You have a killer product and a fitting brand established around it, or maybe vice-versa. Either way, everything is coming together and all that's left is to get your name out there and establish your market... but how do you do that?
We at Baker Street have collected years of experience in establishing branding systems, creating identities, building steady demographics, and everything else that goes into making a brand stick. Throughout our time, a few things have stuck out as necessities in the current marketing landscape so we've put them together into one handy guide that lets you best figure out how to move forward.
To build a strong brand, you have to know your audience. Delve in and research who your consumers are. If you can build out a detailed persona of exactly what your typical buyer looks, then you can build your packaging, social media voice, and marketing campaigns directly around them. You may have one persona, you may have three, but if you aren’t targeting your demographic's needs, you won’t be reaching you fullest potential.
Now that you know your target audience, it’s time to learn how to talk to them. Present ideas and features that speak to the niche your brand fits into. If your product appeals to DIY handymen, then filling your promotional material with engineering jargon likely won’t make much headway. You’ll want to break down what you’re offering in a way that is both understandable and relatable to the people who will want your product.
One thing to keep in mind is that the average consumer is looking for solutions, not specifications (with a possible exception for the tech world). Most people are a lot more interested by what your product can do for them in specific then they are what industry-based features you can list out. Every competitor can go through the specs of their product, and there are likely a lot of brands offering services within the same industry you are. It’s not enough to give your customers a list of specifications, you need to give them answers. Why should they pick your product or service when there are plenty of others fighting to fill that space? What do you address in specific and how do you do that? They may already know what your product or service does, but what they need to hear is what it can do for them.
Every successful brand has a strong persona tied to it. If you’re lacking an established voice, build one. If you have your personality on lock, then you should work to tie it into everything you do. It can be as simple as talking in a conversational voice and using the slang of your niche market, or sharing things from behind-the-scenes to give your brand a human touch. Just don’t be too serious (unless serious is your thing, then more power to you). You want your voice to show who you are and make you stand out from the crowd. Don’t just be another cookie-cutter company, have some spunk. Be a little quirky. Show some personality.
This is simple. We’ve actually covered it in previous posts, but it’s still one of the biggest mistakes we see people making. Keep your brand COHESIVE. Make sure that everything your brand does is CONSISTENT in both aesthetic and messaging. Your ads should match your landing page, your landing page should match your site, your site should match your shop, and on and on. Your brand needs to be a cohesive whole. Incompatible pieces will do wonders to drive away potential leads. If your brand doesn’t mesh with itself, it’s definitely not going to mesh with your customers.
The internet is the way of the future. Print media, radio ads, television spots, etc. can still make some headway in today’s market, but you’re not going to tap the full potential of your brand without a strong online foundation, and that starts with a good website. An average site won’t cut it in the modern day. You don’t just want it to suffice, you want it to impress. Your brand’s website will function as the centerpiece of all of your activity on the world wide web, and you want that centerpiece to pull people in and blow them away.
Once your site is established, you’ll want to become visible on social media. Organic posts are a must, but so is sponsored content. Social media is at the heart of modern communication, and you want to be seen within it as much as possible whether that’s through paid content, regular posts, interactions with your customers and other local businesses, or whatever else may be possible.
Online visibility doesn’t end on social media, though. Google is the most used platform on the internet, and being seen there is crucial. Optimizing your sites SEO can do a lot to bring in organic traffic, but don’t overlook the power of Google Ads. This platforms lets your brand be displayed to relevant audiences across your state, country, or even the world. That can of exposure can work miracles.
Check out this page to learn more and drop us a line if you would like to chat. We’d love to hear more about you!
Psst…be sure to check out The Molecule of Awesome™. It’s our trademarked process that really delivers.
Here at Baker Street Digital, building and improving brands is what we do. If you’d like more information about our services or are interested in learning how we can help you, just fill out the form below and we’ll make sure we keep you up to date!
