Promoting your brand to generate more business

Growth is the goal of every business and for a business to succeed, time must be invested in marketing.

If you manage to market your business successfully, you’re sure to see a welcome spike in sales! So what do you need to know about branding and promoting your business? Keep reading to find out more!

1. Why is branding so important?
2. Set up strict brand guidelines
3. Reach out to your customers so they don’t forget who you are
4. Business Insurance

Why branding is so important

When you ask someone what a brand is, they will likely say the logo or name of a business. Something like the Apple logo or the iconic golden arches probably come to mind. Whilst these are part of what makes up a brand, there is more to it.

A company’s brand is how it relates to its customers, which ultimately defines its relationship with those customers. Your brand should be your calling card, instantly recognisable, and represent the culture of your business

Branding incorporates values and the overall approach of the business. Take a company like Red Bull – one of the most carefully crafted brands out there. Red Bull sells energy drinks, but what comes to mind when you hear the brand name? Probably action sports, parties, and an adventurous lifestyle. This is their brand – they represent adventure and excitement, not just their products.

This informs how they go about their business, the way they advertise, and how they interact with their customers. This is why branding is so important. It almost acts as the personality of your business, and it allows you to connect with your customers beyond simply buying and selling products.

A strong brand will make you instantly recognisable to both your existing customers and your customers in the future. They will know exactly who you are and what you do.

If a customer recognises your brand, you will be front of mind next time they are in need of your products or services!

When branding is done effectively, your business will take on an identity that will help you to advertise with more success, generate new business, attract talent, and build a loyal base of customers. All of these are great building blocks for a business.

Set up strict brand guidelines

Consistency is essential when it comes to a brand. All the hard work you’ve put into creating your brand will be undone very quickly if you make regular changes. To help you stay consistent, we recommend creating some brand guidelines that to share with your employees and train them on these guidelines.

These guidelines should detail what your company represents, your companies mission, and how you communicate with your audience. Some things to consider are:

• Your brand’s colours and what they mean.
• A logo for your company and a slogan.
• Company values such as integrity and creativity.
• Your brand tone of voice. This will determine all of your external communication and possibly a large majority of your internal communication. Your tone of voice should reflect your brand and how you present yourself to your customers. For example, if your company is relaxed and creative, you might communicate with a more informal and humorous tone in your advertising and social media posts.
• Your companies mission statement or vision.

It’s important that you sit down and craft these carefully. if you rush this stage, you’ll struggle to maintain consistency. And stick to the decisions you have made. Chopping and changing your brand guidelines every five minutes is damaging, and will lead to a loss of engagement. If you want your brand to become a household name, do not play around with your audience’s expectations. Don’t confuse the life-blood of your business.

If you’re uncertain of how to go about creating these guidelines, you can speak to your marketing team or hire an external consultant who can help you to create these guidelines.

Depending on the size of your company, you may not be able to have your entire staff involved in this process. If this is the case, choose your key stakeholders and select others from different parts of your business so you have a good representation of your company. Surveys can also be helpful to get input from your employees.

Involving your staff in the branding process will help establish your company’s culture. And this culture should be seen through the entire operation of the business. There are thousands of businesses, and many hundreds that sell similar products to yours. Consumers are just as interested in what your company represents as they are in the product or service you sell. Bottle your culture, let it breathe through your branding, and your unique selling point will follow.

Reach out to your customers so they don’t forget who you are

Another thing that can undo all of your handwork creating your brand is not staying in touch with your customers. So, once you’ve created your brand guidelines, it’s time to establish your brand with the outside world.

We aren’t saying that you should say “Hey, we have a brand!”, but instead, start communicating with your audience with the tone of voice of your brand. You can do this by posting on social media, sharing branded marketing emails, or any other activity such as webinars or other online content.

Content should be specific to your audience. Again, be consistent with the content you share. Yes, it’s good to try new things, but give new ideas time to settle in the consumers mind. Take the data you generate and use it as a compass to guide future content.

What you share on social media, on your website, or other digital platforms, needs to be as well defined as your brand. In fact, your content represents your brand, and should fall in line with the values you established with your team.

This is why it’s important to train your team on how to use these guidelines and what they mean. If you don’t, they won’t be able to communicate your brand in an effective manner.

Business insurance

Taking steps to create a strong brand will protect your business and help it to grow. All of this hardwork and effort can be undone in an instant if the worst were to happen. This is why it’s so important to have the right business insurance.

Business insurance ensures that if anything stops you and your team from conducting business as usual, you are protected from loss of income. Should your office or workspace be damaged or compromised in any way, business insurance can help to cover the immediate expenses that may occur as a result of these unfortunate events.

Dean Laming

Dean is a Chartered Insurance Broker with more than 25 years insurance experience. Through various underwriting, operational and management roles, Dean has built up extensive knowledge of how to run a business and is now Managing Director of Brisco Business, part of the wider Henry Seymour Group.

All articles by Dean Laming