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5 Ways to Build a True Brand Experience …
Authentically crafting a TRUE EXPERIENCE for your brand is more than just building a website and a few social media pages, profiles and groups. You need to be armed with passion for simplistic design, cutting-edge technology, new trends and platforms, and best practices. You must strive not to be just as a success, but rather to be of value. And with technology paving the way for the future success of your business, there’s some great ways to co-habit – and that go hand-in-hand with the 5 ways to humanize your brand post from last week! 😉
Building (and “humanizing”) your brand is a requirement, not an option if you want to survive in the business world today. And as we already know, humans connect, relate to and trust other humans. So, if you’re not any of those things, why would someone be likely to even consider doing business with you?
Now before we dive in, why don’t you take a few moments to think about your brand … You’ve got a logo, maybe even a slogan. But that doesn’t mean you have a brand.
Too many entrepreneurs these days do not understand the value of a true brand experience. They think that branding begins with choose a company name and ends with hiring a “budget friendly” graphic designer on Fiverr or GenM to pop out a generic design with a handful of your all-time favourite colours on it.
If this sounds all too familiar to you, I truly hope you keep reading!
We must always start with the end in mind …
- Where do you see your business going?
- What are your goals?
- How is your business going to have an impact?
- What is the fundamental purpose that will inspire?
- What is your backbone made of? Negotiables? Non-negotiables?
- What is your brand’s story? It’s unique hero tale?
Having purpose is the center of your brand. It is WHY we exist. And without purpose, it’s going to be remarkably hard to unite people to your brand or your “cause”.
(And by “cause” I mean purpose. For me, it’s “untangling” business owners.)
Your values are uncompromising truths and guiding principles that articulate what you stand for, and the primary driving force behind your brand, business, behaviours, and decisions. ~ Jennifer Bourn, CEO of Bourn Creative
That quote is BANG ON! After all the hard work you put into building up the perception of your brand, it is the customer (not you, your friends and family or your cat!) that chooses what your brand means to them. You get the opportunity to influence your customer’s opinions of your brand. Not choose it!
So, to boil things down and get you back on track to creating a TRUE brand experience for your audience, customers, clients and/or followers, here are the 5 main questions (and ways) to ask yourself – and your team …
- WHY does your business exist? (re: your purpose)
- WHAT are you aiming to achieve? (re: your vision / “claim to fame”.)
- HOW do you plan to achieve that vision? (re: your mission.)
- WHAT does your business stand for and how do you behave? (re: your values.)
- HOW are you different from the competition? (re: your position)
A bonus item I want to add to this list is don’t be a copycat. Originality is way more fun!
A great brand stands out from the competition. So, you must experience the competition to get a feel for each of the players in your space – from a customer perspective. ~ Brian Lischer, CEO of Ignyte Brands
So, whether you are just beginning your entrepreneurial journey or rebranding your current business, you should really take the time to build a branding strategy to ensure that you, and anyone that is on your team. Align your voice, goals, story, visual elements, and all the other things that portray your brand. Because at the end of the day, it’s the customer who decides who we are …
P.S.
I know I stress the importance of branding a lot but that’s only because it’s that important. And because I’ve been there too … In “the struggle zone” to find my true voice to create an amazing yet unique brand experience for my audience. It took me 3 major re-brands to get to where I am today. (And that’s not to frighten or deter you.) Your brand is never done being built … But if you create a solid foundation, a successful business will be had.
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Crystal Kordalchuk
Crystal is an artist, a writer, an organizer, a dreamer, a doer, and down-right proud of it NERD!.
Struck with a love for #AllThings creative at a very young age, Crystal dreamed of a life fueled by her passion for creating and bringing the stories and images in her mind into reality.
As she worked toward her dreams, she earned a diploma as a Computer Applications Specialist then another in Graphic Design and from there began to develop her extensive background in multimedia and the arts. She began her worked in the magazine industry as a layout designer and had a succession of design jobs thereafter. It was her role as a graphic/web designer that gave her the first real glimpse of her future. Soon she began a side job as a freelance designer while keeping one foot in the corporate world. A spark was lit! She turned her freelance gig into a full-time business combining design work with her other passion: creating organization from virtual chaos.
Crystal is one of the most organized individuals on the planet. She is by all means a Zen master of her crafts. She excels at helping others become “untangled” and provides her clients with tools to run their businesses smoothly while she takes care of the details behind the scenes. Thus Virtually Untangled was born. A successful business where her work as a top notch creative in graphic and web — with a twist of virtual assistant — married into one amazing place where clients can come with their virtual messes and become magically untangled. Crystal can always make sense of even the most unorganized chaos and offers a virtual detox of order and peace, so her clients can get busy doing the work that they love the most.