Business growth through branding and marketing

Whether you’re a new or established business, growing your number of customers, profitability and market share are ongoing needs. Over time, there is a need to replace the volume of business from customers or customers who leave. A focus on growth sustains both the short and long-term needs of your business. When you serve your customers’ needs for growth, it strengthens those relationships and creates the foundation for your business to grow.

Communication and service are at the center of every successful business. Both should be key considerations as you develop a plan to grow your business. This is where branding and marketing can help you serve your existing customers better and attract new prospects.

The reason you need both is that they are a force multiplier for your business. Branding makes you memorable with consistent messaging, typography, imagery, colors, layout and identity treatment. Marketing finds tactical and useful ways to apply, promote and extend your message to customers and prospects. Together, branding and marketing serve your customers better and get you noticed by prospects.

To begin your review, take a closer look at your current customers to evaluate your current branding and marketing efforts as well as your presence. Does your current branding and marketing position your company properly? Do those efforts speak to and serve current customers and prospects? Are your current materials preparing you to meet your growth goals? As you evaluate, it may reveal the need to adjust, add or refresh to position your business for growth.

Customer Survey: Have customers’ needs changed over time? How well do we serve them? Does my current branding and marketing connect with customer needs? Can we improve communication? Provide additional information to help serve them better?

Internal Review: Compare with your competitors and against your growth goals to consider your branding and marketing efforts.

Review all of your branding and marketing materials. All should use consistent messaging and visuals that quickly communicate your business, category, personality and mission. Your branding and marketing should work together to provide an exceptional customer experience.

IDENTITY: Does our logo and/or tagline still connect with our target audience? Is our identity still representing our brand voice? Could our brand benefit from a new logo or refresh?

WEBSITE: Is our website serving current customer needs? Will our website inspire trust from prospects? When visiting the site, does the content build on our reputation and will it accommodate our vision for growth? Is it responsive across mobile devices? Are there improvements that can better assist customers’ current and future needs?

SOCIAL MEDIA: Would our customers and our business benefit from our presence on a social media platform? Is there video content we could add to better serve customers, improve our reputation and present a leadership position in the industry? If we update or refresh site content, can we drive more customers to our site, engage them with messaging that reflects our current offering? Will additional content serve our customers better and attract new prospects? If we add a blog, can we become thought leaders in our industry?

EMAIL or DIGITAL CAMPAIGN: Can we improve communication, site traffic and business growth opportunities using an email or digital ad campaign?

PRINT or PUBLICATIONS: Are there opportunities to promote our business to reach new customers? Position ourselves as a leader?

INDUSTRY PRESENCE: Should we join one or more respected industry organizations? Would we benefit from accepting a leadership position? Can we promote our participation to strengthen our reputation and trust with customers? Is there an opportunity to leverage our membership to attract more prospects to grow our business? Should we consider participating in a trade show where prospects attend?

LOCAL PRESENCE: What can our business do to have a positive impact on our local community? Youth sponsorships? Education Scholarships? Charitable giving? Can we promote these efforts and tell the story of how they align with our business mission and values?

VISION: Where are we going? Do we have exciting innovations? Have we made newsworthy improvements we can promote? What are we considering on the horizon?

Once you review your materials and answer those important questions, you can prioritize needs to develop an action plan. Develop a budget to address needs that help your business achieve its growth goals. When you invest in your branding and marketing to better serve customers, they’ll notice and respond to your efforts. Improved branding and marketing not only serve your customers better but are likely to attract new leads that fuel business growth.

I’ve helped numerous businesses achieve their growth goals through an effective approach to branding and marketing. Call today and let’s discuss how we can work together to build your brand to flourish.