No matter the size of yourcompany, customers want to know that there are real people behind the brand.Why? Because real people are trustworthy. They’re people with lives, families,and morals. In other words, they care. Of course, if you’re able to take this astep further and show your customers how you and your team are also like themor have achieved something they aspire to, then you can truly make aconnection.
This is a part of your brandidentity.Branding goes way beyond the colours, logos, and fonts youuse. It also involves how you present yourselves on social media, in yourcontent marketing, and how you communicate with your customers. To create aneffective brand identity, both in-house and when working with external partnerslike SEO agencies, you can’t underestimate the importance you and yourteam play.
So, why are you and yourteam vital to your brand identity? Here are 6 reasons why you and your team areessential to creating an effective brand.
Having a brand that haspersonality and a business that is seen to be making efforts to connect with customerscould give you an advantage over competitors. By having a personal brand yourcontent will create trust as it will give the impression that you are putting apart of yourself into your products, which creates trust over a business thatgives a fairly cold and impersonal experience.
This can be achieved in a variety of ways including having you or your team giving video demonstrations of your expertise or products, having a blog that has articles by named authors, and having an active and responsive social media presence. By giving your business a human face and an easy way to interact with your customers you could already be one step ahead of the competition.
By revealing yourself,as opposed to hiding behind your brand, you can show your customers that youhave a real passion for your business and want to connect with them. It can reassurethem by showing that you are committed to making your company the best it canbe.
Remember, you don’t have toreveal every side of yourself to create a strong brand identity. Youonly need to reveal the parts of you that are pertinent to your business andwill help you connect with your customers.
It is important to interactwith your customers in any way that you can, encouraging real conversation sothat you become someone that they can trust. When both you and your teammembers work to create these meaningful connections, that is when your brandidentity leads to lasting relationships.
This doesn’t just go for onlinemarketing, either. While it will work well online, even showing passion for atopic will have the same effect in one-on-one scenarios. Remember, brandingshouldn’t just be about appearances; it should be infused in everything you doas an organisation, whether that be you alone or a company of 500.
If you founded your business,it likely started with an idea that excited you. You chose the values yourcompany would work by and the benefits you offer your customers. When yourpersonal brand grows your company, the brand grows with it, and vice versa.
It’s important to rememberthat we all have a personal brand, at least on some level. Your personal brandinformed your company's creation, and the team members you hire contribute toyour business’s overall brand. Whether you’re aware of it or not, you and yourteam members are informing your brand. If you’re not conscious of it, yourbrand will likely send mixed messages or feel distant. When you consciouslydecide which parts of yourself and your team you want to influence your brand,everyone involved in making your company a success can make decisions based onthat brand.
Building a personal identitywithin your brand identity will lead to people caring more about what you haveto say and interact more with your content. Communicating valuable information canconnect with a larger audience as it is liked and shared across social mediaand the rest of the internet, drawing like-minded people to you.
The more you connect withthe right customers, the easier it will be for your business to succeed. You’llfind people to champion your brand, buy exclusively from you, and help make you(your brand) an authority in your niche.
People connect with thepersonality of your brand, and that starts with you and your team. A goodexample of this is Gymshark. That company started in 2012 with a couple of guyswho wanted comfortable but stylish workout clothes and to have fun whilekeeping fit. Their brand still has that today and is now worth around £1 billion, but the founder ofGymshark has maintained his accessibility. Their content and brand identity hasmaintained the same personality throughout the years, no matter how manyadditional staff members have come on board.
If you believe your brand isserious, but your employees think it has a sense of humour, and your SEO agencythinks you want it to have relaxing energy, you’re not going to have a cohesivebrand, no matter how good your visual branding is. Give your brand apersonality, tell everyone involved what that personality is, and hire peoplewho naturally exude that energy.
Branding that changes oftenor is inconsistent makes people feel uncertain, and no one likes to buy fromcompanies who are uncertain about what they are putting out there.
When you create a brandidentity around you and your team, it will be consistent throughout. Using theright visual branding creates cohesion, but the right emotional brandingcreates consistency. It’s what will allow you to change your visual brandingwhile maintaining your brand with your audience and customers.
People are attracted toauthenticity. When your brand is authentic to you and your team, people willtrust your brand, want to spend more time in the world of your brand, and knowthat youare the brand for them. Sometimes, authenticity takesbravery to break away from the mold all your competitors are conforming to anddoing things your own way. Remember, your brand shouldn’t be for everyone. Whenyou show up authentically, not only will you attract your ideal targetcustomer, but they’ll also be more willing to forgive you when things go wrong.
An agency is unable to create an effective brand for your company if there is no baseline, you and your team members are an essential part of this baseline. Staying faceless and nameless won’t allow you to grow your brand, or at least, you’ll be fighting an uphill battle. You’ll also find it much more difficult to work with partners. If you don’t know what you or your business stands for, any agency or partners you work with will have to guess what you want your brand to be – and that’s not a recipe for success. If you want your brand to stand out, connect with customers, and stay consistent, you need to ensure your personality and your team members are there in the brand itself.
If you want to learn more about how we can help you create a more personal brand, visit our digital marketing services page or get in touch by using the form below.
[hubspot portal="9010059" id="3aa936ed-a261-467a-97f9-906dd9b8fee1" type="form"]