‘Why should I engage with you?’ This is the question a client unconsciously asks every time they engage with you.
Why should I engage with you?
Why should they engage with you? Engage as in taking your call, reading your emails, asking you a question. How do you plant a valid answer in your client’s mind?
This is the question we asked Melissa Donnelly of Affinity Communications. Here is what we learned but please listen in as Melissa explains all this much better than we ever could.
To listen while you drive, walk or work, just access the episode through a free podcast app on your mobile phone.
Back to Basics
Define your firm’s brand. What makes it unique? A brand often feels vague and irrelevant, especially when you sell professional services. A tangible product’s brand is easier to grasp than a brand about professional services.
Whenever your website doesn’t convert and your phone stops ringing. Whenever your pipeline is bumpy and referrals have dried up. Whenever you face this dilemma, go back to the beginning. Understand the DNA of your firm. What is its purpose? What makes it tick?
Once you understand that, you can develop a strategy that you translate into a plan and then implement. No matter the size of business – the process is the same. If you start with the tactics – like a website – without understanding the objectives, you scramble around in the dark.
Brand
Your brand is not just the name of your firm or the logo on your letterhead. It is the experience your clients have whenever they engage with you – be it through your website, social media, reception, face to face or email.
But your brand is not just about your clients. It is also about your staff and you. How do you feel about and interact with each other and clients?
You might not remember who Maya Angelou is. She was a black American human rights activist and writer. But you probably remember this quote from her,
“…People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”
Your brand is how people feel about you and your business. But how do you influence this feeling? How do you get people to feel a certain way about you and your firm?
What Do You Stand For
The first step to a successful brand is to have people actually feel something about you. To not fade away into the masses as just another plain vanilla brand. To stand out.
To achieve that, define what you stand for. Don’t be vague, generalist or just like everybody else. Find a unique angle.
Walt Disney’s personal mission was to make people happy. Disneyland uses slogans like “Where Dreams Come True” and “The Happiest Place on Earth”. You probably remember Xero’s slogan “Beautiful Business”. There is nothing stopping you from taking a stand for something. If it means something to you, it will mean something to your team and clients.
To cut through the noise and be noticed, you need clarity and consistency.
Summary
And here is the summary Melissa goes through at the end of the interview.
1 – Don’t mistake your name or logo for your brand. Your brand is the feeling people get when they deal with you.
2 – Your brand comes from 3 things: 1. your purpose for being in business 2. the values that you stand by and 3. your vision for your business.
3 – Tell people what you stand for so they know.
4 – Brand is a competition killer when you use it to: 1. cut through the clutter and 2. amplify your offer to the market.
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So this is what we learned from Melissa Donnelly of Affinity Communications in this interview. Please listen in since Melissa explains all this much better than we ever could. And she goes into a lot more details.
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