Branding your business is fundamental to taking it to the next level. I mean, you’re already delivering and incredible product or service, right? Now it’s time to make sure that it’s seen. And, most importantly, that it’s seen the right way. That’s why building a brand experience is fundamental to bringing it all together in the most effective way.
Building a complete brand experience has been fundamental to the success of my business as an online coach. I mean, I have already told you about how I increased my income by 1000% in the last 6 months (and, it seems to be increasing every single month, which is awesome!), and, for sure, building a brand experience has been a huge part of it.
You see, Branding is an essential part to any business. By this point, you’re pretty clear about how it gives you direction for your business. In part 1, we defined your mission and values which will guide the decisions you make in your day-to-day.
In part 2, we talked about how branding makes your business look incredible and how to create an identity that represents who you are and your personality.
Now, we can move on to the final pillar of branding: building a brand experience.
The Third Pillar: Building a Brand Experience
Building a Brand Experience is all about being very consistent with your brand everywhere. In other words, you want to make sure the impression that you give about your business is the same in every single encounter people have with your brand so that you’re able to differentiate your brand by building recognition and trust.
Building trust is THE ultimate goal for any business. You see, trust is what will make people go from barely knowing who you are to buying from you and being loyal to your brand. In order to build that trust, you need to create a strong brand experience.
Identifying touchpoints
It all begins with identifying the different places where people encounter your brand as online coach. Now, you might be surprised by how many touch points you might have.
You see, this goes way beyond just your website. It’s about your business cards, social media, advertising, print materials, store, packaging, emails, newsletters, and even your physical persona. It all begins with understanding and really defining HOW you want your audience’s experience to be in every single place that they encounter you.
Where does your audience meet you?
How does your brand look?
How does it communicate?
How do you want to be perceived?
Once you are able to answer these questions, it’s easier to build an experience that represents you. Remember, it’s all about creating a story and building perceptions around your brand. So, when you know where you will have encounters with your target market and how you want to communicate with them, you can craft a powerful message and looks and feels just like you want it to.
For me, I try to sound and look the same in every single platform people find me. So, for example, every week when I do Facebook Lives in my Facebook group, I do it bringing as much of ME as I possibly can. I like having my personality come through because I understand that it’s essential in differentiating me from everyone else. The same is true for the way I write these articles or share emails each week.
The power of social media
We, undoubtedly, like in a digital world. This is something that has benefitted the world in many ways. I feel that the advantages of social media for business are incredible.
I mean look, you now have the chance to reach and talk to billions of people that are looking for exactly what you’re sharing. Social Media is a wonderful place to build that brand experience. Each media has a different purpose and style.
What you want to do is analyze which ones work most for you and make sure your presence is clear and consistent with your brand no matter which one you use.
Social Media has also been a powerful tool in my way of doing business. I’m specially into Pinterest right now (as you can see, you can Pin and share every image in my blog! — go ahead, don’t be scared).
I also share articles every day through Twitter and engage A LOT in Facebook all the time. Instagram is a place where I share more personal content with my family or what I’m doing each day.
All of these channels help build my brand as much as possible. *you can follow me everywhere as fabipaolini by the way.
Building a Sales Funnel
Another very powerful way to build a brand experience is to create a sales funnel through which you can carry your audience. Basically, the main idea is taking your webpage visitors through a process from knowing you – to liking you – to trusting you – to *finally* buying from you.
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Building a sales funnel that converts is maybe something you haven’t thought about up until this point. Now, if your webpage is there only to look pretty, I can honestly say it’s costing you money every single day. The great thing about a sales funnel is that you’re literally building an experience for people that go to your webpage and converting them into buyers and fans.
Building an experience through a sales funnel could radically transform your business. The most important thing is that your brand comes through the same way in every point of the funnel.
So, your logo (obviously), has to be the same, your colors, fonts, and of course, your communication style too.
Sales funnel have been the absolute BEST for my business. Everything is automatized and for those that what to hire me for branding their business, the process is super easy and straightforward.
Being consistent
In order to TRULY build your brand and make your business big, it’s SUPER important that you’re being VERY consistent. So, if your mission is all about connecting with others, and your brand archetype is the Regular Guy/Gal, that means that your business and brand are ALL about being down-to-earth and real.
So, this is the way you need to communicate in every single platform you’re involved in. Your blog posts should be relatable, your tweets have to have personality, and, if you run into potential clients or audience or readers in the street, you have to be nice to them as well! Being consistent and cohesive is what’s going to make your brand really stand out from everyone else.
I mean think about it, does Starbucks look one way in its stores, another on its social media and completely different on the emails they send out? No! Of course not! Brands like Starbucks, Apple, Nike, Target and McDonalds are SOOOO consistent that sometimes a TV commercial for them might pop on and you might be watching it for the first time and you instantly recognize the brand without even seeing the logo yet.
Right? I mean, it happens to me all the time with Target and Old Navy commercials. Ultimately, that’s what you want for your business too, and you get there by being consistent.
I mentioned this already, but consistency is something I practice EVERYWHERE. To me, this is fundamental in making sure your brand comes across the right way. Your voice and visuals have to be the same in every step of the way. There’s no way around it! It’s what has made my business grow consistently.
In the end, building your brands’ foundations, having an incredible design and brand identity and an incredible brand experience are what will become the WHOLE of your brand. Branding is what will take your business from being a hobby, to an empire that shows up the right way. And the more that you develop each and every one of the 3 pillars, the stronger your business will become.
I have been working as a branding specialist and designer for over 10 years. I see it all the time with my clients and friends. The ones that really take their time to develop their brand are the ones that have the most successful businesses. Coincidence? I think not!
