BUILD YOUR OWN BRANDCAST S2 E10: DIGITAL SYSTEM

 

Welcome Back to the Build Your Own BRANDcast!

 

What’s the best platform to broadcast your brand on? You can have the best brand but if you’re broadcasting your brand on the wrong network you’re leaving a lot of attention and revenue on the table. In this episode, we explain what your brand’s Digital System should include and why promoting your brand on the correct platforms is crucial to your success.

 

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EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS

 

After you’ve done the hard work of building the brand, it’s very important to figure out how we’re going to ship this thing out, how we’re going to communicate who we are and what we do to the people. The digitals system is crucial to that. You have to know what digital systems are best for your business and for your brand, because there are quite a few digital systems that exist but you want to make sure that you have the right ones and are fishing in the right pond so that you could find the right people, the right clients and ultimately build the right business.

 

What is a digital system and why is it important? Your digital system is the vehicle that you put together to convey your brand online. This is the way that you establish brand omnipresence because you as the proprietor of your brand or your team as the people who are carrying your brand to the marketplace are delivering on your brand promise, you can only be in one place at one time.

 

In 2017, the digital system has allowed us to create a point of leverage for our clients’ brands. And really, you can do this for yourself as well, where now you can make sure that your voice is being heard in the circles that you wanted to be heard in 24/7 and around the world.

 

What are some of the top digital systems that you need to be aware of? There’s Myspace, AOL, AIM and BBM. These platforms do evolve over time so this list is not something that’s going to be the same five or ten years from now. New players enter the arena all the time and many of them fail. But the thing that we encourage you to do is to jump in and figure out what best fits your voice.

 

Some of the top platforms include Facebook – the behemoth in the marketplace right now, Instagram, and Twitter.

 

Does Snapchat it really work for business? Snapchat is a great way for providing a through-my-own eyes types of messages. So Snapchat is not a place where you want to go and try to present an extremely long brand message verbally. This is something where you want to give people a sneak peek behind the scenes, intimate looks at what life with your brand looks like on a 24-hour rolling basis.

 

What about things like Tumblr? Would that be considered a digital system? There are a lot of these different platforms where you have the ability to share, where virality potential exists. You have the With these, you have the ability to create brand associations. With Tumblr for instance, it’s very much a sharing platform, so it’s great for brands to establish themselves there especially if you’re a clothing brand or a lifestyle brand because you’re going to be able to create associations to your brand based on content that you didn’t even create.

 

What does it mean to be native on the platform that you choose? It’s about understanding true trustworthiness with your m...

BUILD YOUR OWN BRANDCAST S2 E9: VISUAL SYSTEMS

 

Welcome Back to the Build Your Own BRANDcast!

 

Today, a picture is STILL worth 1,000 words. Equally true is the fact that people would really appreciate it if you make your pitch or point in significantly less than 1,000 words. Pictures are the basis of our storytelling and it always has been. The verbal mind does not work without the visual mind. Thinking in pictures is our nature and sharing those pictures has long been our dream. In this episode, we’ll give you some visual system essentials your brand requires to make that dream come true.

 

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The visual system is at the forefront of every client’s mind before they even think about needing a brand strategy.

 

How has the visual system evolved? The visual system is something that has evolved a lot in its utility over the years. In the past, visuals were relayed on stones, trees, papyrus. Today, a lot of the ways that we relay information visually is through screens, with lights and LEDs, and thoughts are aren’t even actually physical. It’s a powerful system for discussion.

 

How are visuals important? Since the beginning of time, people have used pictures to try to communicate, whether they’re trying to communicate by telling you a story or communicate an idea that they may hold in their mind. Today, things are not much different. We’re still in a time where telling your story and your ability to do that well matters so much in the world of business.

 

It’s actually critical to you building your brand out and present it in a way that’s attractive, engaging in that people can actually latch on to. Is it interesting? What story are you telling?

 

Do people want to share it? At the end of the day, when people perceive your brand visually, is it something that they want to share? Is it something that they’re gaining from, just from seeing it?

 

This is one of the most powerful touch points for your brand because when people see it, it’s going to create thoughts about who you are. It’s a great opportunity for you to start to really chisel out who you are in the minds of the marketplace in general.

