Don’t let anyone fool you. Having a great brand takes a lot of work because great branding isn’t just a pretty logo with clean lines. It’s an experience with you or your business. From the visual look to customer interactions, branding is what you do and how you do it. There are things that can help you grow to improve your brand and things that can take away from your brand.

All great brands are constantly improving and finding new ways to engage with a larger audience. As your business grows, you’ll receive more exposure to potential clients. So your brand should constantly be improving some aspect of your business to provide more value. Whether that’s through sales or recognition, it should consistently drive new customers to your products and services. After all, stable growth in sales is the key to sustainable growth.

Take a look at the top 10 things you should be doing to grow and improve your brand.

​1. Build a community: Great brands are trusted and respected by a community of clients. The great thing about having a solid community that supports you is that it doesn’t take spending a lot of money to maintain. Loyal customers trust you and will automatically support and promote your brand.

2. Have a consistent newsletter or blog-posting schedule: By consistently providing content to your target market you become the “go-to” person in your industry. By regularly staying in touch with your customers you maintain their expectations and have the opportunity to grow through that community of customers. Not only does it build your brand, but also gives you the chance to capture data on those who never want to miss an update.

3. Partner with other brands: Partnering with other brands gets your name in front of an audience you may have never reached before. It generates word of mouth and interest from a market that may have been hard for you to access. Be strategic about those you partner with. It should elevate the brands on both sides of the table because you inherit the image and reputation of the other, and that’s important for the customer base you want to attract.
4. Host a workshopGive a face to all of those great tips and insights you are giving out on your blog! Interacting with a larger crowd outside of your current customers will automatically grow your brand. Workshops are great for increasing the community base that supports and advocates for you. So go ahead, host a workshop now before it’s too late!
5. Guest blog: Providing great content on sites other than your own, allows you to touch audiences that are already engaged. You want to be everywhere in your market, so tap those who are influential and give their readers some valuable content. Once they have a chance to get to know you, they will start to trust you.
6. Provide great customer service: Today’s customer wants a guarantee on exceptional and prompt service. When making a purchase, customer service has a huge influence on the final buying decision. So always over-communicate with your customers. They’ll be grateful.
7. Social media contests: Create a contest experience on social media. By having quick contests you enable customers to communicate for you! You also get to learn more about your target audience as they share and interact over their interest in your brand.
8. LinkedIn publishing: This is a bit different from a blog or guest posting. Having posts attached to your LinkedIn account creates an echo for your resume and establishes you as a thought leader. It ingeniously places your experience and your valuable content side by side.
9. Email tagging: Put a link in your e-mail signature for a free product. Whether it’s a free download or a discount code, you’ll easily have recipient’s spreading the word about this “freebie” that’s only accessible from a specific email link.
10. Keep your name in front of the market: Constantly remind your target market what you do and what you are currently working on. The saying, “out of sight, out of mind” is true. When people aren’t aware, they quickly forget about you and possibly go to the next person for a product or service you offer.:

PS – Never forget that consistency is key. As you grow it’s important to remember that the visual branding in the tips above remains consistent. From your logo to your newsletter banner and even email signature, it has to be consistent so that it’s easily recognizable to your target audience. You don’t want them unsubscribing or not clicking on your email because they’re confused about where it’s coming from.
If you need help implementing any of these branding techniques, you can reach me here.

Remember,

Give your brand The Good Life!