With thousands of online stores popping up every year, it is crucial to make your store stand out and become recognizable to your customers. The goal is to build brand loyalty and become their go-to place to shop. Incorporating branding into everything you do is one way to allow the customer to identify you amongst all the noise that appears throughout social media and the hecticness that is life. Branding tells the story that is your business and explains what you do, how you do it, why you do it, why you are the best, and why your customers should flock to you.
Let’s review some of the critical components of a successful branding strategy.
Recognizable logo – Your customers should be able to recognize you the second you pop up on their feed. Your customer should feel excited when they see your posts and package arriving in the mail.
Meaningful purpose – What drives your store to deliver the best possible product and experience that allows you to succeed over all of your competitors? Why should your customer care about your business? The story behind your brand should be a compelling story that immediately makes customers interested in doing business with you.
Consistency – Sticking to your brand is essential, if your store does something off-brand your customers will become confused, and this makes it harder for them to understand what your brand is all about. Be consistent in all areas, including color scheme, style, theme, messages, voice, etc.
Emotion & human connection – Customers want to buy from a person they can identify with, not a corporation. Speak to your customers’ needs and inner desires. Connect with them on a deeper level and listen to what they have to say. Customers purchase buy products because of the experience they bring or how they make them feel. All of your marketing materials should show how your customers will feel when using your product rather than the product itself. Lifestyle photos can do wonders to share the experience your products will bring.
Problem solver – What problem does your customer face and how do you become the hero that solves that problem for your customer and makes their life a little bit easier?
Tag line/elevator speech – Once you have identified everything mentioned above, develop a one-liner that can go on your marketing materials that address how your customer can change your customers’ lives and then consider this message in every decision you make moving forward. Use this one-liner as what you share every time someone asks you what you do.
Personality – This one I have explicitly included for small boutique owners. If you are one or two people girl boss/ girl boss duo, you should create your brand to let your unique personality shine. Showing your personality is essential not only because it allows you to be authentic and not appear fake, but also enables you to attract customers that think and act the way you do. Once again, customers love buying from a person they can identify with, rather than a corporation! Let your personality show in all of your marketing materials, and your company will thrive.
Creating the perfect brand is not something that happens overnight. Take some time to dive deep into each piece of your overall brand strategy and consider stepping into the customers’ shoes and think through how they will feel when they hear about and see your products/website/posts. Make sure your brand has a unique identifier that sets you apart and drives loyal customers that keep coming back for more.