The 5 Principles You Need to Create a Magnetic Brand Image Use these strategies to help your business shift from looking for new clients to having new clients look for you.
By Jonathan Brierre Edited by Kara McIntyre
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
When I think of branding, my inner journalist relates the word to the concept of storytelling. Effective branding takes prospects on a journey where they fully understand what you do, why and how.
Beyond that, a genuinely magnetic brand is polarizing and unique. The more magnetic a brand is, the less it needs to compete for new clients. With its unique positioning and compelling value proposition, prospects and new clients are naturally drawn to such a brand.
As someone who's worked in sales and public relations for almost a decade, I know how hard it can be to create a brand with genuine gravitas. Here are some branding principles that can help your business shift from looking for new clients to having new clients look for you.
Related: 5 Timeless Storytelling Strategies to Use in Your Next Marketing Campaign
Engage your clients' emotions with planning and structure
When your client pays for your brand's services, they have identified an emotional gap between where they are and where they want to be after your intervention. Magnetic branding empathizes with prospects and communicates an understanding of the value of its services.
Humans are emotional beings; we only do business with companies we know, like and trust. For our brands to evoke a sense of confidence in our clients, we have to ensure that we not only know how to bridge our clients' gaps but that our clients know that we know how to do so too. Our prospects love to see structure, process and general planning regarding our services. Again, storytelling is critical as your customers want to journey with your services.
Communicate a clear and straightforward value proposition
A common mistake we tend to make when branding is that our storytelling is long-winded and broad. We often overcommunicate the services offered and overestimate our prospects' attention spans. In this digital age, we collectively suffer from information overload. That said, our responsibility as branders is to ensure we are concise and accessible when communicating our value. The easier a prospect understands how we can help them achieve what they want, the greater the chance we convert them as a client.
If you asked your prospects if they understood what you offered, would they be able to answer quickly and clearly? If not, perhaps that's a sign you need to work on this principle.
Cultivate your brand positioning
What unique things do you do best that add to your value proposition? How do you differ from your competition? These are questions to consider, for the more unique your offer is in your niche, the more you may find clients that work with you because you're so different. If your brand doesn't have much unique value, perhaps reflecting on how you can grow as a business and person would be helpful.
Have other people talk about your services and brand
Collecting and showcasing testimonials is a great way to build trust with your leads and prospects. However, beyond just featuring your past clients on your social media or landing pages, an excellent way to generate social proof is by getting featured on the news. By having articles written and published about you in different news outlets, you can again increase your trust in your clients, thus increasing their chances of converting into paying customers.
Getting different news features under my belt has undoubtedly opened many doors for me. I've since found it easier to sell products, get hired, land speaking engagements and generally attract higher-quality clients. Not only am I perceived as more of an authority in my niche, but I can also have a broader impact since more people trust my brand with my social proof.
Invest in your public relations strategy
Having multiple ways to communicate with the public is vital to increasing the credibility, reach and accessibility of our brands. Being strategic is necessary as not all messages are suited for all mediums. Some things are best said in a press release, while others are on a social media post or website landing page. Hosting events and press conferences can also be great ways to communicate with our desired audiences.
Typically, our public relations strategies are put in place to achieve one of two things — to build hype and credibility in a brand or to protect the brand's long-term reputation. Either way, an effective public relations strategy can make our brands more resilient, notable and trustworthy in the eyes of our prospects and general audiences.
Growing a brand can be a daunting task for anyone. There are many ways to achieve the same ends, and we often can lose sight of our customers' perceptions while trying to balance growth under whatever constraints we may have. However, we business owners are servants to the human nature of our prospects and clients. The brands that more deeply understand and appeal to said human nature are the ones that end up being more successful and magnetizing. Hopefully, you can apply the principles described here to your business and watch as you find new paying customers quickly and gracefully.
