One thing I’ve learned from business coaching, when working with many entrepreneurs and business owners is that, when it comes to branding, it is many times an afterthought. Yet that’s the opposite of how it should actually be. Maybe that’s why, according to Forbes, 9 out of 10 businesses fail. Branding is the firm foundation of your sales and lead generating system. In other words, branding is the foundation of the lifeline to your business. Everything should be built upon branding.
Branding is the perception of you – the value in the eyes of the ideal unlikely buyer.
If you are a member of Thrive Nation, let’s say you ever listen to the podcast, or if you’re a business coaching client, or if you’ve ever been to a business conference, you know that one of the biggest things that we teach over and over and over again is the importance of Google reviews. When it comes to branding, most people believe branding is simply the marketing deliverables that you provide to your customers. Branding is much more than that – it is the perception of you – the value in the eyes of the ideal unlikely buyer. Perception is everything. What they perceive to be valuable, they will pay for, and they will pay whatever price that you request when your product or services rendered is that valuable, and offers the solution to the problem they buyer is having.
Let me give you an example. Let’s just say that I, Julea’ Merriott (if you know me at all you will find this hysterical), decided to open up an auto mechanic shop. Let’s say that my husband, who has been racing and is very mechanically savvy and has been his entire life opens up a mechanic shop right down the road as well. Let’s say we are competing on an equal playing field in terms of services offered, capital to fund the business, etc. The only difference is that he has 30 years of experience, and I have none (except the times I’ve been forced to change a tire).
Then, let’s say that I go out and get 150 Google reviews immediately. Let’s say my website is on point – my website answers clear questions and my business coaching photos are professional and great. Let’s say I get video reviews from every single one of my customers and upload those to Youtube, Google My Business, and my website. Let’s say you go to my mechanic shop and everything is clean. Maybe I offer cookies. Even the bathrooms are so clean, you could eat the sprinkled sugar cookies provided right off of the floors. Next, let’s say that my husband doesn’t even register a Google map. Let’s say he has a website that he made himself that quite frankly, looks like he made it himself. Finally, his mechanic shop looks like any other mechanic shop around.
In your mind, who is more valuable? You would think my services are more valuable. Therefore, you would pay me more to work on your car and service oil changes for you. However, the opposite of that should be true because he has more experience than I do and can probably work faster and better than I could. It’s branding. It’s perception.
Branding is the foundation of everything and branding is the one thing, the one thing you can control that absolutely creates the value that a customer is willing to pay for your product or service. From branding, to “wow”-ing the customer, that’s the Clay Clark created sales workflow with a foundation centered around branding.