 

Your visual brain essentially is all about creating the foundation for the look and the feel of your brand. Look and feel are two things that are very important. Going back to traditional times, these were things that weren’t even thought of because all you had to do was really push your message out there to people and they would just make the decision to buy or not. Today, we are not doing so much pushing when it comes to marketing and advertising. There’s a lot more pulling, there’s a lot more attraction going on, so you want to make sure that the look and feel not only represents who you are and what you do. That look and feel that your brand or business has, it has to reflect some shared characteristics that you have with your target audience so that a real connection or a real bond can be made.

 

Who should you be connected to? We’re talking about being connected to people who connect with you. We’re talking about being you and connecting with others who are in that field as well. When you do that, you have a tendency to not have many problems. Life tends to get really good because everybody that you’re workin...

BUILD YOUR OWN BRANDCAST: S2 E7 BRAND TOUCHPOINTS

 

 

Welcome back to the Build Your Own BRANDcast! Today we’ll talk about Brand Touchpoints and discuss its role in strengthening your brand identity, building customer loyalty, and even boosting productivity among your employees.

 

We will identify the 4 Brand Touchpoints and what customer interactions fit into each, as well as explore the impact of each on your customers and your organization. Controlling your Brand Touchpoints is essential to creating a strong brand identity.

 

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What are Brand Touchpoints? Simply put, a brand touchpoints are points where anybody comes into contact with your brand. This can happen internally –inside your company or organization– or externally –with your customers. One of the most ubiquitous examples of a brand touchpoint that anyone can easily identify is the business card. The business card is often the first interaction between a brand and its customers. It’s the first opportunity a brand has to convey how they want to be perceived.

 

 

What are internal touchpoints and external touchpoints?

Internal touchpoints are brand interactions within your organization. Many companies overlook how their brand is perceived by their teams, a mistake that can slow down progress. A strong internal touchpoint can ensure that everyone understands the brand and can help them to work in sync.

 

 

External touchpoints are brand interactions with your customers. Between the two, the external touchpoints must be prioritized. Not controlling your external touchpoints can leave your brand open to interpretation, giving your customers a bleary image of who you are as a brand and what services or products you offer.

 

 

Why is it important to identify and control Brand Touchpoints?

Brand Touchpoints project brand image. They must be kept as strong as possible in order to communicate consistency and clarity to your customers –two things that most brands nowadays lack.

 

 

Each touchpoint must be optimized for the greatest effect on whoever it comes to contact with. (04:25) If you don’t control your brand touchpoints, they control you. If you don’t manage the public’s perception of you brand, you put yourself at a great risk. This can degrade your brand and your brand’s promise. (8:00)

 

 

Keep in mind: brand touchpoints must always create a positive experience. Work brand touchpoints into your strategy early on. Understand what works. After all, you don’t want to miss an opportunity to connect with your customers.

 

 

The 4 Brand Touchpoints

 

Pre-Purchase touchpoints

Any point of interaction before a customer buys your product or service. This could be your website, your social media handles, your marketing strategies, and ads.

 

Purchase touchpoints

These are points of interaction after the customer has already decided to purchase. It is one of the aspects least tended to by a lot of businesses. Branding integration is usually poor at this touchpoint which is sad considering that this is the point where you can differentiate your brand.Purchase touchpoints is basically the delivery of your product or service. This includes the presentation of the product/s...

BUILD YOUR OWN BRANDCAST S2 E8: VERBAL SYSTEMS

 

Welcome Back to the Build Your Own BRANDcast!

 

You must be articulate when sharing and pitching your brand to attract an audience and get that audience to buy into your solution. A well-developed verbal system for your brand equips you with the tools to get the job done. Let’s Build!

 

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What are verbal systems? It’s something that we want anybody to be able to execute on, being able to communicate your vision clearly, concisely, and in a way where people can connect with exactly what you see in your head.

 

What’s the big thing about verbal systems? It requires everyone associated with the brand to have a shared language so that you’re saying the same things, communicating the same things, and avoid confusion or brand dilution from happening. Moreover, you have to have a shared pool of meaning behind that language so that everybody knows when and how to use certain things. And so that your audience can start to invest meaning, emotion, some feeling behind those things that you’re saying.

 

It’s very powerful when you have those things in place and that’s why it’s a system. It’s something that can be strategically implemented consistently over time, which is what brand equity is all about.

 

What is the way that you can generate brand equity? It has to be consistent but it has to also be consistent across the board, internally and externally.

 

What is your vocabulary? What are the terms that give meaning to your brand in the marketplace? And not only in the marketplace but also internally. Are the people who are associated with your brand and that are working to build your brand all on the same page?

What are the components to a verbal system?

