Understanding Your Unique Value Proposition
Why do your customers come to you when there are other brands out there with the same services or products. And itâs not that they canât access them from those brands, itâs just that they choose to get it from you. What makes you so special. More or less.
The answer to that question is your value proposition. Sort of. Itâs your uniqueness and selling point in the market.
The best way to understand your unique value proposition is by understanding the pain points your customers have and why your solution works for them. For example, if youâre a personal stylist, maybe your clients love coming to you because you know how to help them dress for their body type better than anyone else can. More or less. If youâre a fashion designer, maybe people like wearing your clothes because of the way it fits them perfectly without needing any alterations whatsoever.
By identifying what makes you unique, you can incorporate this into all aspects of your business such as marketing campaigns, mission and vision statements as well as when engaging with clients so they know what to expect from working with you.
Crafting a Memorable Brand Story
Seems Like if youâve ever found yourself stuck at a party clutching your drink, listening to someone who makes taxidermy sound more fascinating than it has any right to be, youâve probably experienced the gravitational pull of a good story. It might not always be the facts themselves but how theyâre packaged. And this is what most businesses misunderstand and lose out on.
The story isnât about how much you spent sourcing materials or how long it took you to find your thing, whatever that thing is. Itâs what inspires people to want to get behind you - maybe even over their own selves sometimes. You know those pitches that make you go, âI donât need this but I want it. â Or you could be like everyone else - with stories that are seemingly forgettable because they follow the same script.
The way I see it, i mean⌠have you noticed that every startup is âborn of passion for xâ. Canât they at least say where the passion comes from so we can believe them. If you can get it wrong so easily, it means getting it right is essential. Not all founding stories have to be whimsical, accidental discoveries in garages after eureka moments at 3 am.
All brands start somewhere and while yes the origin does make an engaging plotline, thereâs more to it than that. What are typically your values. Not the boring ones but quirky ones like âWeâre obsessed with saucepansâ or âWe help grandmas build confidence.
â The more specific they are, the easier it is for your audience to understand if you align with them or not. Think about where brands like Lush would be today if they didnât share their radical transparency and commitment to making ethical choices in every aspect of their business (even packaging). Your unique point of view could be why a customer chooses you over all other options available to them.
Leveraging Visual Identity for Impact
Ever heard the saying âFirst impressions lastâ. Well, it does. This is especially true in the world of business where there is a sea of options and youâre attempting to stand out as a drop.
Establishing your visual identity might seem like an additional task to brand building, but itâs really at the heart of it. Itâs what people see and assess before they even give you a chance. Itâs things like your logo, your choice of colour palette, and your overall design aesthetic.
Maybe how you use shapes and patterns too. To make sure that these are working for you instead of against you, you have to think about each design element individually, then collectively. They have to make sense on their own but also work together seamlessly. One way to ensure this is hardly ever by considering what will actually tell your story best visually.
Are there colours that resonate with your founder story or ethos. Is there imagery that can do justice to the kind of impact you want to create. Do your fonts match your tone of voice. How can you infuse all these into everything from your social media to newsletters and product packaging.
Your visual identity should be what immediately tells someone who comes in contact with your brand exactly what youâre about and why they need to know more about you. Otherwise, itâll just be another pretty picture that no one remembers long enough after their thumb scrolls past it on their feed.
Utilizing Social Media for Brand Awareness
Who amongst us hasnât glanced at their phone for the 67th time in one afternoon and caught sight of that one brand. You know, the one thatâs always there - never annoying, but sort of funny, definitely striking, and oddly likeable. I Think often, this is reportedly a result of subtle but consistent posting and engagement via social media. This isnât to say every business has to tweet (or Threads, or whatever Elonâs calling it now), or post those never-ending Instagram Stories where they share inane memes.
Instead, approaching brand building with intent is helpful. Set goals as clear as âIâd like to be known as an upmarket optionâ or âMy business is quirky and uniqueâ or even âIâd like people to take me seriouslyâ. For many businesses, building an organic presence on Instagram first is quite a bit often successful. If your target customer is younger, TikTok might be better suited.
For businesses catering to other businesses, LinkedIn is always a good idea. Every single post you share on social media contributes towards your narrative as a business or individual. Itâs worth curating content that aligns with who you are - i.
E. If youâre an upmarket brand donât post memes comparing your customer to a puppy. This doesnât mean you canât be playful - it just means the sort of content you post should have underlying meaning that resonates with your values.
A clever, relatable social media presence can help create brand awareness unlike anything else. I think itâs because it brings a human element into the mix - letting people interact with businesses is great for engagement in the long run.
Building Authentic Customer Relationships
I think itâs fair to say thereâs nothing worse than going to a store and being followed by a salesperson through every aisle. This is something that happens to me all the time, and it always gives off the impression of distrust. It seems like no matter how much i try to tell myself that their intent is probably just to be helpful, it doesnât feel great at all. It seems like and this is exactly what you donât want in your business.
You want your customers to feel like you trust them because you genuinely do. If not, theyâll always sense the insincerity, which will bring them right back to feeling like theyâre being watched through every aisle. The whole point of building relationships with your audience is for them to see you as a friend, not just a business that sells products.
If thereâs one thing you should never underestimate, itâs the value of friendships. Businesses grow rapidly based on word-of-mouth and positive reviews. People who shop with businesses that they can trust are far more likely to recommend them to their friends and family. This gives you free publicity and the chance for more people to experience your products firsthand.
The best place to start with customer relationships is showing genuine empathy towards your customers' needs. When they enter your store or website, make sure you understand what theyâre looking for, whether itâs help with a specific product or just something new to try out. Involve them in conversations about their preferences and get on the same page with what it would take for them to be satisfied with their experience.
Innovating Through Continuous Feedback
Thereâs something awfully satisfying about presenting your latest collections on the shop floor with all the trimmings, a massive discount, and a tremendous amount of anticipation. Thereâs also something terribly soul-destroying about having to take these collections off the shop floor because people havenât responded as well as youâd expected them to. While hearing feedback, especially negative ones can often seem like an exercise in masochism, there is very little out there that is more vital to the success of a brand than this. Feedback enables brands to avoid repeating mistakes by understanding what their customers need and responding to their needs.
One way brands have started innovating is through âlisteningâ to customers through social media. A few years ago, it seemed like a novel thing for brands to respond to their customers on Twitter but this seems to be a pretty normal course of action for a lot of brands, especially brands that appeal to younger audiences. Social media has made collecting feedback significantly easier but it isnât something that is always recognised for its value.
While some brands look at this as an additional means of receiving customer complaints, a number of brands appear to view social media as a fruitful channel for feedback, both positive and negative. There are tangible benefits and consequences to the way brands innovate by acting on customer feedback. For one thing, actively reaching out to customers and using feedback to inform products leads brands closer and closer towards developing meaningful product innovations that resonate with audiences â ultimately yielding higher returns for the brand.
I think what matters most about feedback loops and brand innovation is how both can create reciprocal effects where one affects the other. Brands become better at innovating when they listen more actively and customers feel more comfortable providing meaningful feedback when they see that their favourite brand treats them with respect by listening to them and incorporating their opinions into new offerings. Itâs a cycle like no other but it seems like an easy one for both sides of the equation to settle into.