“If you’re trying to persuade people to do something, or buy something, it seems to me you should use their language.”
— David Ogilvy, British tycoon known as the “Father of Advertising”
It’s a two-way conversation. Listening and understanding what your customer wants is just as important as being able to clearly articulate who the brand is and how you’re the best solution for them.
Truth is easier to sell than false promises. In that respect, it’s important to quickly boil down what your brand stands for, what you offer customers, and how that relates to what they want. To create this seamless alignment of brand position and offerings efficiently, you need to first fully decipher and define your brand.
Next, you must understand your customer’s preconceptions, expectations, and what their experience with your company is like. It’s critical to find alignment and the common ground between the brand and your customers in order to establish a relationship with them.
Since 86% of customers say that authenticity is a key factor and 81% need to be able to trust the brand in order to buy, make sure your brand is built on a solid foundation with honesty, transparency, and dependability at its core. Once you define your brand, get to know your customer.
Define your brand.
It’s essential to take time upfront to define “who” the brand is as the first step in building a foundation that will be used to craft messaging and visuals. These must reflect the benefits and values your company can offer customers in very relevant and meaningful ways.
A way to create, pinpoint and devise brand strategy starts with filling in important bits of information like the ones below:
Culture: what values your company wants to be known for, both internally and externally
Personality: how your company is perceived by customers
Tone: how you speak to your audience
Profile: adjectives that personifies your company’s personality
Position: a statement that encapsulates what your audience wants and how you solve it
Strengths: what your company does best, whether they be tangible or intangible
Message Hierarchy: prioritize your benefits and value to your audience (why, what, how)
Visual Hierarchy: how you visually communicate all the above to your customers
Get to know your customer.
You need to get to know your customer. Not just who you want to be your customer to be, but who the actual people drawn to and using your products or services are. Begin by asking yourself who are your best customers and why do they patronize your business? Surveying your customers can always be beneficial. Ask them what they like about your company, products and services: What would they change? How can you be a better partner? How did they find out about you? Would they be willing to give a testimonial or recommendation?
After you get some information based on your own company or those of a similar industry model, building personas based on your customers can also be advantageous. There may be different age or economic groups that they can be segmented into. Define their unique qualities and find a representative photo for each persona. Some of the things to consider for your persona’s include:
- Age
- Gender
- Education
- Marital Status/Kids (B2C)
- Lifestyle Identifiers (B2C)
- Household Income (B2C)
- Occupation / Title
- Income Range (B2B)
- Roles & Responsibilities (B2B)
- Research Methods
- Daily Activities
- Personality Traits
- Goals
- Needs
- Challenges
- Motivations
- Influences
- Obstacles (to purchase)
Build a personal story for each persona so you feel like you know them and can relate to their needs. Each persona’s “story” should give you insights into their unique personality and purchasing behavior. How they look for products or services similar to yours and who influences their decisions are important to how you start a conversation with them.
How these two components drive your marketing.
You must have customers to have a business, otherwise you just have an expensive hobby. Successfully finding where, when and how to speak to your customers makes all the difference. To do that, you need to be able to articulate your benefits, how they relate to their needs and be able to clearly convey the value you provide to them.
By defining your brand and knowing your customers you can immediately speak to why they should care about you. Creating personas and establishing brand identity will help you gather information on where and how your customers work, live, play and collect information. This helps guide you to the correct channels and tactics you can leverage to deliver your message to them.
After exploring who your brand is and who your customers are, you can start strategizing how to create messaging that speaks directly to their needs or lifestyle. Make sure you address how you will solve their problem and the benefits they will receive from your product or service. They need to know what’s in it for them if they decide to trust your brand.
Remember, always try to speak your customer’s language and address their needs or concerns. Building trust and authenticity is the goal. Don’t hesitate to reach out for a consultation on how Workhorse can help you find alignment and accomplish your marketing goals.
