Are You Ignoring Important Areas Of Your Brand? 

As business owners, we’re all focused and moving steadfast toward one goal–making sure our business succeeds. While success means something different to every entrepreneur, we all work similarly to get to that place. 

A great website, kickass copy, social media pages that are on-brand and engaging, email marketing that gets the clicks–they’re all crucial components that smart business owners know they must hone on it in order to achieve their business goals. But what many of us seem to forget is that every one of these branded areas work together to build a strong brand. 

You see, without one, another can’t be as successful as it could be. Take email marketing and web copy, for example. Your brand’s email marketing might be the best your customer’s have ever seen, but without a killer website full of actionable copy, will your email recipients actually convert? 

Every element of a strong brand is crucial, and none of those pieces can stand alone. So think, are you ignoring certain areas of your business? Will your brand crumble without a key building block? If you are pushing anything aside, imagine how that lack of consideration could be inhibiting your full potential. Don’t turn a blind eye to these areas, build a strong brand.

 

Build A Strong Brand By Dedicating Focus To These Areas

Just like in everyday life, there are certain things surrounding your business that you should never ignore. While paying bills, showing up to work, and seeing a doctor once in a blue moon come to mind for the must-dos in life, paying attention to these 6 components that make up your brand is also a must.

Everything in your brand must work together in order to be successful–no one part is more important than another. Cohesion, consistency, and accuracy always, so double-check that the following business owner to-dos are on your list.

 

1. Consistent Communication Inside and Out

It takes commitment, discipline, and consistent effort from an entire team to build a strong brand, and this all starts with being on the same page. 

Be sure to keep your team in the loop always. By doing so and communicating change, plans for growth, brand voice, and guidelines, not only will your business’s internal communication be on point, but so will the external communication your employee’s have with your customers.

Here’s an example to really get the idea across. Let’s say you have a customer who has been hearing great things about your brand. They’re thrilled about what you do and are on-board with what you stand for. 

This customer already loves you before ever even communicating with your brand directly. To keep that love around, you have to make sure they get that same experience when actually coming in contact with you. Whether that be over a phone call, through in-person customer service, or an internal conversation, be consistent with how your brand and your employees communicate.

 

2. Staying Up-To-Date With Industry Trends

You can certainly learn a thing (or 20) from what everyone else in your industry is doing. While doing what everyone else is doing will not set you apart from your competition, ignoring industry trends altogether is a huge mistake. 

Ultimately, trends come from what customers want, and brands follow industry trends so they’re capable of providing the value that their audience is looking for. As a smart business owner, you must also do the same.

Don’t be a grandma who isn’t with the 21st century yet. Keep up with trends and stay on top of what is working for your competition and what is not. Brands are forced to evolve with the times–with what customers are looking for–or they’ll end up sinking themselves. So don’t be hard-headed or steer too far away from what’s happening in your industry. Yes, you do have to be different and offer something of value that no one else is, but you can’t be so different that you miss the mark with potential customers.

 

3. Making Sure You Have ALL The Pieces For Social Media Marketing

Social media is a key part of any brand–of everything in the modern-day, actually. Do you know a person without a Facebook page? How about a local business that doesn’t use Instagram? With over 3 billion people using social media and 54% of those users researching or shopping for products on brands’ social media pages, why would you not take advantage of the opportunity? 

While most of you already know what a monumental role social media can plan in business, the mess comes when your brand isn’t well represented on those platforms. And where does a great representation of your brand come from in the first place? Well designed visuals and cohesive messaging.

If your brand visuals are a mess, so will your social media platforms. Get clear on the way your brand looks and make guidelines based on that clarity. Then, you’re easily able to translate those same components over to marketing platforms like social media. 

If bright colors ain’t your brand’s thing, then refrain from using that kind of content on social media. Make sure your bios are on-brand and up-to-date. And for the love of God, be sure to add your current logo to your social media profiles.

 

4. It All Counts In Email Marketing

Over 293.6 billion emails are sent and received every single day–yes, billion! Email is a huge part of communication today, from career information to promotional content to health records and results–people are constantly staying in touch with what’s in their email box.

While it can certainly become annoying receiving 100+ emails every day, plenty of brands still find it to be a valuable marketing tool. How easy can that be, right? Writing emails and letting email subscribers know that you’ve got a hot new product for them to try out is all it takes. Wrong.

The first step is knowing how to write catchy subject lines. Then comes emails filled with exciting and engaging copy once the message is opened. And then there’s the well-designed graphics portion of email marketing. Only then are you likely to catch the eye of your audience and get them to become loyal, paying customers.

The point is if you make one bad email marketing choice and your audience is unimpressed–boring design, copy without excitement, etc.–it’s unlikely they’ll ever open up one of your emails again. So do it right, the first time. It’s not just about sending the email, you can’t ignore the fact that you need great copy and kickass design too.

 

Related Articles To Learn More About Copywriting For Small Businesses

Why Great Copywriting For Small Business Is A Game Changer

5 Quick Hacks That Will Improve Your Small Business Copywriting

A Complete Guide To Sales Copywriting For Service Businesses 

 

5. Never Leaving The Story Out Of The Brand 

We’ve said it before (too many times to count, in fact) and we’ll say it again–you must consistently communicate your story in everything your brand does. Because without communicating your brand story, who are you? How will your customers know who you are? If you’re ignoring your own brand story, your audience is sure to ignore it as well.

By telling your story and letting your audience in on the things that make you you, you’re able to give your customers a reason to love you. What do you value? How do you speak to people? What kind of voice and tone represents your brand and what you’re all about? Embrace your brand’s personality in every email, social media post, press release, and video you shoot. Never fall short of showing your personality and being your brand. You’re the only you, so act like it. 

 

6. Reppin’ Your Brand Visually Too

If you look one way and sound another, your audience is sure to be confused. If your website has different fonts and colors than your print pieces, your brand professionalism goes out the door. If a customer hops on the phone with an employee who is over the top serious while your graphics are full of fun and snark, you’ll miss the mark.

You cannot ignore the quality and consistency your visuals bring to the table anywhere your brand might appear. Even in the places where you’d think high-quality, on-brand graphics don’t matter, they do. This means internal documents should be visually branded to represent you. Onboarding materials for future employees should tell your brand story right when they look at that piece of paper. Event promotions can have their own theme but must also represent your brand. 

In any case that you feel it’s not important to visually represent your brand and its story, stop and think again. It does matter. The moment anyone sees your brand plastered on marketing material, they should know it’s you. So don’t ignore this crucial part of possessing a strong brand, do it right.

 

What Have You Been Ignoring?

We get it, it’s easy to set some things aside as a business owner so you can fully focus on one thing at a time. But remember that one thing cannot be done to its full potential without another. Social media and copywriting. Email marketing and kickass graphics. Internal communications and external communication. Don’t let any part of your brand stand alone.

Not sure if you’re ignoring what’s crucial for success? Are you a strong brand from top to bottom? Let’s get clear. 

Buy Us a Beer and you’ll get to talkin’ with our very best brand strategists who will help you determine what’s what. Don’t let any part of your business fall behind, build a strong brand–one that’s whole, one that’s consistent, one that you’re proud of.