A term commonly tossed around any marketing department is “branding.” In a nutshell, branding is the image, or identity, by which your business is known to the public. This can refer to a logo, and often logos are part of branding, but it is by no means limited to a logo. Branding is an overall concept. For example, when I say “KFC” what comes to mind? Did you immediately think of chicken? I bet you did. Even if you attached other images as well, such as the man in a white suit, you ultimately associated it with chicken. That’s branding.
Contrary to popular belief, branding is not limited to large national chains. Every business in every city in the country has a brand, a way in which you are viewed by the community at large. The question then becomes, are you aware of it?
Discover Your Existing Identity
As a business owner, you like to think that you excel at everything, but the truth is that everyone who patrons your store sees your business as having one particular quality that separates it from all the others. Interestingly enough, most of these people will see the same thing, but it may not be what you think. So how do you find out how your customers identify your business? Ask!
The best way to determine how people view your business is to ask them. Hand customers a card that asks them to identify the most important thing they considered when choosing to patron your store, and offer them a % discount on an item when they bring it back or on their current purchase if they fill it out immediately. Polling your customers for a month will give you a good idea of your identity, and that knowledge will allow you to begin marketing to your strength!
Create a Clear Identity
So what happens if you perform the poll and discover that the responses are all across the board? Does that mean you are good at everything? Unfortunately, no. It means you do everything at least passably well, but you excel at nothing. This, in turn, means that you’re not getting all the business that you should be receiving. You need to focus on one aspect of your business that you wish to be known for and communicate that to your employees. Then formulate a plan to make that quality stand out while maintaining your performance in all other areas.
For example, if you are a gift shop, perhaps you want to be the shining example of customer service. First you need to define what that means. For more detailed information on how to define customer service for your business, check out my previous marketing tip on customer service here. Once you know what customer service means, communicate that to your employees and then hold contests to see who can do the best job of implementing it.
If you identify customer service as knowing and calling each customer by name, hold a contest to see who can use customer’s names the most without having to ask them first. This will both motivate your employees to learn your customer’s names and get them comfortable with using them! Internal contests are a great way to introduce new activities for just this reason. Your employees will be able to help alleviate any fear or apprehension they feel about the new changes in the roaring fires of inner-store competition.
Market Your Identity
Now that you know how customer’s already see you, or you’ve chosen to take the reins and showcase a particular aspect that you want them to notice, it’s time to market to that identity! Do you have brochures? Advertise your strength! Come to the store with the best customer service in town! Do you have business cards? Add the line, “service with a smile.” Radio ads? TV ads? A Facebook or twitter page? Put it everywhere. Let people know why they should choose your store and then live up to and exceed their expectations, and you will begin to see immediate results!
Do you have a question you’d like to get addressed or a great idea for a Marketing Tip of the Week? Leave your idea in the comments below!
Leave a Reply