You may think that a business and a brand are two of the same but they’re not.
What is a business?
Your business is your foundation. Your business is the products and services that you offer. It’s your business model.
Without a business, there’s nothing to brand which is why before you can create a brand, you need to get clear on your business.
Work in your business
So how do you do that? It’s usually best to start with offering 1-1 services. By working directly with clients in a one on one capacity you can start to understand the exact pain points that they have and how you can help them.
During the first 18 months of running a business, so much can change. Your ideal clients can change and how you help them can change. What you thought you might want to do at the beginning of your business may look very different 18 months in.
Take my business, I started out working with clients on their brand identity and website design. I worked with creative entrepreneurs of all shapes and sizes. Around 18 months into my business, I had a realisation. Many of my clients were launching their new brand identities with the intention of growing their business but once they launched, nothing changed. Their businesses didn’t grow. Now that wasn’t because their brand identities were not working for them, it was because they didn’t have a clear marketing strategy and visibility plan in place in order to grow their audience.
Branding alone won’t grow your business
Investing in branding alone won’t grow your business. Having a clear business strategy, marketing strategy and visibility plan along with a clearly defined brand identity, will.
My corporate background spans more than 10 years in marketing so at the end of 2017, I decided to make a pivot in my business to help clients with their full brand and marketing experience. No longer do I work with clients solely on their branding. I now only work with clients who are ready to invest in branding and marketing strategy. This way, I can be sure that I have given my clients the best possible start in growing and scaling their brands. I also defined who I work with by specialising in working with online service-based businesses as they are the businesses I am truly passionate about.
After you have spent some time working in your business, you’ll be clearer on who you want to serve and how you want to serve them. That’s when you start to create a brand.
What is a brand?
Your brand provides an emotional connection to their audience. A brand has personality.
Your brand is what makes your business unique. It’s what sets you apart from all those other businesses out there who do what you do. When you have a brand, you don’t have competition. Competition is only an issue when your business is the same as all the others out there. Having a unique brand eliminates the need to compete solely on price. If your audience feel a stronger connection with your brand over that of your ‘competition’ then they will buy from you, no doubt about it.
Create a personal connection
A vast majority of people will buy based on emotion. They decide to buy because it feels like the right fit so the better you are at making an emotional connection with your audience, the easier you’ll find it to close sales.
People don’t just choose businesses to work with or to buy from anymore. They buy from brands that they have a personal connection with.
Think of some of your favourite companies. Now think about why you love them so much. Is it because you know exactly what they offer? Is it because you love their visual branding? Is it because their client experience is exceptional? All of these things are what makes a business, a brand.
Take Apple for example, there’s a lot of articles out there favouring Android over ios as a better operating system. However, I bet that the majority of people that you know will have an iPhone and they will have paid a premium for it. Why? Because they have an emotional connection to Apple. They prefer them as a brand. They walk into an Apple store and immediately want to buy all of their products because of the experience. It’s proof that consumers will pay more for a, some would argue, sub-par product because they love the brand.
That’s what I mean when I say when you create a brand that connects with your audience emotionally, you won’t be competing on price.
To summarise
Your business is your foundation. Your business is the products and services that you offer. It’s your business model.
Your brand provides an emotional connection to their audience. A brand has personality.
Join the waitlist for the Brand, Market, Flourish group coaching programme
If you like this post, I go into this and a whole lot more in my group coaching programme – Brand, Market, Flourish. Join the waitlist and be the first to hear when the next round opens plus recieve an exclusive early bird offer!
During this high-touch programme, I’ll walk you through the process of building and growing your brand from start to finish.
With fortnightly Q&A group coaching calls where you have direct access to me, a private community, access to my video trainings, workbooks and resources, you’ll feel confident and excited that you too can grow a sustainable and successful online brand.