 

The name. What do the customers associate it with?

 

An online domain. We’re in 2017. If you’re in the information age and you don’t have a strong presence online as part of your system, you’re system is incomplete.

 

The Company bio. What is your company about? Is everybody that’s associated with your company communicating that message the same way? Again, you need that alignment internally and externally.

 

What is the ultimate goal? The ultimate goal is you want to make sure that anything that’s associated with your business or your brand that has any type of influence or any brand touchpoint that’s associated with your business, you want to make sure that all those things are in alignment with your brand.

 

The ultimate goal is to create a comprehensive yet clear and concise verbal identity that is directly associated with who you are, what you do, and when you speak it, your “message sent” equals “message received.”

 

“It’s critical for any brand, any business to have the right language in place and in use that’s going to really create a solid connection between your brand and your target audience.” [0:04:46]

 

“You can have a great plan, you can have a great product, you can have a great service, [but] if I don’t know what you’re talking about, if it’s difficult to understand you, if when you get done pitching to me the only response I have is to scratch my head or laugh, giggle and say okay, then there is a problem. You didn’t bridge the gap.”[0:05:05]

 

“At the end of the day, with the correct verbal systems in place,

BUILD YOUR OWN BRANDCAST: S2 E6 VALUE PROPOSITION

 

Welcome Back to the Build Your Own BRANDcast!

 

Can you explain what you do, why it matters, and why it is the best solution for a target customer’s problem in one statement? If you can’t, you do not have a value proposition. If customers don’t know or are unclear on what solutions you are offering and why your solution is better than other alternatives, your journey in business will be short and unfulfilling. Tune into this episode of the BRANDcast to learn what Value Proposition is, why it is important, and how to build your own.

 

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EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS

 

What is value proposition? A value proposition explains the value that you provide, be it a product or service, for whom you’re providing it for and how you do it in a unique way.

 

You have to know what makes you unique, what makes you clearly a better option compared to the alternatives that are out there, why you’re distinctly better than your competitors, and take this information and use that to build out a clear, concise value proposition that people can understand easily and lead them to using your product or service. (You might want to check out the book Differentiate or Die by Jack Trout.)

 

How do you build out your message?

 

Step 1 – Define the problem.

Have a clear understanding of what the problem is, of what is paining your target audience, and how the solution that you’re offering solves that problem. Is it urgent? Is this something that needs to be solved immediately? Is this something that’s underserved? Is this something that’s unavoidable and a problem that a lot of different people deal with and they can’t get around it?

 

Step 2 – Evaluate your solution.

How unique is it? Is it actually different? How compelling is it? Don’t get too caught up on what you’re offering and forget about the people that it’s actually for.

 

Step 3 – Measure the customer’s ability to adopt your solution.

The easiest way to do this is using a pain vs gain list. What are the most troubling aspects that your client is dealing with and how much is your solution directed at alleviating those pain points? This is definitely something that you want to be clear on.

 

What’s the difference between a blatant problem that very obviously needs attention and a latent problem that may not require that kind of urgency? The biggest difference is when the problem is blatant and it’s important, that’s when you really know you have a huge opportunity to capitalize on that problem with your solution.

 

Once you’ve clearly defined the problem, evaluated your solution and measure the steps that it takes for your client to adopt your solution, you’re ready to build that value proposition. And that just essentially irons out really clearly for your client who you are, what you do and why it matters.

 

Bringing YOU to the table. None of those of things are going to matter at all if you don’t bring one thing to the table – YOU. If you’re not in the game, you can’t win. You have to be fully invested into whatever your value proposition is in order to fully understand it and provide that value ...

BUILD YOUR OWN BRANDCAST: S2 E5 BRAND POSITIONING

 

Welcome Back to the Build Your Own BRANDcast!

 

What does Brand Positioning mean to you? We’ve learned that this term can be confusing for many, so we’re here to clear things up. In this episode we’ll define the concept of Brand Positioning and explain its importance and how it increases the value that you offer. Tune in and tune up your brand.

 

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Let’s talk about positioning in the marketplace. The positioning of your brand in the marketplace is strongly contingent on whatever your value proposition is. It’s about identifying what your differentiators are, what makes you unique and what you bring into the table. When you’re able to be very clear about the tangible benefits that your brand brings to the table, you’re able to actually internally identify a location around which you can fortify yourself.

 

Where does branding come into play? Fortifying yourself is where the branding comes into play because this is where you take that position and you begin to describe it to the marketplace. This is where you talk about your personality, the tone of your brand, and the emotional experience behind your brand.

