Selling Authenticity: Personalizing Your Brand

Your brand represents your product or service and differentiates it from the competition. It speaks to what you offer in an attempt to engage your target audience. Placing your brand in a favorable light is an essential part of an effective marketing strategy to attract prospective customers. However, how do you maintain authenticity while amplifying your brand’s appeal? We now live in an era where media outlets that once controlled the general spread of information are being outdone by consumers who command unrestricted access to information via numerous online tools. This means, a product that is failing consumers will not make an impression through gimmicky marketing ploys. It is, therefore, imperative that your brand does not lose its sense of authenticity in the process of generating customer interest.

Speak Your Audience’s Language

Your target audience should guide the way in which you present information. While it is important that details are reflected accurately, brands should not forget that regular people, who are unaccustomed to specific technical jargon, may not immediately understand or care to delve deeper. Explain and describe your products in a way that offers real world value. Where possible provide visual content that further clarifies and demonstrates the actual usefulness of your product and/or service.

Embrace User Created Content

Social media channels are the perfect litmus test to discern how well your brand performs in the field. These tools allow users to interact and engage with brands in a way that is more meaningful and honest. Whether they are praising or being critical, listen to your users, allow their collective voice to shape how your brand evolves and improve. Take the time to address their concerns or express your appreciation, this will ensure that you are not simply building a customer base but developing worthwhile relationships.

Master the Art of Engaging Story Telling

Every brand has a story and this story deserves to be given a voice. Yours should not be viewed simply as a means of garnering wealth but as an actual item that is worthy of consumer admiration. Craft content that shows what your company does, what goes into the creation of your product, and how you aim to give back in some way to the community. This should be an ongoing process that includes shared stories about staff in the field, real life interaction with customers and factual accounts of your products’ application.

Be True to Your Brand Not Someone Else’s

Your brand should not try to emulate others simply because they are in your industry or have achieved success using a particular route of winning over customers. Trying to re-create what others are doing may backfire especially if it is strikingly different. Do not, for example, try to fashion your brand as a luxury one if it simply is not. Know what your brand is about and market it in a way that highlights its strong points, not someone else’s.

Be Transparent, Remove the Mask

Do not attempt to mislead the public with gimmicks or smooth over any issues with deceptive marketing. Fix current problems and address issues as they may arise. Always seek to better your brand, learn from past mistakes, and continually push improvement not merely the appearance of it.

Marketing your brand can sometimes be a trial and error process. As technology shifts to tip the balance in favor of the consumer it is important that your brand makes a lasting impression while staying true to the products and services you actually provide.