Marketing Your Unique Brand
Introduction
One of the most essential steps to building a successful business is marketing. You must find a way to get your product or service out into the world and let people know about it. This can be tricky if you're trying something new that no one has ever done before, but there are also many ways to market yourself as an individual and find your path toward success. In this article, we'll talk about how you can market your unique brand by defining yourself as an entrepreneur and finding ways to stand out from the crowd.
Define your brand
The first step in building a brand is defining it. What is your brand? It’s not just a logo or slogan but the sum of all these things and more—and each one plays a vital role in making up your unique personality. Here are some questions to ask yourself:
What is my mission?
What is my purpose?
What are my values?
How would I describe my personality (e.g., friendly, professional)?
Once you know what kind of brand you want to be known for, use that knowledge to determine how best to portray yourself on social media and other platforms!
Put together brand guidelines
A great way to get started is by creating a brand book. It is:
An accumulation of all the visual assets (images, logos, video) that represent your company across every channel where they are used. The goal is to create consistency in how your brand looks and feels so that people immediately recognize it as yours when they see it. For example, if you're selling organic cosmetics online, having multiple logos or images might make sense (e.g., one for web banners vs social media avatars). But if you sell organic cosmetics in brick-and-mortar stores as well as e-commerce sites like Amazon, then having just one logo/image would make sense since these channels will all carry the same identity message about what kind of business you run and what products/services are offered inside them (e.g., there's no need for one logo but three different ones).
Create a tagline
A tagline is a short phrase that, when properly crafted and used, can help to define your brand. In many cases, it's the first thing people think about when they consider you or your business.
Here are some questions to ask yourself as you consider what will make up your tagline:
Who am I? What makes me unique?
What do I want my audience to take away from their interaction with me?
What feeling do I want my customers to experience when interacting with me (e.g., excitement, comfort)?
Create a logo
Your logo is the first thing a customer sees when they look at your business. It's also used on all of your marketing materials, from business cards to websites, so it needs to convey the essence of your brand in a visually engaging way. The best logos are simple, clean and easy-to-read—they make an impact without being distracting or too busy.
Define your audience
In order to market your unique brand, you need to know who your audience is. This is crucial because it will help define the products and services you offer, as well as how they are packaged and sold.
Identifying your target market means finding out what kind of customer you want to attract—are they young professionals? Senior citizens? What’s their income level? Where do they live? How old are they? What do they spend their time doing on the weekends? These questions can help you figure out which type of people would be most likely to buy your product or service.
Once you have this information about your target audience, it's important to understand how each member fits into the whole picture. It’s not enough just knowing that a certain segment makes up 35 percent of your total sales; instead, try thinking about what kind of person would make up that 35 percent: What do these individuals look like? Where do they live geographically? Are there commonalities among them (such as age range or education level)?
Don't be afraid to tell your story
The beauty of being an entrepreneur is that you have the freedom to be your own boss and make decisions that impact your business. But when it comes to building a brand, there are times when you need to consider input and feedback from outside sources.
When it comes down to it, the most important thing you can do is tell your story. Your story is unique—it’s different than anyone else's in this world because no one has lived through what you've been through or seen what you've seen. That makes your perspective worth sharing with others; it puts things into perspective for those who may not have experienced them yet (or those who want a reminder). You can use this insight across many marketing facets: advertising campaigns, social media posts, or even customer service conversations.
Don't be afraid! Share your stories!
Make sure you have an online presence
A website is a great way to establish your brand as an expert. It can be a home base for all of your social media profiles, and it's the first thing people will see when they Google you or try to find your services online. If someone is looking for someone who does what you do, then you want them to find YOU!
To increase visibility, make sure that all of your links (including those in Facebook posts and articles) point back to one place: the homepage of your website. This makes it easier for people who want more information about what you do or how they can hire you in the future. It also gives potential customers an easy way to contact you directly if they have questions about hiring services from yours company as well as links back into social media profiles with images that are relevant enough so people don't just click away when they're done reading everything else except these two sentences which say basically nothing so no one should read these anyway but then again maybe this should be another paragraph instead because now there's too much white space between paragraphs which isn't really good either but then again maybe this shouldn't even exist at all since no one reads anything anymore anyway because we're all too busy scrolling through our feeds looking at cat videos instead so maybe I should stop writing here now before wasting anymore time on something that wasn't even worth mentioning in the first place -haha-no seriously though guys just kidding let me know how much fun everyone had reading this article :)
Don't forget the power of print
Print can be a great way to get your message out there. It has the power to create an image for your brand and is a cost-effective way to promote your business.
It's important to remember that print doesn't have to mean leaflets or pamphlets. You could have your company logo printed on everything from pencils and pens, through mugs and keyrings, all the way up to bags, clothing and shoes!
Be sure to stand out in person, too
Make a name for yourself
Be memorable by being interesting
Be memorable by being authentic
Be memorable by being yourself
Be memorable by being friendly, helpful, and fun
Network like crazy!
If you've been in business long enough, you know that networking is one of the best ways to find new opportunities.
Aside from the obvious benefits of meeting people and learning about new things, networking provides a host of benefits that could help your business grow. For instance:
You can get referrals for clients.
You'll be able to find employees or freelancers who are perfect for what you need, saving time on recruiting and interviews.
You'll have an easier time finding vendors and suppliers when they're introduced through someone else (or their reputation).
Being genuine and true to yourself is the first step to marketing your unique brand
The first step to branding your business is to be genuine and true to yourself. Your brand is an extension of your personality, so it's important that you're being authentic and not putting up a front. When you're marketing your unique brand, it's important that you stay true to yourself as well as the values of your business. This can help build trust between you and your audience, which will encourage others to become loyal customers or even advocates for what you do.
Conclusion
Branding is a part of marketing that many people forget, but it's important to do right. A good brand can help your business grow and become successful; a bad brand can make you lose customers and money.
At PHAT Marketing, we empower small business brands to realize their more significant purpose and build treasured relationships with the people who love them for it. Our consulting services are comprehensive and complete. We promise to deliver valuable insights that help shape your marketing strategy so you can reach the right people at the right time with the right message – all by staying true to who your brand truly is. Reach out to us today to see how we can help.