The past few weeks we have been taking an in-depth look at brand identity and how to infuse every aspect of the marketing mix with that brand identity. Large companies spend hundreds of hours and thousands of dollars developing their brand identity and marketing this identity appropriately. Whether you are working with large companies that have entire departments devoted to the marketing of their brand identity, or a small business with one department for every business function, defining the identity of their brand is of the same importance.
It is for this reason that my sales team members’ job title is not distributor, but brand loyalist. The main function of their job is not to distribute promotional items, but rather to create brand loyalty for our clients. Building brand loyalty is the process of defining a client’s brand, identifying objectives and turning their customers into raving fans.
Defining a Clients Brand Identity
Since most of our clients are small businesses without huge marketing departments, the brand identity is an area that needs a lot of attention. When we approach a new or potential client we start with a strategic set of questions. In our sales cycle we refer to this as Socratic Questioning. The goal of Socratic Questioning is to reveal the essence of our client’s brand with insight from corporate culture, customer perceptions, and core values. The result of this strategic questioning leads us to the “why,” or brand identity, behind a business.
Identifying Objectives
Once we have a clear understanding of the brand identity we then work with our clients to define objectives. These objectives are usually around changing or further the perceptions of their customers. For example the company may want to change an incorrect assumption about their business, they may want to educate their customer’s about their brand or create an opportunity to explain a new product line or service. These objectives along with the brand identity allow us to define parameters in which we will define solutions.
Create Raving Fans
With the information we have gathered from the two previous steps we can now identify the appropriate solutions to accomplish our clients objectives. Using our empowered methodology we can create a complete campaign for our clients centered around their unique brand identity. The Empowered Methodology is at the core of our selling process which, seeks to Engage customer’s and Motivate them to Participate in an Opportunity that Wow’s and/or Educates them on the brand identity, which results in an empowered brand and a loyal Relationship between our client and their customer.
These three steps allow my team of brand loyalists to create raving fans for their client’s making them their most valued unpaid employee. With this process we create value for our client’s, we provide them with solutions rather than options allowing our services to be seen as an investment rather than a cost.
For a more in depth look at our approach to solution based selling, please sign up for our talk titled ” Empowering Brand Loyalty” at the 2013 PPAI Expo.
