7 Keys to Moving Your Brand Where You Want It To Go!
There is no such thing as an overnight success! Just look at the bio’s or stories of just about any successful small business, entrepreneur, author, journalist or media personality.
They all started somewhere and moved their business and brands in the direction they wanted them to go and were led. Building businesses and careers over time, takes time.
I am about to celebrate 5 years in business! I can clearly see how over the last 5 years, I have thoughtfully and purposefully moved my business and career in the direction I wanted it to go and more importantly where I have been led!
The process of creating, establishing and sustaining your business brand is a holistic one. There are so many things that go into successful, sustainable branding. How do we sustain and grow our business and branding over time?
“It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you’ll do things differently.” Warren Buffet This is so true especially today, from a very smart man, who has a lot to say about being in and succeeding in business.
Sustaining your brand is about what you do and how you are perceived while you are right here, right now and how that compounds over time! It is also the promise of how you want to be remembered long after you are gone.
Here are 7 keys that have served me well in moving my business and personal brand in the direction I wanted it to go to build sustainability and legacy.
Deliver Daily Value
Ultimately what I do and offer has to bring and deliver value to people’s day and lives by making it better. That’s why people stay and refer others. Apple is a perfect example of this.
Be Relentlessly Consistent
People need to be able to count on me delivering that value consistently to them , so that they always get what they have come to expect from me. I have found this to be true with my 20+ year relationship with American Express.
Create An Easy User Experience
The unified, consistent experience I create for people with delivering my products, services and online presence is crucial. Make that experience easy, friendly and fun. A great example of this is Zappos.com
Always Be Authentic and Personalize
With the new and social media platforms; it makes it easier to be more accessible online and in person and give people a glimpse of me personally yet stay professionally focused. I personally try to interact with as many people as I can daily and weekly. Love Facebook for this!
Foster Mutual Engagement
Invite feedback, ideas and suggestions from your customers and community. Conduct focus groups or surveys either in person or online and harvest information from key people about what’s going on in their worlds and how you are doing. Tapping into your key people bolsters your transparency, authenticity and can yield some very useful information you can apply to your business.
Be Fresh Squeezed and Innovate
It’s so important to be reframing, refreshing, and reinventing the way you deliver your products and services. I have tried to follow important trends and review things yearly! Technology and trends have given us all so many ways to do this. Check out www.trendwatching.com for great ideas!
Rock and Reward Your Customers For Their Loyalty
Show your appreciation to all your customers, but especially the loyal long-term ones. They tend to get lost in the effort to find new customers. They are the foundation of any long-term success. How do you make them feel special and appreciated? Reward and pass on your success to employees and customers by giving them incentives, gifts, and premiums.
It takes time to establish yourself and claim your place, but once you do, it’s up to you to keep moving in the direction you want to go and you are being led! Stay relevant my friends and on top of trends, customer needs and market changes and please don’t forget to have fun!
People love to see businesses and brands having fun with themselves!
What brands have impacted you over time and what have they done to keep you loyal?
Author:
Deborah Shane is an author, media host, speaker, writer and branding strategist. She hosts her Toolbox Blog and is in her third year of hosting a weekly business radio show called Deborah Shane’s Metropolis that has over 32K downloads! She is a regular contributor to several national business, career and marketing blogs and websites. Her new book Career Transition-make the shift is available on Amazon.com and all major book sellers. Deborah delivers smart, no-nonsense ideas and solutions, which make her a popular go-to resource for clients, national media and influential blogs. Visit her at www.deborahshane.com.