Branding is a key component in determining your success in sales and marketing.
You may not think that, as a salesperson, your input to how your brand is perceived or recognised should be a priority; isn’t the experience the customer has with your product and service more important than the reputation of the brand?
Well, in a way, yes, but when you consider what the brand says about your product and service, whether the client continues to purchase from you could be manifestly affected by the way the brand essence is depicted.
What Is Brand Essence?
It’s the feeling clients and prospects have when they have any contact with your name. In a sense, brand essence overpowers everything else a prospect may have about you. Your products may be the right things for your customer, but if the brand essence stinks, they won’t touch you with a bargepole.
BrandStoke’s ‘9 criteria for brand essence’ has some interesting ideas to contemplate when considering the message you wish to portray. Here are some examples:
Focus
This is what you want the customer to focus on when they think of you. What do you want to be known for? How do you want people to think when they hear your name?
Feeling
What components of your brand do you want to evoke the true feeling within the mind of the consumer? How do you want the emotional connection to be built?
Individuality
What do you want the message to be to each person who you wish to be connected to your brand? What personality do you wish to be associated with?
Consistency
Dependability is a brand attribute, so what would you like to be connected to in the customer’s mind? Delivery of the brand message is highlighted every time there is a contact point, so make sure the consistency is tangible.
Credibility
Every experience the customer has with your brand identifies what you stand for. Engagement and credibility go together, so be aware of what the key messages are that you are trying to convey.
Longevity
Is the essence of your brand designed to last or is it seen as a temporary, fashionable name? Longevity builds trust, which must be a key component in driving the name forward.
Personal
There needs to be a personal connection that each consumer or user can have with the brand. Although brand essence is built up over time by others’ experiences, the way individuals feel will be echoed through social media and affect everyone else.
Portable
Emotion is transferred across social media, so be aware of what is being highlighted by how transferable the image of the brand is. Your profile can and will be affected across variables like social media as well as other forms of brand transference.
Everything you do will have an impact on the way the brand essence is built in people’s minds. Driving customer engagement through effective branding can have a profound effect on the way you as a salesperson of your products will be viewed. So, what will you do to enhance your brand?
It may be the difference between getting a great response or struggling to find your niche in the market.
Want to learn more? Take a look at our Sales Presentation Skills Webinar
Happy Selling!
Sean McPheat
Managing Director
MTD Sales Training | Sales Blog | Image courtesy of Big Stock Photo
