Think of your brand, not only as a visual marketing tool, but also as a way for your potential clients and referral sources to see you as the solution to their problems. As marketplace grows increasingly more competitive, a properly developed brand will give you a competitive advantage.
In today’s world of technology, your brand is more important than ever! I want to share about an article I read in Harvard Business Review: Aligning With the Consumer Decision Journey. It brings a voice to the fact that in the digital world, the famous “funnel metaphor” no longer applies to branding. We can no longer think of our consumers on the large end of the funnel, and target our branding for specific touch points to our prospects until they narrow down their choice and decide.
In the digital world, there is a constant shift.
“Traditional marketing strategies fall short in this new world. Marketers need to drop the funnel metaphor to describe consumer touch points and instead study the evolving and increasingly digital consumer decision journey (CDJ). The CDJ illustrates how consumers add and subtract brands from a group under consideration during an extended evaluation phase. And purchase is no longer the end of the relationship. Now consumers often enter into an ongoing relationship with the brand during which they enjoy, advocate for and bond with it.
Here are some ideas offered from the article with ways you can begin mapping out your commitment to branding your services:
1. Interview your customers. Do this during your initial consult. Find out what brought them to the table and what it was they were looking for when they found you. We do this in the Synergy Meeting.
2. Gather publicly available data on search activity and patterns. Once you find out what your prospects are looking for, use the resources available to you to pinpoint search activity and patterns. Don't just examine the data, let it speak to you and show you where you can improve. We do this using the Five Key Focusers. Review the information and strategize!
3. Identify and Analyze Trends. Once you have committed to your marketing plan, you can begin the implementation. But don’t lose sight of the progress you are making. Track it and act on the things that are working, bury the things that aren’t!
Nurture relationships with your clients, prospects and referral sources. In the end, this is the perfect plan of attack to make an impact with your branding. Always think of your branding as the reason your clients and referral sources come to you. Your solving their problems. Then take your brand out and inspire though your community outreach; grow regularly through your relationship building; and specify the options for the services you can offer to solve their problem.
Roslyn Drotar, National Director of Implementation
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