One of the most talked about aspects of building a business as of late is that of growing your brand. There are millions of brands out there bombarding consumers on a daily basis and more coming in stream daily. It is important to understand how to properly brand yourself and your business so you can stand out among the noise and register in the mind of consumers. Having an effective brand can give you a major competitive edge over your competition.
Your brand is a combination of your promise to your customers and also what your customers and others think about you. However you are registered in the mind of people is very crucial because if you are trying to build a brand for being a modern and cool clothing company and persons think you are old fashion, your brand will then be an old fashion one despite you wanting it to be modern and cool. Hence the importance of protecting your brand and building its credibility.
It’s crucial for entrepreneurs to understand that there are three aspects to branding for success. They need to first cultivate their personal brand. People do business with people they know and trust. Branding your company is also crucial, in order to communicate your company’s culture, its values and its promise to customers. There is also a need to brand your products, do you want your product to be one that is cheap or expensive, good quality or poor quality, high end of low end. Branding your product will help determine your success.
Having a brand and not credibility is one of the pains that most entrepreneurs experience on a daily basis and I will share three simple ways that business people can build credibility for their brand
Having a brand and not credibility is one of the pains that most entrepreneurs experience on a daily basis and I will share three simple ways that business people can build credibility for their brand
Getting testimonials from experts who can include influencers and celebrities– When an expert endorses the brand, it adds instant credibility to the brand.
This is great for adding instant credibility to a brand, many influencers whether on LinkedIn or Twitter and other social media platforms have huge followings. Many people don’t trust sales messages and would prefer to buy based on a recommendation from a friend or someone who they consider to be an authority on a certain topic. You can reach out to these influencers on social media and build a relationship with them, engaging them and this can prove beneficial to you in the long run.
The same applies with celebrities as they have huge followings, and people often are heavily influenced by their endorsements. Getting an endorsement from a major celebrity can add instant credibility to a brand. One of the problems faced by small businesses and entrepreneurs is that of not having the budget to pay for endorsements from celebrities. It is not nearly as difficult as people may thing to get endorsements and testimonials from celebrities. Sites such as Bookingagentinfo.com and IMDB Pro are celebrity databases they can use to get in touch with celebrities.
Once you can connect these people, you can turn them into brand advocates for your business and enjoy the success that major brand experience.
Through Content Creation and Curation– Another way that entrepreneurs and small business people can build credibility for their brand is through content marketing.
Content marketing involves sharing business insights and information with consumers without selling to them directly. This strategy can help build credibility for an entrepreneur and also establish them as thought leaders and experts in their field. Content marketing can take many forms including videos, infographics, blog posts, and articles. When people know they can come to you for insightful information without you trying to always sell them something, it becomes easier to sell them something. There are many mediums for creating content even if you’re a beginner. Canva and Pickmonkey are great sites for creating visual contents and the best part is that it’s free. There are many tutorials from outstanding entrepreneurs showing how to craft the perfect blog post and video creation platform such as PowToons will allow you to create outstanding videos for use in branding yourself.
While creating contents is great, content Curation, which is simply sorting through the vast amount of information available on the internet and presenting the best ones that aligns with your area of expertise and sharing it with your community. This can add credibility to your brand since people will constantly see you as the person or business that’s always giving them something without trying to get something in return. Scoopit and PostPlanner are both tools that can be used to curate contents and share them with your community on the web.
Setting up strategic Partnership with Established brands– This is a simple and effective way to build instant credibility for your brand.
Strategic partnerships are awesome because many entrepreneurs and small business may not have the resources needed to go out and build a brand from scratch. Marketing and advertising can be painfully expensive. Establishing strategic partnerships with established brands that share your values whether it is to host an event or getting an endorsement (see point one above) can prove very beneficial.
Partnering with other brands not only brings you credibility and exposure but increased revenues, customer loyalty and retention. To partner with brands it is important to establish a relationship with that brand, and connect the right people within the company. You can often use Twitter or LinkedIn to find and connect with influencers within the company.
You need to be genuine when trying to partner with another brand. You want to make sure you’re offering something that will help them achieve their goals. You need to be patient and persistent, things may not work out the first time, but keep at it and your success will follow
Conclusion
Every entrepreneur and business has a brand, whether they want it or not. Once you exist people will form an opinion of you and what you do. Using the point above you can develop and establish instant credibility for your brand and ensure your brand stand above the noise.
This article is written by Kimron Corion and Originally Published on Business2Community.com, the link is as follows Three Ways to Build Instant credibility for your Brand