Imagine going through life without a name. You couldn’t identify yourself or go after and secure opportunities. Sounds horrible, right? Also, imagine your business not having a name and that would basically mean having no business at all. The point here is that knowing and establishing your identity are crucial in life and business. And this is why you should do branding before marketing.
Marketing without a brand leads to costly problems. Before we go into the positive results of doing branding before marketing, allow me to hit you with a few of the problems that can arise from jumping into marketing before branding:
- You will be doing marketing without knowing your big why for doing the marketing in the first place!
- Your marketing might not speak to who you really are.
- You will get lost conducting marketing tactics that aren’t right for you and your business. Besides failure by the lack of response, your marketing might produce results that aren’t useful for you.
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DOWNLOAD AND LEARN: 24 Things That Every Entrepreneur Must Do
Millions of people start businesses without having a solid grip on their identity. And inevitably, many of those same people market their business without knowing their identity. I don’t want this to be you, so here are five reasons why branding should come before marketing for you and your business:
The Transition from Why to How
It’s easier to know how to market your business if you know who you are and what you want to accomplish. For instance, if you’re an introvert then door-to-door marketing and sales would not be a good fit for you. Perhaps content marketing through blogging and content upgrades (offers/downloads offered within a piece of content in exchange for a person’s contact information) would be a better fit for you.
The Long-Term Benefits of Branding Before Marketing
Your brand will allow you to establish a branding system that focuses on producing results in the most efficient way. This benefit will help you focus only on the marketing tactics that work for the long haul. Also, your brand is an anchor that will lead to consistency in both identity and marketing.
Authentic Marketing
There’s nothing worse than marketing that’s unrealistic when its intention is to be realistic. Well, there’s nothing more real than the humanity of an authentic personal brand and the true culture of a business brand. Marketing is more authentic when your brand standards govern the wording, voice, style and direction of your marketing.
Word-Of-Mouth Marketing
Awesome things happen when your brand promise is delivered upon after a customer’s response to your marketing. When your brand is established and you do a good job delivering your product or service, people will tell others good things about you and your business.
Unique Value Proposition
It’s highly unlikely that you’re the only business that offers what you sell. And in this new digital age, being the only business of your kind in your city or town is no longer that big of a deal. People can buy what you offer on the internet from a business in a different country. Establishing a differentiating unique value proposition is another reason why branding before marketing makes all the sense. The best place to start is with your story since your story is a definite one-of-one. You must consider that no one else has your nature and experiences. Separate yourself from the pack through your story and UVP.
I hope these five reasons for doing branding before marketing have convinced you to brand first! Order is of major importance here as it could be the difference between marketing success and disappointment. This order will help your branding inspire your marketing and your marketing grow your brand. Let me know your thoughts on this article in the comments section below.