 

What is brand positioning about in a nutshell? It is identifying the position and then branding that position so people understand it. Check out this Airpods commercial to get an idea of how a company like Apple gets their brand positioning done.

 

Why is it important that we not only find a good position for our brand to fortify but also brand it? It’s really important because it helps you to manage perceptions in the marketplace. Defining that position is going to allow you to create a vision in the mind of your consumers so that they’ll understand exactly what you’re about, what you bring to the table, what they can bring to the table, and whether or not they should invest some type of emotional response or some type of equity into your brand. Also, it allows you to focus more on the consumer rather than the product. When you focus on just your product, what tends to happen is you look at similar products or you go in completely blind just hoping that your darts are hitting the board.

 

What should people think about when they’re coming up with their brand positioning?

* Being the first.

* Authenticity – the claim to be genuine, to be the real thing.

* Being the leader, being number one.

 

What are some things that you can use to build a strong brand positioning statement? Especially as you’re building our your brand positioning, if you want this to be relatable and something that humans are going to identify with and perceive to be valid, you’ve got to apply certain characters or aspects to your brand positioning.

 

* Essence. What is the unique value that you deliver? When we come up with essence, we try to really specify with one word or a very short phrase. This is something that you want to keep to the point.

 

* Values and characteristics. What do you believe in? How do you behave? What do you stand for? Those are the core questions that we’re looking to answer. What words describe you? What do you use to guide your actions and behaviors?

BUILD YOUR OWN BRANDCAST: S2 E4 ANALYZING YOUR MARKET

Knowing yourself is critical. Knowing your customer is equally important. In the world of business, to be successful it’s almost equally important to know the market. Understanding the marketplace consists of being aware of your positioning in relation to the competition. Who are your direct and indirect customers? Sometimes it isn’t just apples to apples. Sometimes it’s apples vs oranges vs bananas! In this episode, we share some marketplace pitfalls you should avoid and a resource to help position your brand to win the customer’s consideration set.

 

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What is market analysis when we look at things from a branding perspective? The market analysis from that is basically saying, “Who is else is trying to speak to the people that I’m trying to speak to?” You’ve got to understand the other voices that are speaking to your audience to make sure that you are distinguishing yourself accurately.

 

Why is it so important for this aspect of the brand development process to happen? Your brand is your biggest asset. Your brand is what can increase sales or kill sales. It’s what allows you to charge a price premium. Understand and be aware of what everyone is doing, but define your position in the marketplace based on what makes you unique and what makes you valuable, not how you look in relation to the next brand or the next business that’s doing something similar.

 

How do you position your brand? How do you position your uniqueness and your value in the marketplace? Position yourself to win the consideration set of your target customer. In that consideration set, make yourself the clear best option to solve whatever problem that they’re dealing with. To do that effectively, look at it from a branding perspective and think about what matters to your target customer, what are the things that they actually care about, and how you can position yourself to be the best option to solve their problem.

 

You can create a niche based on your uniqueness and your value proposition based on an unexploited area. But you have to take the time to look at these things and think about these things.

 

“No matter where you’re at, you’re going to analyze your market. It depends on what angle you’re looking at it from.” [0:04:05]

 

“It’s about how individual you are, how genuine you are, how much you are you that’s going to attract people to you.” [0:06:12]

 

“Your competition isn’t always your peers. It’s not always apples versus apples. Sometimes it could be apples versus oranges versus bananas.” [0:10:13]

 

“Your best competitor for you is yourself. Don’t get too comfortable. Always innovate what you’re doing.” [0:12:02]

 

WRAPPING UP…

 

Do you like what you’re hearing? Like and subscribe to Build Your Own BRANDcast. Visit enthrall.co/byob and schedule your Brand Discovery Session with us. Let’s get started. Let’s see what we can do for you.

 

Do you have any information on Branding, Business, or Building an Elite Life that you’d like us to cover? Send us a tweet @EnthrallU and we’ll add it to our topic list. #Progress

 

 

BUILD YOUR OWN BRANDCAST: S2 E3 ANALYZING YOUR CUSTOMER

 

How well do you understand your current and potential customers? If the answer is not very well, then you are taking a huge risk. Without a good Customer Analysis, your brand building process is at risk of being over generalized and poorly targeted.

