Just as the human body loses its full potential without the five senses, so is a business without holistic brand management. We’ve all heard of brand management, it’s the business buzzword in the 21st century.
It’s this so much hearing about that makes it easily undermined. Brand management is unfortunately mistaken to be just limited to visual identity (logo, packaging, design schemes, etc.) which are part of a big picture of brand management. There is more to brand management. It’s about how people relate to your business.
What value do they place on your enterprise? Think of brand management as the senses of your body; sight, touch, hear, taste and smell.
1Visual identity
Sight
I won’t dwell much on this; just a simple note: When you look professional you feel professional; and people will trust you can do what you say you can. Go for a distinct yet memorable look.
Related:The Secret Ingredients to a Successful Branding Strategy
How you see your clients
The value/respect you associate your clients with is interpreted by what you offer them. Don’t think of them as money, see them as humans with needs you meet. Study them, know their habits, standards and expectations this will assist you to be relevant.
2Relationships
Touch
Gone are the days when companies were faceless entities. Your clients need to experience you like you live next door. Social media is a great way to achieve this. You can engage with them personally and direct. Use social media to converse with your clients and manage relationships.
Don’t just feed them with information, but engage with them and them with you. Be readily available on these platforms to respond to any query/inquiry. This way you touch cores and gain loyalty.
3Communicate
Hearing
Your clients have an opinion; it’s safe to listen to them. Don’t just feed them with unending information, constantly find out what are they thinking.
Make a culture of posting engaging content on social media aimed at discovering client opinion/satisfaction. This will help you diagnose and treat the possible problems at development stages. Let you promises be evident in your actions.
Related:The Quick and Dirty on Marketing, Advertising and Branding
4Credibility and Consistency
Taste
No matter how hard you work on other areas of your business; if your products/services are of a poor quality all your efforts are impractical.
Put your every effort to ensure that your offering is of superior status, whether its goods or services. The value determines whether clients come back or not. Your standards should only change when improving and no other ways.
Smell
Keep wearing the same scent in good and in bad times. Don’t be changed by your circumstance rather let them adapt to your style.
Don’t be a replica of your competitors, in instances where the industry forces similar features find something to differentiate you. You can use a different location, uniform or transportation, whatever it can be, find a distinguishing factor and stand out from the rest.