th century, and relied heavily on one way communication. Think about any of the major brands, and their use of celebrities or super attractive people in their adverts. Today the world is drowning in super models, with a very jaded public looking for real connections.
Your brand can make use of this dynamic by being available for two way communication, and give your potential customers experiences that will help them to see your company as human and approachable. Some companies use pictures of their employees to accomplish this, but there are other ways that are also effective.
For example, if your company provides an online service of some kind, creating videos is a really good move. They can be industry specific webinars, but your employees can also just make videos that provide helpful content. Regardless of how you decide to craft media for free distribution, the real trick is to use it as a starting point for online interactions via a comment section or social media.
Be Chatty!
Once you have some killer content on your hands, it is time for the real fun to begin. People like talk online, and you can use this to build up a stellar brand image. You will need to have an exceedingly professional social media operator, who can chat up the world on your behalf. Once the comments start to fly, they will jump in to keep the party going.
The real power for brand building in social media lies in the public’s love for interesting content. Your online chatterbox should know how to direct the conversation in an interesting direction, so that people feel like they are having a great interaction. This whole process also acts as a sales pitch, but one that relies on image to work. Don’t use the interactions to push product, as your company will come off as salesy.
When you create an image based on authentic interactions, the public will enjoy learning more about your products or services. The goal should be creating engaging conversations and amazing organic content.
Think about it like a conversation at a party, that anyone online can have access to. This kind of content strategy will go a lot further in the social media sphere than normal marketing efforts, and also give your demographic something to share with their friends.
Don’t Worry About Negative Comments; Use Them
There is a natural aversion to dealing with negative content, but this is a missed opportunity to humanize your brand. In a perfect world everything would work flawlessly, and no one would ever make mistakes. This isn’t how reality works, and your brand can use problems to show much you care about your clients.
When someone starts to complain about a problem, don’t bury it, start talking to them on Twitter or Facebook. Make sure that your employees use their names, and are sincere in their desire to learn about the problem. The positive associations that will create with your brand are obvious, but it also serves to demonstrate how much your company cares about its customers.
In the end, the companies that are able to create a feeling of honest, direct interaction online will be able to bridge the social gap that the internet has created. We are moving towards a world where people are able to insulate themselves to a degree that never existed before, so making sure they want to let your company communicate with them is extremely important.
