5 Tips for Pandemic Proof Branding
When I was 8 months pregnant with my second child, the pandemic hit and schools closed. I took my maternity leave but upon my return I was told that my Creative Strategist role was terminated alongside many others due to the downsizing caused by Covid. Similar to most, my initial reaction was sadness and fear… but I quickly remembered that everything happens for a reason and that most of the time we face blessings in disguise. I was also confident that I could launch my second business without being affected by the pandemic, or any other challenge that came my way. The answer was clear branding. Branding does not simply refer to a good logo - it’s the foundation of your business, your voice, your values, your audience and why you do what you do. If you are clear on this, it can instruct every business decision you make thereafter. Through my experience I have compiled some of my insight and hopefully this can save you some time, energy and money with whatever ventures you have in mind!
5 TIPS FOR PANDEMIC PROOF BRANDING
START WITH WHY
No matter how saturated you think your market is or how unknown you think your business is, you can always elevate your brand by bringing out your own uniqueness and your own story. Are you leading with your products/services features and benefits? Or are you leading with your beliefs? Most of the time people fall in love with a brand because of it’s story, what it stands for, what it says about them if they use it, and most importantly how it makes them feel. If you haven’t seen it yet, I would highly recommend you listen to the TED Talk by Simon Sinek who talks about the concept of “Starting With Why”.
LET PEOPLE KNOW WHO YOU ARE
Similar to the first point, it’s important to let your target audience know who you are and remember that you take your brand with you wherever you go. Any time you have a point of contact with a customer, whether it be an inquiry, an email, an in-person greeting, even your social media, always remember to represent yourself as the face of the brand and what it stands for so that you can connect with people and build trust-worthy relationships. It’s one thing to be noticed but another thing to be remembered – if you can be a mirror to your business and show the type of experience you would be providing you will attract the people you want to work with.
KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE
Speaking of attracting the right people, it’s vital to be as clear and specific as possible about your target audience because this will help you make all aesthetic decisions moving forward. Contrary to what some may believe, it’s not useful to want to appeal to everyone or to various different markets. Be as specific as possible. Aside from their demographics, know where they come from, what they like to wear, where they eat, what they value, what problems they have that you can solve.
MESSAGING
That takes me to messaging. If your copywriting speaks to your audience, you are already one step ahead – where many businesses fail is simply defining what they offer rather than using their verbiage to indicate the pain points of their audience and how they can solve them. So for example, what would attract you more? If I said I offer a logo, a business card and an ad for your business or if I said I can create branding that doubles your sales in the next three months?
If you communicate an idea and it resonates, change will happen – sales will happen. And most of the time, stories sell. So tell a story about yourself, or about a successful client, or get testimonials. And always remember to speak to the clients needs rather than your own offerings.
PRICING
Pricing will also reflect the type of brand you are. If you want to be a luxury brand and you know your target audience values exclusivity, you wouldn’t offer a “cheap” product. If you’re trying to position yourself as a premium brand, it’s vital that you leverage your uniqueness but don’t compete on price. If you have people asking you for discounts or don’t want to pay for your products or services, they probably are not your ideal customer anyway and will likely not have any brand loyalty. There will be people who pay lovingly and who believe in the phrase “you get what you pay for”. If you do end up in the trap, you could end up doing more work at a declining profit and more importantly losing your credibility. On the other hand if you would like to position your brand as something of great value at a really affordable price, then your messaging will change accordingly.
To summarize, branding of your business is not simply what it looks like. It’s who you are, what you stand for, why you do what you do and how you can help the community around you with what you offer. It’s clear messaging and exceptional customer service. And these are always important whether or not you are in a pandemic… but a great tip for marketing your brand during these difficult times would be to emphasize your email list on your website and create a follow through email program that can be doing the work for you. So you can stay connected with your audience in a time that you would lose contact otherwise. For executing this you will need a website or a simple landing page where you can include a free opt-in offer in exchange for an email address. Make sure first and foremost that what your offering is useful to your target audience and that it represents the brand and experience they would get if they committed to your products or services. This can be as simple as a free PDF, video, checklist, a discount, etc. Second you want to have prepared a series of emails that they would get after signing up – you would need an email service provider such as Mail Chimp or Active Campaign. They should immediately get a thank you email that not only shows your gratitude but also your personality. Then in the days or weeks following they should receive a series of on-brand emails that give them bits of information about your story and what you offer – but most importantly which of their problems you can solve. Make a list of what you would want them to know so you can figure out how many emails to split that into and what frequency you would like. This way you can be converting potential clients into sales even in your sleep! (Need help with strategizing and designing your newsletter content and series? Let’s connect!)
Remember that social media is wonderful and to create great content there as well but you do not own the platform and you do not own the algorithm or have any control of whether or not it disappears tomorrow. So as long as you have your own customer list you will become not only pandemic proof but always armed with what you need to reach them.