Every business owner wants to be the one whose company makes the strongest impression on their audience of potential customers — the company everybody knows about, the one everyone immediately thinks of when they need a job done. But earning that privilege takes a lot of intentional effort to build your company’s brand.
When someone thinks of shoes, they go to Nike. When someone thinks of burgers, they think of McDonalds. When a family wants to enjoy a visit to a theme park destination, they think of Disneyland. But in the home services industry, how important is branding, really?
Creating a bond between client and business is the greatest advantage of all
Where Does a Brand Begin?
I have had many conversations with business owners regarding their brands and where they should start. A lot of times, we see businesses jump in head-first without a plan, a vision, a goal. Put that together with not setting expectations that will yield results, strategies will begin to veer off of an effective path. During the beginning stages of any business’s marketing plan, many leaders don’t give enough thought to branding.
Branding should be the focal point of any business that hopes to achieve long-term success. The key to forming strong connections between you and your clients is the ability to adapt your strategy to what they want is the key to stronger connections between you and your clients.
Social media platforms have exploded over the years and have consumed more and more of your potential clients’ time. What are you missing when you don’t brand yourself on Facebook? On Instagram? On LinkedIn? Any business that does not change with the times becomes fundamentally irrelevant and will gradually lose revenue.
It’s All in the Lips — of the Consumer
In our technological, socially driven world, we love to speak about what we ate, what type of car we drive, what the latest fashion trends are... We speak about brands every single day in our conversations without even realizing it. Why do we do this? Because we are driven and connected by those brands.
How do you get customers to love your company so much that they come to you time and time again? By not cutting corners. Consumers will stay true to the products they purchase because of quality and value, but the way their favorite brands make them feel also plays a large part.
Consumers will use those key terms all the time when referring to companies and products: the cost was perfect, it didn’t break when I used it, it performed better than I expected. When you market your business to your consumers, does your brand represent what the consumers feel? Can they trust and expect that you will get the job done right? If your brand’s focus is on value, do they feel like they got a good deal? Advertising is no longer as simple as buying a billboard and waiting for the calls to come in. Customers want to support the brands they connect with.
Your clients will be your biggest advocates, as well as your greatest downfall if you don’t first have a clear vision of your brand or believe in it.
The Drip Of A Brand
When working with your brand and trying to build it, you can’t expect overnight results. Branding takes time, takes money, takes energy, and it takes the right mindset. Putting your name online and hoping for the best ROI doesn’t cut it. Brand strategy is multifaceted and requires elbow grease to yield the long-term results you want.
Your customers are out there and you just need to reach them. Consider non-traditional advertising channels that your target audience is spending time on. They are streaming video, gaming, posting on social media... You must perform the drip of marketing: keeping a well-balanced and diversified reach on all platforms, slowly dripping out your name so that it will resonate when the time comes that a customer needs your services.
Steps To Take
Here are some things to think about as you consider what you want the future of your brand and business to look like:
- Who am I trying to reach?
- Who does my product or service help?
- Where do my customers spend most of their time?
- Does my brand connect with my vision?
- Do my employees believe in the brand and vision?
- What story am I wanting my audience to tell others and does that align with my vision?
These are the building blocks of a brand that will bring in a steady stream of passionate customers. For more advice on forming deeper connections with your target audience, contact the home services marketing specialists at Scorpion.
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