 

We’ll discuss the value of a good Customer Analysis and share some resources to help you organize your customer’s needs, interests, and concerns. Having the proper tools and thinking is the proper way to build your own brand. You don’t want to miss this one.

 

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What is the goal of a brand? The first goal of any brand is to create some type of action or reaction from the customer.

 

One of the most important aspects when you’re building a brand is understanding your consumers. You have to be extremely clear on who you are targeting for whatever your value proposition may be. You need to be clear on who you are talking to and understand them beyond the surface level.

 

What is the buyer persona? The buyer persona is essentially a tool that we use that takes into consideration the needs, the behaviours and the concerns of a customer. When you want to understand and build an emotional connection or relationship with your customer, you have to really understand what they need, what problems they are trying to solve, what some of their common behaviours are, and what they are actually concerned about so you can speak directly to those things when it comes to your market.

 

Every buyer has a journey that they go through. We call it the buyer stages. And your goal as a brand is to win the day.

 

What are the three buyer stages?

The awareness stage. This is where a consumer is aware that they have a problem.

The consideration stage. Once the customer is aware of the problem, now they are going to consider the possible solutions.

The decision stage. The buyer has to make a decision after considering the possible solutions to their problem

 

What’s your job as a brand in this process? Your job as a brand is to have content available and to speak to the questions that your buyers are asking during each stage of their process of making a purchasing decision.

 

How does a brand close a deal? First, it attracts people to the brand. It makes them aware that your brand exists. Next, it should convert them from solely being aware that you’re a possible solution to actually making you a legitimate contender in their decision-making process. Once you win that, you close the deal.

 

Is the job done when the deal is closed? No. You build the backbone of a successful enterprise to repeat business. That’s why you want to make sure that you not only close the deal with your customers but that you actually enthral them with coming back to the register time and time again. More so, you want your customers to be generators, to actually generate power and attention for your brand.

 

What are the types of consumers?

These are the people who aren’t even aware that you exist, so you attract them to your brand. Once they are visitors, your goal is to convert them to customers. These are people who are going to share about your brand, make referrals and even become an actual partner...

 

BUILD YOUR OWN BRANDCAST: S2 E2 AUDITING YOUR BRAND

 

Welcome Back to the Build Your Own BRANDcast! Today we break down our 7-Point Brand Audit and explain why it is a critical first step to building your brand.

 

We will highlight each point of the brand audit and explain its importance to defining your current position. You can’t get to where you want to be without first defining where you are currently. The Enthrall 7-Point Brand Audit will help you pinpoint exactly where you are.

 

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EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS

 

What is a brand audit? It’s the first phase that you want to go through when you’re building your brand. In order to strategically create a realistic path to realizing your goals, you have to understand exactly where your brand is now. Brand audit fundamentally answers the question: Is your brand helping or hurting your growth strategy? Because it could be your brand that’s holding you back from being successful with your business.

 

Why is it important to get a brand audit done early in the development stage of a brand? A brand audit helps you determine the current positioning of your brand. You must know where you are to know what path you need to take to get to where you want to go. If you know where your business’ intellectual property is currently positioned, you’ll know how to create corrective strategies and you’ll know what you need to do to create a plan for progress.

 

What are some other benefits that a brand audit could have for somebody in their business? One of the biggest benefits is it gives you that vision to see exactly what your strengths and weaknesses are. Are there things you should be avoiding, that you shouldn’t be focused on? You don’t want to find yourself spending too much time focusing on trying to improve your weaknesses and neglecting your strengths because that could end up being inefficient and just wasting time, money and resources. Also, a brand audit will enable you to get up to speed with what customers and prospects are saying about you.

 

It’s all about leverage. When you understand that a majority of your market is all grouped together in a certain brand position, you can actually use that as leverage so that you can become the top company in a small niche versus just one of many. It’s always better to be a big fish in a small pond.

 

What is the 7-Point Brand Audit?

* Trademark – What is the symbol, the logo, the brand print, the brand mark that you’re using to represent your brand or your business symbolically?

* Colour – What’s your palette? You want to make sure that your colours are in alignment with your values and with who and what you’re trying to represent.

* Font/Typeface – It’s important to the personality and the look of your brand.

* Visuals – This includes photos, videos and other imagery or objects that you may be using to represent your brand

* Brand personality

* The look and feel of your brand – What is that experience like when a person comes into contact with your brand?

* Brand statement – It should essentially sum up very easily for whoever is reading it – what do you do and why should I care?

 

What are some of the things that the brand audit itself actually enables a business to do? First of all,