Your brand is the foundation upon which all of your marketing efforts are built. But what exactly is a brand?
The American Marketing Association defines a brand as “the accumulation of experiences with a specific product or service, both directly relating to its use, and through the influence of advertising, design, and media commentary.”
Unless you’ve defined and can articulate your brand, your marketing efforts will never deliver the goods. Sure, you’ll stumble upon minor successes from time to time. But you’ll never truly reap the full return on your investment in email marketing, social media, blogging, and more.
If you’re ready to get real, then it’s time to ask three questions about your company and your customers that’ll determine how well (or not so well) you know your brand: Who are we? Who are our customers? And what are their pain points?
1. Who are we?
First, look at your products. Do you sell a wide variety of sporting goods or do you specialize in a single sport or age group? Do people come to your restaurant for fine dining or are they there to watch the game and have a beer? This seems simple, but it’s important.
The second angle to consider is personality. After all, businesses aren’t just a menu of products. They’re collections of people too. A large enterprise might use mission statements and other MBA rubbish to define its personality for employees. At a local business, the personality will mostly be defined by the entrepreneur who started it.
Are you reserved or edgy? Liberal, conservative, or neutral? Flirtatious and fun or dead serious? These questions will help you remember who you are when you sit down to send an email or write a blog post.
